Current vs Solar & Under floor heating

cfcboy

Im moving into a new rental next month and it has all mod cons including solar panels and under floor heating.

Im currently paying £90 pcm of leccy on a 3 bed with standard supply (leccy box is old though) so was just wondering if im likely to see a difference in new place (smallish 2 bed bungalow)

Thanks in advance

matelodave

Depends what sort of underfloor heating - if it's electric then solar won't do you much good when the heating season comes round. The days are short, the sun doesn't shine and the days are colder and that's when you need heating. Is it an all electric place? Is it on Economy 7 or any other strange system
Who owns the solar panels - presumably the house owner, so you won't get any benefit from the Feed In Tariff but you might get a slightly reduced electricity bill as you should be able to use any power that's generated.
You need to ensure that you read the meter the day you move in and open an account with the existing supplier. Make sure you get onto a standard tariff with no exist fees and then work out if you can get a better deal (you could probably do that before you move in). Do Keep a careful eye on your meter and if you are getting benefit from the solar (I'm assuming that's its PV) then ideally you should do your washing, ironing and anything else that uses leccy when the sun is shining.

Andy_WSM

Adding to Matelodave's post.

Age of building? Insualtion levels? Type of floor? (floating wooden or concrete?) Any drafts?

All these can make a huge difference.

Electric underfloor heating can be very expensive to run (as can all types of electric heating) if you do not have a good amount of insulation as any heat you put in to the place will keep rising and up up and away in no time at all!

If the place is well insulated electric underfloor heating can be very cosy indeed without silly costs.

cfcboy

Hi, its actually water underfloor heating system.
New build
Stone tiling in front room, kitchen
Carpet in hallway and bedrooms

matelodave

What produces the hot water for the u/f heating and how is your hot water heated.

cfcboy

i think its off the water solar panels but need to double check

matelodave

I'd doubt it. If you've got water solar panels then they might give you most of your hot water in the summer and some of it in the winter. They'd be useless for providing any heating. So you might have an electric thermal store to provide that for when the systems aren't producing.

Perhaps you need to investigate a little further to properly establish what sort of heating & hot water system you've got, gas,oil, electric, wood etc. What sort of solar you've got (water or PV or both). And finally what electricity scheme you've got, single rate, E7 or E10.

Even then, armed with all that info, I'd be looking to put away at least as much as you were (£90-£100 a month) until you can establish how much it's going to cost you.

Ideally you should save money but that's not always the case if it's been poorly installed, not set up correctly and most importantly if you don't know how to use it properly. In many cases the reason for poor performance is because the user is trying to operate them like conventional systems without understanding the differences.

Likewise your lifestyle can have a big effect on your energy bills especially if you want to use energy for heating, cooking, washing, hot water etc. during the times that these systems aren't producing any (eg. in the winter and during the evenings. early mornings and at night) you then have to use other forms of energy

Pincher

Sounds like an electric only household.


Probably a heat pump somewhere.