Electric Boiler Comparison

bluestreak56

Thanks for the feedback all, I will ask my builder about potentially splitting the gas supply between the two..

Croft12

Unless you have solar panels electric heating will always be much more expensive than gas.

Andy_WSM

Croft12 wrote: »

Unless you have solar panels electric heating will always be much more expensive than gas.

Even WITH solar panels, electric heating will be much more expensive than gas.

Reason - during the months you need heat the Sun is not high enough in the sky, or in the sky long enough to provide useful amounts of energy. I can back this up with figures from my own 4kW PV system if required.

macman

Agreed. You generally need most heat when it's dark in winter-and that's when the PV system will be outputting zero.

lstar337

macman wrote: »

Agreed. You generally need most heat when it's dark in winter-and that's when the PV system will be outputting zero.

And even with the offset of reduced import during good summers, it'll never compensate for the cost of electric heating.

bluestreak56

Andy_WSM wrote: »

Even WITH solar panels, electric heating will be much more expensive than gas.

Reason - during the months you need heat the Sun is not high enough in the sky, or in the sky long enough to provide useful amounts of energy. I can back this up with figures from my own 4kW PV system if required.

This would be useful. I have pictures of the roof on dropbox but am not permitted to paste them here, can PM them if its useful.

Ta

Andy_WSM

bluestreak56 wrote: »

This would be useful. I have pictures of the roof on dropbox but am not permitted to paste them here, can PM them if its useful.

Ta

You've misunderstood me. I can neither give you a price for a system, nor work out how big a system you can have from the pictures. I simply meant I could give you an idea of how much energy a 4kW PV system could produce - and I can guarantee it isn't enough to heat a room in the Winter, let alone a house.

Here are the predicted production figures for my location:

Jan 106
Feb 171
Mar 283
Apr 422
May 492
Jun 481
Jul 499
Aug 438
Sep 327
Oct 210
Nov 124
Dec 79
Yearly average 303
Total for year3630

As you can see, the colder months produce very little comparatively. They are generally colder as the Sun makes less of an appearance and is lower in the sky when it does - precisely the 2 things you don't want for Solar!

Croft12

Andy_WSM wrote: »

Even WITH solar panels, electric heating will be much more expensive than gas.

Reason - during the months you need heat the Sun is not high enough in the sky, or in the sky long enough to provide useful amounts of energy. I can back this up with figures from my own 4kW PV system if required.

I have a PV system myself thanks. However I have friends with significantly larger arrays 16 and 20kw whose generation makes things rather different.

Andy_WSM

Croft12 wrote: »

I have a PV system myself thanks. However I have friends with significantly larger arrays 16 and 20kw whose generation makes things rather different.

Well that's clearly indisputable but I don't see how the response is even relevant to this thread or aimed at me? I was sent some pictures by PM to look at. The available roof space is less than my roof holding a 4kW system, so there is not a chance of the Op having anything as big, let alone 4 or 5 times the size.

I am pleased you have friends.

bluestreak56

Andy_WSM wrote: »

You've misunderstood me. I can neither give you a price for a system, nor work out how big a system you can have from the pictures. I simply meant I could give you an idea of how much energy a 4kW PV system could produce - and I can guarantee it isn't enough to heat a room in the Winter, let alone a house.

Here are the predicted production figures for my location:

Jan 106
Feb 171
Mar 283
Apr 422
May 492
Jun 481
Jul 499
Aug 438
Sep 327
Oct 210
Nov 124
Dec 79
Yearly average 303
Total for year3630

As you can see, the colder months produce very little comparatively. They are generally colder as the Sun makes less of an appearance and is lower in the sky when it does - precisely the 2 things you don't want for Solar!

Ah ok sorry for the misinterpretation. I dont think I would be able to get anywhere near a 4kw system on the amount of roofspace I have. Although I suppose it depends on the ability to apply panels to dormer roofs.

I will have to get a quote I guess..

Cheers