Will a solar panel heat one radiator?

sisteranna_2

We have just had a conservatory/utility room built on the side of our bungalow, 15' x 5'. It has no heating. Would it be practical to install a solar panel to heat one radiator in the room? The only other alternative is an electric heater of some sort which would be far to expensive to run. Thank you.

stator

There are two types of solar panel, those that heat up water and those that product electricity. The water panels are used for hot water and aren't useful for central heating because the temperature isn't very high. An electric solar panel powerful enough to power a decent heater would be very expensive and wouldn't produce electricity at the right times.
Can't you just extend your central heating to the conservatory?

Cardew

As above, and solar doesn't work at night! So solar is a definite NO.

Robwiz

When you most need heat, in winter, the sun is at its lowest in the sky so generation is at its weakest. It wouldn't be cost effective to attempt using solar (PV or thermal) for heating most homes.

It's normal practice to not install heating in conservatories because they lose so much heat through the glass that it's too costly to heat one, whatever source of heat you use. The cheapest method would be an air to air heat pump (which could also be used as air conditioning in summer).

sisteranna_2

Thank you for your replies. Looks like a solar panel is out of the question, and extending the central heating isn't really practical. The air to air heat pump sound interesting, I've never heard of them. I had a brief look at them on the net, and it seems that it could be the solution, I'll have to investigate further - do you have any tips as to what I should look for? Are they noisy? It sounds quite space age and I am a bit of a dinosaur - but willing to learn!!

Robwiz

sisteranna wrote: »

Thank you for your replies. Looks like a solar panel is out of the question, and extending the central heating isn't really practical. The air to air heat pump sound interesting, I've never heard of them. I had a brief look at them on the net, and it seems that it could be the solution, I'll have to investigate further - do you have any tips as to what I should look for? Are they noisy? It sounds quite space age and I am a bit of a dinosaur - but willing to learn!!

You need to be clear about what you want the heat pump to do so that you size it right (which could be smaller for heating than cooling). You can get an idea of the size (power output) by running some electric convector heaters in your conservatory and measuring how many kW of power it takes to warm the room up enough for you.

You need to have suitable locations for the inside and outdoor units. They aren't particularly noisy - most can't be heard above the sound of traffic from a few metres away but it's sensible not to locate the outdoor unit near a boundary with a neighbour.

Their efficiency is expressed as a coefficient of performance – how many kW of heat output per kW consumed. The cheapest split units offer around 3.6 and you will pay more for more efficient units. If you work out that you are getting 3.6 kW heat output per 1 kW used then you'll see that the heating cost works out quite low compared to an electric heater.

To comply with building regs the heat pump should be permanently installed through an IP isolator.

sisteranna_2

If air to air heat pumps absorb heat from the air, how do they work in winter if there is no heat in the air?

Cardew

sisteranna wrote: »

If air to air heat pumps absorb heat from the air, how do they work in winter if there is no heat in the air?

Heat compared to what?


If the contents of your freezer are at, say -10C it will extract heat from those contents until they are, say, -18C. Just feel the warmth at the back of the freezer.


That essentially is the principle of a heat pump. It can extract the heat from the outside air, even if that air is below freezing point, and distribute the heat to the house; either as warm air or warm water.


It really works like a fridge in reverse!

stator

Heat pumps are more efficient than standard electric heaters but are a lot more expensive to install / repair. The lower the temperature outside the less effective it gets.
I wouldn't bother for a conservatory. Just get an electric heater and use it only when you want to be in the room, which wouldn't be often I'm guessing. A Halogen heater would work quite well.

Cardew

A 15' x 5' conservatory serving, in part, as a Utility room doesn't seem the size of room that will be used a great deal as a living room.

It may be better to forget the idea of a permanent heating system and when it is used, simply leave open the internal door to the house and use a £10 electrical fan heater.

matelodave

I agree with Cardew - if you aren't going to use it much then a fan heater will be more than sufficient