Renewables: "talking 'bout my generation"

k66

EricMears wrote: »

I have indeed used one of my optiplugs to feed a 3kW immersion heater via a 230v/115v transformer so am heating @750W whenever I have that much spare. Difficult though to report exactly how much benefit that gives as I can't measure my Heatbank temperature with any great degree of accuracy or be quite sure whether it's all heating up or just the area around the heating element. But there is certainly some electricity going into the system and it can't help but do some heating so I guess I must be saving some oil (but I can't measure oil usage accurately either).

Does the transformer get quite hot when in use?

KevinG

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

Just for the record, I am paying Scottish Power 6.07 & 12.15 pence per kWh inclusive of 5% vat plus roughly £10 a month inclusive of VAT; a standing charge disguised as a surcharge of about 100% on the first small number of day time units.

Also for the record, I am paying Scottish Power 5.4873p and 11.3862p per kWh respectively with a similar uplift on the first tranche of daytime units.

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

Are you allowing for the uplifted price on the day time units, which are only then halved to create the price of the night time units?

Yes, last time I did the sums, the small extra cost of the daytime units was easily offset by the reduced cost of the night-time units.

EricMears

k66 wrote: »

Does the transformer get quite hot when in use?

No - just gently warm.

It's a builder's site transformer rated at 3.3 kVA so should have a continuous rating of about half that and my 750W is half of that again.

Could of course be a problem for anyone who bought a 1kVA transformer and didn't realise that meant a continuous rating of only around 500VA

John_Pierpoint

Would this thing, described as good for two 16A applications, handle one 3kW (@ 230 volts) immersion?

http://www.screwfix.com/p/portable-transformer-with-2-output-sockets-3kva/84144



Ah wait a minute, it is the socket that is capable of handling 16 amps
here is the specification:

Specifications:
Continuous rating: 1500VA, intermittent rating: 3000VA. W x D x H: 180 x 255 x 225mm. Weight 17kg.

EricMears

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

Would this thing, described as good for two 16A applications, handle one 3kW (@ 230 volts) immersion?

http://www.screwfix.com/p/portable-transformer-with-2-output-sockets-3kva/84144



Ah wait a minute, it is the socket that is capable of handling 16 amps
here is the specification:

Specifications:
Continuous rating: 1500VA, intermittent rating: 3000VA. W x D x H: 180 x 255 x 225mm. Weight 17kg.

It's very like mine. Its continuous rating of 1500VA is approximately double that of the immersion heater (when stepped down to 110V)

legoman62

4.1 O's today.
Past PVGIS for April:rotfl:
Need another 11.5 O's or 46kWh this month, to hit PVGIS (classic) for 1st quarter of 2013:D

tunnel

Managed 5.75 O's , that's 23kWh in old money:rotfl:

EricMears

Metcheck were telling me this morning that we'd have a few sunny intervals before lunch then >85% cloud all afternoon. BBC & Met Office were broadly agreeing (although they don't of course commit themselves to a %ge cloud cover).

The 'look out the window' method estimated about 10% cloud cover am and perhaps 25% pm. Just after Noon I recorded 3.6kW

Day yield of 22.33kWh is approx 50% more than a 'typical April day' (as estimted by pvgis).

KevinG

KevinG wrote: »

BBC forecast 1, mobile phone forecast 0. Only brief appearances by the sun and 5.78 kWh.

Mobile phone forecast 1, BBC forecast 0. 12.46 kWh (6.23 O). Nice.

InVestor_2

24.7 kWh today (£11.97)

Last 4 days have helped me recover to within £5 of PVGIS Climate. Tomorrow looking good too.

Last September since I beat the monthly forecast.