Energy help /advice please ..

Countryways

Hi ...

We're retired in a 5 bed detached house in a national park.
Our energy use isn't unaffordable but it's pretty grim.

We have a 4 oven oil fired aga, oil fired central heating and hot water and a large 'villager' wood burner.
We have no gas supply but the electricity supply is reasonably stable

We use about 3500 litres of oil per year
We use about 3tonne of mixed 'seasoned' logs per year from local woodland forestry commission cutting ... Pricing of these logs reflects local market demand but is typically £100-150 per tonne

Obviously the AGA is a luxury item and makes no sense from a green or economic perspective

Our roofline is too varied for Solar PV (would need 4 converters), we won't get planning for a wind turbine (too little land) and our near neighbours who have a ground source heat pump don't think it's worth it. We'd like a biomass boiler but our energy needs are just too small to make it sensible on a cost basis.

We're considering abandoning oil fired central heating completely and instead relying on electrics for hot water, the AGA and log burner for all warmth and just portable oil-filled electric heaters for the bedrooms when we have visitors)

Any thoughts welcome ...ty

theboylard

I'm not sure of your comment about converters and solar pv? If you mean inverters then I find that very unlikely?

If you can post a picture of your house from google maps (you can crop the image down so we can't see exactly where you are, for your security), then some of the helpful folk on here will be able to offer suggestions as to the viability of solar in your situation.?

Martyn1981

Countryways wrote: »

Hi ...

Our roofline is too varied for Solar PV (would need 4 converters), we won't get planning for a wind turbine (too little land) and our near neighbours who have a ground source heat pump don't think it's worth it. We'd like a biomass boiler but our energy needs are just too small to make it sensible on a cost basis.

Any thoughts welcome ...ty

Hi and welcome.

Like theboylard, I'm not sure what you mean about the PV, but assuming you've been told this because it's a complicated roof with lots of 'bits' then there is some good news.

There are two methods that can solve the problem, and are well used, either micro-inverters with one on each panel, or a SolarEdge system which has one inverter but this links to a power optimiser on each panel. Both systems effectively treat each panel as a separate system before adding it all back together.

That should solve the problem of a bitty, complex roof ........ assuming you can get planning permission in a national park. I know that PV is permitted development in a simple conservation area, but it might not be so easy for you, I don't really know.

With PV you can also fit a diverter that sends any excess generation to the water tank immersion heater. However, whilst I use PV to run an oil filled radiator during cold, but sunny times, it won't generate a huge amount for heating since PV generates a lot less during the GMT months.

Mart.

Countryways

Thanks...I meant inverter ... We had two diff companies come and look at the roof for suitability when the government incentive was at its best ... They both were pretty dismissive. The Park will allow PV for some, so I imagine it might be possible for us. The pic below (top = North) shows the problems. On the south heading roof, on the south west face there is a v large chimney (1.5m x 1.5m), southeast is usable. On the east end of main roof south side there is a large dormer where panels could be placed either side. On the west side of the main roof there is only a small usable area. The north side of main roof has 3 velux windows but is pretty much I shade all day.
Pic to follow when I figure out how to upload it (from iPad pics)

Ectophile

Unless you switch to Economy 7, then electricity for heating (water or room heating) will be even more expensive than oil. Standard-rate electricity is about the most expensive "fuel" going.

http://www.nottenergy.com/energy_cost_comparison/ (look particularly at the "Pence per kW" column).

Countryways

Still can't upload pic ... Downsides of only using iPads.

Looking forward is it really true that elec is always likely to be more expensive than oil?
My impression is that OPEC have acted to reduce oil prices as a way of sanctioning Russia. So I'd agree that on a 5 year view oil will be cheap ...but on a 10-30yr view it's entirely less clear to me that oil will be cheaper. This is why my personal preference is instinctively for wood(/biomass) and electric. But obviously I could be completely wrong!

theboylard

Morning Countryways!
You will find it easier to upload an image to a image hosting site?
Plenty of them around, I use PostImage.org, but that's just me.

Upload your pic to the hosting site, they will provide different links to share, find the one that works best for a forum (with Postimage, for smaller images I use the Hotlink for Forums (1), but bigger pics I use Thumbnail for Forums (1) - you can paste the whole link in to your forum post, it does it all for you.

Ectophile

Oil will have to go up a lot before it exceeds the price of electricity.

However, there is one other factor to consider: electric heating appliances tend to be highly reliable, while oil and gas ones need regular servicing and go wrong from time to time.

Countryways

Ty for the advice on the pic ...but the forum says I can't post links as I'm a new user... The http address tho is oi59.tinypic.com/t7iy3d.jpg (not sure if the 'o' needs to be at the start)

Countryways

In relation to PV my core questions relate to long term maintenance including cleaning, servicing, panel expected and real lifetimes, degradation rates etc. My instinct is that the solar PV initiative by the government allowed many companies to start-up a very good business for advice, installation and maintenance. ... But in time as new business volumes for advice/installation taper off the 'maintenance only' part will change those businesses dynamics/economics and many companies will go out of business. Do folk who have installations plan for very long term maintenance or is it really more a matter of planned obsolescence within a decade or so ?

Martyn1981

Countryways wrote: »

Ty for the advice on the pic ...but the forum says I can't post links as I'm a new user... The http address tho is oi59.tinypic.com/t7iy3d.jpg (not sure if the 'o' needs to be at the start)

Hiya. Looking at the pic on:

http://oi59.tinypic.com/t7iy3d.jpg

it looks like you've got a nice ESE roof and a slightly 'busy' SSW roof. You could also consider the WNW roof (I did mine).

Depending on their size, then you might be able to fit a decent system. As mentioned earlier you may need something like a SolarEdge system to deal with any shading, such as that small roof on the SSW roof, but it's hard to make out much detail. the WNW looks to have some obstruction too.

Have a look at what SolarEdge does here:

SolarEdge pt1

the only issue with this is that you have extra bits of kit where they may be hard to access if there's a fault. The power optimisers (PO's) have a 25yr warranty. Looking at the pic, is the property a bungalow, as that makes things a bit simpler and hopefully a little cheaper.

Mart.