Solar Panels and Combi Boiler but no tank?!

silverwhistle

Well done to the developer for putting some on, but no prizes for anything else about the situation. I think markin has probably summed it up well.


How many panels are there? For example I have a terrace house and have managed to retrofit 16 panels, but I see quite a number of newish estates on a train journey I do where there are only 4.

Heedtheadvice

You seem to not understand what you have and the difference in panel types.


Solar thermal designed to heat water, use solar radiation to directly a panel or tubes linked to water and heat indirectly connected by pipes to some sort of hot water store (hw cylinder or a preheat cylinder). Typically for a pair of panels might save you £50 per annum.


Solar photovoltaic (PV) use solar radiation to convert it to electricity in the panels (direct current) that is transferred by cables to an inverter to convert it to ac and control it to feed into your 'mains' for your use and export. Panels can produce at peak times 250 to 300 watts each (in sunshine hitting them directly at 90 degrees or so with no shade). You can therefore count them up to see your max benefit. A big system (many panels) can generate a lot over a whole year maybe 3000 to 4000 kWhours. This can be beneficial in two ways. If you can use all that generation is saves you buying that from the grid. Typically most people (such as those using power mostly during the best spring summer middle of the day periods) only get to use 50% of their generation. Excess is exported to the national grid. If it had been registered for Feed in Tariff (FIT, as mentioned above, too late to do that now) then you would receive a renewab!e incentive for whatever you generated plus a payment for what you export, again typically often not measured and deemed to be the 50% you probably have not used yourself.

If you are purchasing the rest of your property you really ought to establish with certainty what system you have. If you have not been registered for FIT then the builder may have been and be receiving the payments! It could also be that they are owned by an independent party under a rent a roof scheme where an initial payment is given to allow the panels to be installed. If tbe latter that payment coukd have been made to the builder, I think!


Both of those situations may have legal implications hence you need to find out and get legal advice as part of your conveyance!!!!


If non apply and you do not get FIT then missed a trick but maybe irrelevent now. Just try to use the power when generated.


You wrote you hae boxed in the 'box' in the loft. If it is an electronic inverter for solar pv that is a bad idea as it may cause overheating and premature failure. Expected life can be ten years (maybe more) and cost quite a bit to replace. It might be more than the total benefit you are getting from the installation over the pv system full 20 year (or so) life !!...or it could be, like the panels somebody elses property.

Lots of if then maybes there and possible implications!
Suggest doing a bit more research!!!!

edgex

kimbyanne wrote: »

Thanks all, turns out they are PV panels! We do not get any FIT payments as apparently the ones we have do not store electricity, they just use what is produced at the time?!

The house was purposed on shared ownership and we are about to buy the rest of it, so I will ensure we ask the right questions.

According to a neighbour, only some of the houses have the panels that work with the hot water, whereas others got Combi boilers and PV panels?! Like I said, we never took much notice of them and just assumed they worked as per the sales brochure!

Are you buying a property from a Housing Association?
Maybe they were getting the FIT payments.

You should also contact them to get the full spec on the system, so you know exactly what you've got & how much electricity it is likely to produce, & when.