Choice of intelligent switches ?

EricMears

jeepjunkie wrote: »

Is it ok to have two CT clamps on the incoming mains supply? Personally I don't see why not but perhaps, with experience, someone has found different?

Cheers

(remotely) possible that if fitted close together they might manage to interfere with one another but fairly sure a few inches of separation would avoid that.

FWIW, I do have two clamps - but they're 25 metres apart

[Deleted User]

EricMears wrote: »

(remotely) possible that if fitted close together they might manage to interfere with one another but fairly sure a few inches of separation would avoid that.

FWIW, I do have two clamps - but they're 25 metres apart

Thanks, they will be a few inches apart so should be fine. Cheers

orrery

jeepjunkie wrote: »

Is it ok to have two CT clamps on the incoming mains supply? Personally I don't see why not but perhaps, with experience, someone has found different?

Cheers

You might want to check that they are on different radio channels, or they could interfere in sending the data.

spgsc531

orrery wrote: »

You might want to check that they are on different radio channels, or they could interfere in sending the data.

Aren't the CT clamps wired? Never heard of wireless ones.

InVestor_2

jeepjunkie wrote: »

Well gone and done it...

The intelligent switch has been ordered

Not long now till lots of free pv hot water, fingers crossed

Should be a quick install so will report back soon...

Apologies, to save me trawling through the numerous irrelevant posts, which type did you go for in the end?

I'm interested in these, but with the proposed smart meter roll out starting next year, not sure if worthwhile for me.

Keep us posted how you get on, and good luck with it

zeupater

Cardew wrote: »

Z

Thanks for that link. Would you not agree that this quote and Annex table 9 clearly support the point I made above?




The formatting in Annex table 9 doesn't lend itself to cutting and pasting.

However in owner occupied properties 4.4% had storage heating and 2.6% had fixed room/portable heaters.

The figures for Private rented were 12.9% and 5.8% respectively and for Private sector 6.2% and 3.3%

The storage heating figures for Local Authority were 7.5%; for Housing Association 13.5% and Social sector 10.7%.

Hi

Selective cherry-picking, so let's look at the slightly wider picture whilst not even touching on the detail of various forms of insulation, property sizes by sector etc., which, as we all know, are all relevant to energy consumption, but let's just keep the ball in a small court to keep things simple ....

I know it's generalising, but let's draw a simple theoretical line between what would be considered as being 'poor' and 'rich' and say that it's ownership vs rental sector - I know that it's not correct in many situations, but in general terms wealth is measured in terms of assets as opposed to income, therefore it's a reasonable place to start ....

The table you reference, when rounded to whole properties, effectively says that for every 10 owned there is 1 with electric heating and for rented (private & social sectors combined) it's exactly the same, 1 in 10 .... the actual figures being :- 7% owned, 10.7%(((3509+3625)/(22754-14765))-1) rented. To me that's not the huge chasm which is constantly been raised ....

Now, let's place this into context. Looking at the split in tenure, of the 22754k properties, 14765k are owner occupied, of which 1037k (648+389) are heated electrically, compared to 1215k((1591+661)-1037) in the rented sectors, no really great chasm here either, especially when considering the relative breakdown of EER between the sectors in figure 14(p42) alongside the relative floor areas described in figure 10(p36).

In summary, looking at the key findings of the report we see that ... "The proportion of dwellings achieving the highest Energy Efficiency Rating (EER) Bands has increased considerably since 1996. In 2011, the social sector had the largest proportion of dwellings in the highest EER Bands A to C (34% of housing association and 26% of local authority dwellings). " ... which suggests that the social sector housing stock actually achieves a higher average efficiency than the private sector, which is contrary to a number of recent claims by various profiles posting on this thread ....

HTH
Z

# Source reference report - https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/88370/EHS_Headline_Report_2011-2012.pdf

Martyn1981

Zeup, can I ask a question, but it might be too general (not sure).

I've been pondering stuff, yet again, today, and ignoring all the silly myths on here, I was wondering about leccy heating in general.

This is partly prompted by my asking some questions about gas disconnects for a friend and neighbour.

On a smaller property how does gas v's electric heating work out?

My first reaction was 'badly'. But then I thought, it's gas v's E7, plus you are up about £100 (600kWh's) by not having a gas SC. Then there is the smaller capital outlay, lower maintenance, less disturbance etc etc.

I suppose cooking and water heating are also critical. I have an induction hob, which is pretty good, but I assume gas ovens are much cheaper. Water will depend again on E7(?)

