Solar Panels And Electric Boilers

Pablo_Webster

Just a (hopefully) quick question. If considering having solar panels fitted, is it worth thinking about converting (or rather.. replacing) an existing gas combi boiler that feeds the central heating radiators etc with an electric unit, or are the cost differences outweighed? I really have no Idea, but this seems like a good idea, just not sure if it is, or if I'm viewing things from the wrong angle. many thanks in advance for any advice that can be offered.

jimmyboy420

Without going in to a lot of detail, no probably not. It will be a big upfront cost, and then you have to consider that for alot of the time, you will not be generating excess enough energy (over your other electricity needs) to heat enough hot water. This will then mean you're importing a lot of electricity to generate heat. Electricity is a lot mor expensive than gas for this purpose! (and you have large up front costs too!)

James

Pablo_Webster

Many thanks, very much appreciated.

thenudeone

Almost certainly not.
The electricity produced by the typical domestic PV array is nowhere near enough to provide space heating, so even assuming it was spaced evenly through the year (which it isn't), you would be left importing a large amount of electricity, which is a much more expensive way to heat than using gas.
The best way to maximise solar PV output is with an intelligent switch diverting spare power to an immersion heater (see the massive other thread), but even that is costly and you will take a long time to recoup the cost.

Pablo_Webster

Many thanks for your input, and thank you for clarifying something about which I wasn't clear. Very much appreciated

Ben84

Pretty much what has been said - solar PV unfortunately doesn't produce enough energy for central heating, and it mostly produces electricity in the Summer anyway.

A good option for heating that's available right now is simply reducing demand. We have very low gas use thanks to good insulation, draft sealing and secondary glazing. Particularly considering we have a very old boiler.

I'm hoping for and looking forward to some new technology to heat ordinary houses, but until then careful use of gas heating or a clean burning wood stove in a well insulated house is about as affordable and low pollution as it gets.

ed110220

It can be worthwhile using spare electricity from solar to 'top up' the heat in your hot water tank, if you have one, using a specially controllable immersion heater and many people report this can provide most of their hot water between spring and autumn.

However, in winter when you will be needing space heating, solar is going to be producing very little, so not really worthwhile (unless you have a special super-insulated, energy saving home).