Solar Panel Guide Discussion

John_Pierpoint

zeupater wrote: »

Hi

Rule of thumb, but accurate enough for most ....
1kW for 1hour raises 1tonne by 1degreeC ....

So 140 litres raised by 60C = 0.14tonnes*60kWh=8.4kWh .... so a 3kW immersion for 2.8hours (8.4/3), or a 1kW heater for 8.4hours ....

HTH
Z

OMG if the tank is allowed to get really cold, say when we have been away or have visitors, I will need to make the decision at 05:15:D

"Look darling you cannot cook lunch, the inverter is still busy heating the hot water tank................................"??:eek:....!!!:mad:!!!:rotfl:

John_Pierpoint

Cardew wrote: »

i.e The immersion heater has an adjustable thermostat see:

http://www.diydata.com/problem/immersion/immersion_adjustment.php

NB:
Be aware !!
From April 2004, new and replacement Immersion Heater Thermostats need to incorporate an overheat safety cut-out so that if the water thermostat fails, the water in the cylinder will not overheat which could cause scalding water to come out of the taps.
If you have a Thermostat without a overheat safety cut-out, it is well worthwhile changing the Thermostat for a modern type even if the existing one is working.

In my installation it was a case of replacing the new thermostat with the old one. When you have solid fuel heating; sooner or later you will fiddle with it late in the evening. Getting something jammed in the ash door or the air intake on a windy evening means being woken up in the middle of the night by banging and thumping sounds. (as the boiler does literately that, to produced a tank of steaming water in the loft.)

Fiddling about with a mirror and a "pin", trying to push the "reset" button on the immersion heater, is really the icing on the cake.

orrery

On the topic of dirty panels...

Aldi have 3.9 metre window cleaning kits from tomorrow for under a tenner:
http://www.aldi.co.uk/uk/html/offers/special_buys3_24103.htm

Elainemary

We eventually decided " not ", but still get calls from various firms trying to rent our roof. We started off with " No, thank you " and descended through " We're not interested " and " Please don't call us again " to hanging up as soon as they mention SP after saying " No ".
Our total Leccy bill for the year ending 4th April was £149.67 and gas was even less at £ 86.15 - both after dual-fuel allowances.
Would we save much with SP? I don't think so, does anyone out there?:j

bjohnson

orrery wrote: »

On the topic of dirty panels...

Aldi have 3.9 metre window cleaning kits from tomorrow for under a tenner:
http://www.aldi.co.uk/uk/html/offers/special_buys3_24103.htm

I had thought that dirty panels would be a problem. We have just had a new drive of paving bricks and next door is halfway through the same process. Everything is coated in a layer of brick dust and you can see it on the panels yet at the moment I am getting a reading of 4.04 kW from the Sunny Beam, so it looks like a bit of dirt isn't th end of the world.

EricMears

Elainemary wrote: »

We eventually decided " not ", but still get calls from various firms trying to rent our roof. We started off with " No, thank you " and descended through " We're not interested " and " Please don't call us again " to hanging up as soon as they mention SP after saying " No ".
Our total Leccy bill for the year ending 4th April was £149.67 and gas was even less at £ 86.15 - both after dual-fuel allowances.
Would we save much with SP? I don't think so, does anyone out there?

Agree, you're spending very little on electricity so really couldn't expect to save very much with free solar panels.

We spend a lot more than you on electricity and are seeing significant savings from our panels.

However, the 'real money' comes from generation incentive rather than power savings. That was worth something in excess of 12% return on investment last year and still offers a substantial ROI even after the recent reductions in incentive payments.

orrery

bjohnson wrote: »

I had thought that dirty panels would be a problem.

I have a 20 degree roof angle, on the limit for the self cleaning ability of the panels. I've already got a blob of moss sitting on a panel (probably dropped by a bird), which I need to shift.

I've also noticed that, as the sun moves away towards evening, that the TV aerial is throwing a shadow. I'm planning a ladders session at the weekend to drop that down a few feet (it is mounted on the chimney at the side of the house) so I may as well get rid of the moss at the same time.

EricMears

orrery wrote: »

I have a 20 degree roof angle, on the limit for the self cleaning ability of the panels. I've already got a blob of moss sitting on a panel (probably dropped by a bird), which I need to shift.

I've also noticed that, as the sun moves away towards evening, that the TV aerial is throwing a shadow. I'm planning a ladders session at the weekend to drop that down a few feet (it is mounted on the chimney at the side of the house) so I may as well get rid of the moss at the same time.

If your TV aerial is mounted significantly higher than ridge, it's probably been done for a reason - more than likely to get a line of sight to TV transmitter and avoid a nearby obstruction.

Lowering the TV aerial might therefore lose signal strength ! Maybe you need to raise it even further ?

cheap-information

I have a 4kw system in the north of England.

What is the highest reading that we can expect on a perfect summer's day?

Our current highest is nearly 26kw around a week ago.

Also, we have a 4kw system but only with a 3.5kw inverter (SE3500), is this normal?

EricMears

cheap-information wrote: »

I have a 4kw system in the north of England.

What is the highest reading that we can expect on a perfect summer's day?

Our current highest is nearly 26kw around a week ago.

Also, we have a 4kw system but only with a 3.5kw inverter (SE3500), is this normal?

Assume the 26 kw was actually a daily output of 26kwh !!! A 26kw peak would be truly remarkable.

Peak output would presumably be whatever the inverter will handle - probably about 10% more than rated output before it's shut down as 'overloaded'.

Daily kwh would be several hours at that plus a few more at lower outputs. Every chance that would get well above your current max.

Not unusual to have an under-rated inverter though I've never been very impressed by the logic.