Solar Panel Guide Discussion

John_Pierpoint

EricMears wrote: »

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

I recall visiting a trade stand where Du Pont was pushing a product to pack into the walls/roof of modern light weight buildings to capture the day time to "melt" it and then when the temperature dropped over night the energy would be released to "freeze" it again; thus making up for the loss of thermal mass, {that was} present in historical construction techniques./QUOTE]

Afraid I find that hilarious !

Our house was carefully designd to have an enormous amount of thermal mass - built on a foot thick 'raft' in contact with underlying shale stratum, with foot thick concrete basement walls, beam & block + screed layer with UFH pipework for ground and first floors, and all internal walls in concrete block. With a lot of windows facing S, a few E or W and hardly any N, it absorbs thermal energy in the winter (or in summer we open a few windows). Four tonnes of rainwater storage in basement plus all the water in the UFH system helps too.

Whole thing cost no more than (allegedly) 'modern' lightweight materials and there was absolutely no need to lash out on exotic measures to increase thermal mass.

I agree with you 100% Eric - even my modest 1950's block and brick dwelling takes over 24 hours to get back to "normal" operating temperatures, if we go away for (say) a week over Xmas.

However how many modern architects since the 1960's have built like this?
Like the old joke about which one is the odd man out: Bad breath, AIDS or a Barratt's home? It was the 1970's that saw Britain trying to go down the USA route of timber frame and plastic cladding with air- conditioning for the summer and a big basement "furnace" for the winter.

Not sure of the best method of retro fitting "thermal mass" to such construction.
I am also not sure how you retro fit an air-source to water heat pump to such a building.

Pennylane

orrery wrote: »

That sounds improbably low - are you sure that your main meter isn't running backwards when exporting?

What do you mean? I'm telling you what my bill for the quarter was - actually it was £27.

Pennylane

don0301 wrote: »

My Electricity charge Apr/May/June was £39.33

that doesnt include the standing charge

inc the standing charge total cost was £56.44

Yes, we had a standing charge of £25 ish on top - but there's no way of avoiding that.

I was talking to someone today and their electric bill is around £20 a week so our £27 for a quarter, we're happy with.:)

KevinG

Pennylane wrote: »

What do you mean?

Have a look at no. 4 on the FAQ thread:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3872445

don0301

Pennylane wrote: »

Yes, we had a standing charge of £25 ish on top - but there's no way of avoiding that.

I was talking to someone today and their electric bill is around £20 a week so our £27 for a quarter, we're happy with.:)

agreed that sounds very cheap, but you must take into account standing charge too

I'm jealous

the reason I quoted standing charge is because it has to be paid too!

Different Tariffs have different rates so for any "quotes" on here to be meaningful to everyone, surely you should quote "all" costs so people can make meaningful comparisons.

Not having a pop at you as such

Just pointing out so many people quote different things on here without quantifying them

ie this

or people quoting PVGIS, when there is 2 types, Climate and Classic

etc etc

My next stage of world domination happens this week, hopefully my next quarterly will match or beat yours

Pennylane

don0301 wrote: »

agreed that sounds very cheap, but you must take into account standing charge too

I'm jealous

the reason I quoted standing charge is because it has to be paid too!

Different Tariffs have different rates so for any "quotes" on here to be meaningful to everyone, surely you should quote "all" costs so people can make meaningful comparisons.

Not having a pop at you as such

Just pointing out so many people quote different things on here without quantifying them

ie this

or people quoting PVGIS, when there is 2 types, Climate and Classic

etc etc

My next stage of world domination happens this week, hopefully my next quarterly will match or beat yours

But like I said, we can't get out of paying a standing charge can we? Some of this is WAY too technical for me - all I know is we forked out just £500 for our R-a-R panels and are dead pleased with them. £27 for elec. for quarter plus £25 standing charge and we've had £250 back from the elec supplier. We use loads of electricity in the daylight hours and it's FREE.:j

There's only a few quid between your bill and mine anyway so you must be pleased with yours too.:)

don0301

Pennylane wrote: »

But like I said, we can't get out of paying a standing charge can we? Some of this is WAY too technical for me - all I know is we forked out just £500 for our R-a-R panels and are dead pleased with them. £27 for elec. for quarter plus £25 standing charge and we've had £250 back from the elec supplier. We use loads of electricity in the daylight hours and it's FREE.:j

There's only a few quid between your bill and mine anyway so you must be pleased with yours too.:)

agreed, but different tariffs ( and there are 100's :cool:) have different rates for kWh unit ,and daily standing charge

So, for people on here to make relevant comparisons it has to be included, it's all part of what we have to pay

Yeah, I'm very happy with my system, Electric bill, and to some extent Gas bill has reduced a lot

Still learning to make the most of it, but getting there

Glad your so happy with your RaR

I'm very happy with my system so far

digitaltoast

The_Green_Hornet wrote: »

Once he realises that he can't back up the nonsense he spouts...

Who's "he"?

Martyn1981

Blossom2528 wrote: »

Doesn’t look like he’s gonna answer. Probably can’t get the numbers to say what he wants. Nothing new then.
Also when he keeps going on about farms exporting but houses using the electric is there any difference. Putting more in or take less out what’s the difference. More for everyone else.
Am I being stupid but they are the same thing aren’t they. Does he have a point or just spouting more Monbiot paragraphs without thinking first.

No, not stupid, when you think about it, it is the same thing. A PV farm exporting 1kWh puts an extra 1kWh into the system for others to use, whilst a domestic/commercial install that consumes a kWh instead of importing it, leaves an extra 1kWh in the system for others to use. The net effect is the same, give or take distribution losses.

Mart.

grahamc2003

The_Green_Hornet wrote: »

Once he realises that he can't back up the nonsense he spouts on here he goes quiet for a week or two, hopes that people have forgotten what he has said and then starts posting the same rubbish again.

Classical troll behaviour.

My advice is not to keep feeding him.

So you have said several times now, getting a rec each time from someone who proclaims to be against ad hominem attacks.

In fact you haven't said anything but the above. Don't you have anything more worthy to say about the issues under discussion?

If you disagree with anything written, let's see a coherent argument stating why the opinion you dislike so much is incorrect.