Solar PV dump load

QrizB

Over in another thread:

@Spies said:

A friend mentioned dumping excess solar into a storage heater at this time of the year, is that really a feasible thing to do? Can you get freestanding ones you can activate with a smart plug? 

I thought I'd break this out for separate discussion. Possibly a short one.

Storage heaters are metal boxes full of bricks. They're heavy and generally need fixing to the wall. New ones are expensive although used ones can be relatively cheap.

How much heat do you want to dump? And where/when do you want to use it?

Most people (myself included) are happy to use surplus solar electricity for water heating, but a storage heater seems a lot of work for something that's only going to be needed for the few weeks a year where there's an abundance of sunshine but it's also cold enough to need space heating.

(Although a 30 litre tea urn would let you dump 3kWh or so while keeping the kitchen warm, plus you'd always have tea!)

Spies

A more sensible solution would be what @2nd_time_buyer has done and got an air to air heat pump, issue I have is that it wouldn't be a simple install as I'm not sure where the condenser would go and the room I want it in, is on the second floor.

So far this month I've exported 117kwh, earlier in the month the unit rates were quite favourable but now we are dropping down to 17p

QrizB

I've been washing laundry and heating water, but my HW tank isn't the biggest and eventually I run out of laundry

Your system is 60% bigger than mine in terms of Wp. I've exported 61kWh so far this month but I'm on deemed-export FIT so it makes no difference to my earnings.

17p/kWh is still pretty good excellent, compared to the 5p/kWh (or less) that most other SEG owners get. At that rate your £1.12/watt system would pay back in about 7 years solely from export.

In fact at 17p/kWh aren't you better off exporting it for cash, then buying gas/oil/LPG to heat with? Or is your household all-electric? (I'm sure you've said but I honestly don't remember.)

Spies

We are on Gas CH but have since been thinking if a a2ahp can reach an SCOP of 3 or more it would make it more comparible to Gas heating in that room?

Obviously it's another big-ish outlay and it would take time to repay.

I guess the other thing would be to try to move to an EV in the not-too-distant future. 

ispookie666

As I mentioned in the other thread. I hooked up a smart plug,  temperature controller and oil filled radiator. It's only useful when I'm home and can heat up the living area. Maybe I'll do something similar with the second outlet of the iBoost. 
But these are only temporary measures till chill is in the air. Might revert to running the Aircons during the day time. 

I'm not even SEG registered ☹️

paul991

i put the  spare  out put on immersion divert-er to towel rail and a dedicated socket for a  2  rate  convector  heater ,<750 1250> but obviously is only  of  any  use for  a few weeks  a year.as  on i am   fit its  not worth changing  to a seg  payment

Exiled_Tyke

This could be an interesting development - but sounds expensive.    https://octopus.energy/blog/tepeo/

At a more down to earth level, when I'm working at home, on sunny days I use an oil filled radiator which I can set at 400w, 600w or 1kw.  I don't need sophisticated iboost type equipment I just keep an eye on the weather outside and the Solax monitoring portal and set the power accordingly. 

gefnew

Slow cooker for food for tea time works well also try batch cooking and freezing.
Charge every thing up, increase freezer temp to max so reduces overnight use.

ispookie666

Need another hot water cylinder/expansion vessel with immersion, circulation pump and a zone valve.  All this to come on when there is excess solar along with power off to oil boiler 

Ectophile

Exiled_Tyke said:

This could be an interesting development - but sounds expensive.    https://octopus.energy/blog/tepeo/

At a more down to earth level, when I'm working at home, on sunny days I use an oil filled radiator which I can set at 400w, 600w or 1kw.  I don't need sophisticated iboost type equipment I just keep an eye on the weather outside and the Solax monitoring portal and set the power accordingly. 

Same here.  It's been useful when working from home on those Spring or Autumn days when it's a bit chilly.  And no expensive equipment to install.

Meatballs

It's a shame diverters are so expensive