Is this a good quote for Solar?

JimLad

Well the guy is coming around on wednesday evening to survey the property to confirm the details of the quote.

GOnna have a chat with my neighbour (works for a solar company) about the routing of cables and positioning of inverters.

Think the inverter is gonna have to go in the loft, but i was wondering about the cable...Would i be allowed to have it go down the side of the house behind a drain pipe and then trail along at ground level in the front garden (about 4m) to the front door (where the fuse box is). Then through the wall and up to the box on the inside?

nigelpm

JimLad wrote: »

Would i be allowed to have it go down the side of the house behind a drain pipe and then trail along at ground level in the front garden (about 4m) to the front door (where the fuse box is). Then through the wall and up to the box on the inside?

Do you mean allowed as in "not in breach of any regulations" or allowed as in "will the installers do it?"

If first question then yes should be fine.

If second question you'd have to ask them.

JimLad

nigelpm wrote: »

Do you mean allowed as in "not in breach of any regulations" or allowed as in "will the installers do it?"

If first question then yes should be fine.

If second question you'd have to ask them.

Yes the first. I wasnt sure if a ground level cable would be against some kind of regulation but i suppose its armoured so wouldnt really matter.

mac2008

JimLad wrote: »

Yes the first. I wasnt sure if a ground level cable would be against some kind of regulation but i suppose its armoured so wouldnt really matter.

Yes as long as it is secured to the wall should be fine. Same goes for running it behind the drainpipe - they will have to secure it to the wall so might not be 100% hidden. Should be pretty discrete though.


Regarding getting it in the house, if they take it in at ground level then I expect they will surface mount it on the inside, as I don't think you can have an unsecured cable in a cavity. If they can get it in the corner with some quarter round trucking it'd look quite neat?


Also won't quite go in in at ground level - will have to go in above floor/damp proof course level.

JimLad

mac2008 wrote: »

If they can get it in the corner with some quarter round trucking it'd look quite neat?

Thats what im hoping!

Its funny, now that i have decided to go for solar, every time there is a sunny day im thinking about all the electricity im missing out on!

nigelpm

JimLad wrote: »

Thats what im hoping!

Its funny, now that i have decided to go for solar, every time there is a sunny day im thinking about all the electricity im missing out on!

Get used to it. these past few months have been exceptional.

silverwhistle

JimLad wrote: »

I have the money in the bank gaining pitiful interest and i dont plan on moving for a good 8+ years. South facing roof.

Exactly my situation and rationale. You could go into tremendous and accurate detail with your spreadsheet, but I'm c. 11 months into my installation and so far (rounded figures) £550 in FITs is a lot better than £30 interest. (Opportunity cost blah blah, has been ignored). As for savings on your bill, you've been quoted optimistic figures, but as someone with an iBoost, electric cooking and single, I stopped using gas in March and won't recommence until October. No inefficient use of a cycling gas boiler. If I didn't have an electric shower I'd be using hot water from the tank and saving even more money. As it is my tank has been at temperature for a long time, and the thermostat means I don't have to bother with turning the iBoost off: just let the thermostat do the work.

The price is great. Mine was a little more, but on the South coast everything important is more expensive: houses, beer, PV installations.

JimLad

silverwhistle wrote: »

Exactly my situation and rationale. You could go into tremendous and accurate detail with your spreadsheet, but I'm c. 11 months into my installation and so far (rounded figures) £550 in FITs is a lot better than £30 interest. (Opportunity cost blah blah, has been ignored). As for savings on your bill, you've been quoted optimistic figures, but as someone with an iBoost, electric cooking and single, I stopped using gas in March and won't recommence until October. No inefficient use of a cycling gas boiler. If I didn't have an electric shower I'd be using hot water from the tank and saving even more money. As it is my tank has been at temperature for a long time, and the thermostat means I don't have to bother with turning the iBoost off: just let the thermostat do the work.

The price is great. Mine was a little more, but on the South coast everything important is more expensive: houses, beer, PV installations.

With the rising cost of electricity and gas too its only going to get better!

Im impressed that you can get away with no gas hot water at all. I will try it but i recon the early morning showers wont be hot enough.

JimLad

My neighbor came around at the weekend, the one opposite me who already has solar panels, and he was telling me how they cabled in his system. It turns out there is a boxed in drain that runs down the corner of my bathroom and then down through my hallway where the fusebox is. In his house they routed the cable down inside the boxing so hopefully they can do the same at mine and we can avoid the cable on the outside of the house :-)

Looking forward to the guy coming to do the survey on wednesday night now! Want to get them in ASAP to make the most of the last weeks of summer

zeupater

JimLad wrote: »

... impressed that you can get away with no gas hot water at all. I will try it but i recon the early morning showers wont be hot enough.

Hi

We've got solar thermal instead of energy diversion, but like Silverwhistle, don't use any gas for DHW between mid/late Spring and mid/late Autumn and the shower is warm enough to pass the MrsZ morning temperature test ....

A very important consideration missed by many is that to achieve this level of energy self sufficiency a reasonably large DHW cylinder would be required in order to cover a number of consecutive dull days ... get that sorted and there should be no real problems unless you simply waste hot water with a high-performance power shower or one of those silly (unrestricted) 'tropical downpour' showerheads ...

HTH
Z