Sorry to hit you with this, did a bit of googling, but I don't think I was asking the right questions, to get a general kind of answer.

Cheers.

Mart.

PS - In desperation, this could fit with intelligent switches (E7 or PV)!!!!

[Deleted User]

orrery wrote: »

You might want to check that they are on different radio channels, or they could interfere in sending the data.

One is wired and the other is wireless.

Cheers

[Deleted User]

InVestor wrote: »

Apologies, to save me trawling through the numerous irrelevant posts, which type did you go for in the end?

I'm interested in these, but with the proposed smart meter roll out starting next year, not sure if worthwhile for me.

Keep us posted how you get on, and good luck with it

Took a punt on this http://solarimmersion.co.uk/

Installation is a synch so once delivered it will be up and running very quickly

Was originally going to get an ImmerSun but still quite pricey. This one seems to be an almost exact clone.

I was undecided until I discovered that my energy deal was ending shortly and the next cheapest is £120ish more a year so with this and the LED lights just gone in hopefully my current energy spending will not go up if you see what I mean

Cheers

EDIT: Just got £107 cashback from my old Egg card now Barclays which makes the cost of the solar immersion
negligible.

My export rate is 50% of generation @ 3.3p. Still think it is worthwhile as there will be less wear on the heat pump. Smart meters which are pv aware may many years away. Fingers crossed

zeupater

Martyn1981 wrote: »

.... This is partly prompted by my asking some questions about gas disconnects for a friend and neighbour.

On a smaller property how does gas v's electric heating work out?

My first reaction was 'badly'. But then I thought, it's gas v's E7, plus you are up about £100 (600kWh's) by not having a gas SC. Then there is the smaller capital outlay, lower maintenance, less disturbance etc etc ......(E7 or PV)!!!!

Hi

I'd come at it from the same direction as you, but look at all of the 'fixed' costs, not just the standing charge ....

Firstly, the sanity check looking at the extremes and test the question .... single fuel - electricity or gas ? ... well, I assume that there aren't any (/many) gas powered TVs, freezers, fridges, CH pumps, laptops, lights (any more), doorbells, microwaves, slow-cookers etc on the market at the moment and that micro-CHP (sterling-engine or fuel cell) would require a pretty hefty outlay, if available, so the logical answer is electricity ....

So, to get a grip on what a move to all-electric would save we need to look at what the fixed costs of an average gas connected property would be .....

Standing charge (tiered) - Around 6p/kWh on first 670kWh/Qtr = £160/yr
Boiler Service - Around £80/year
Boiler life/replacement - 10 year cycle @£2000 = £200/year
Interest loss (assuming outright purchase)3% of £2000 = £60/yr.
# Assumption - CH wet system (excl boiler/pump/control) will cost similar to electric heating and last as long ..
Boiler breakdown contract ~ £15/month? = £180/year.
Landlord gas safety check/certificate if appropriate ....
... add more if you can think of any ....

Total fixed cost = ~£680/year.

Now, looking at adding the heating to the electricity bill, where is the usage crossover point where all electric becomes uneconomical ? ...

Firstly at daytime rates (typical geographic) ...

Gas tier2 price = ~3.5p
Electric tier 2 price = ~11p

Difference= 7.5p/kWh, therefore the crossover would be around 10000kWh ((680/0.075)/.9) of gas heating (including a 10% efficiency gain) , which in a small, well insulated, not overheated property would probably be a sufficient level of heating provision.

Next E7 (typical geographic) ...

Gas tier2 price = ~3.5p
Electric E7 price =~5.5p/kWh
Difference = ~2p/kWh
More expensive daytime = ~+1p

So, let's firstly consider the effect of the more expensive daytime electricity. Based on average usage of 3300kWh/yr that would be £33 (3300x0.01) to deduct from the saving of £680, leaving ~£647(680-33). This leaves the calculation for the heating crossover point as being ((647/0.02)/.9) ~36000kWh/year of gas usage which, in context, is over double the national average across all property types with gas heating ....

Certainly, I'd agree .... it could well be the case that if the property is small and well insulated it could be advantageous to have all electric heating rather than heavily regulated gas heating. This is especially relevant to the recent discussions regarding tenure as the cost of gas safety checks, system depreciation & repair etc. would need to be added to the rent charged, this is likely the reasoning behind the private sector rented properties having the highest proportion of electric heating, although the difference still isn't as large as you would first think considering the above rough calculations.

I'll still stick with my logburner & GCH though ...

HTH
Z