Heating ideas

lohr500

@lancunian : Are you sure there isn't sufficient access to your property for oil or LPG? Can you attach a photo of your property and the access road to it? Even an oil delivery in a baby tanker/4x4 would probably give you cheaper running costs than peak rate electric central heating, after the initial investment in an oil boiler and storage tank.
Our oil tank is located some distance from the driveway up a steep hill, but the delivery wagons have long hoses and powerful pumps. They have no problem filling the tank. 

Reed_Richards

lancunian said:

Are there still specific tariffs that are worth having or has that ended?

I believe if you move to Sweden you can get cheaper electricity for heating and heat pumps are popular there.  In Scotland see the response from @QrizB

lancunian

Hi,
Thanks again for the further replies.
I have checked and because of the inclines, an LPG or oil tank would not be practical, the access to the rear of the property is not suitable for deliveries, the front is too small.
I will look into installation of an ASHP and get a price from local installers.
Thanks again.

lancunian

Hi,
Back again.
As I mentioned earlier, I am having solar panels installed soon.
They look as though they will come with a battery for storage.
How does this work if I go for the Octopus tariff for example?
Does it sell back what is not used once the battery is full? 
What happens in winter with higher usage and less daylight?
Does that mean no excess is fed back to the grid?
I also believe you have to have a smart meter, they seem to not have a good reputation on this forum.
Are they worth getting just so I can benefit from a feed-in tariff.
Sorry for all the questions, really want to make sure I get things right.
Thanks.

Reed_Richards

You will pay a huge premium for a battery, you really ought to be certain whether you are getting one or not.
You will "sell back" what is not used once the battery is full.
In winter you are unlikely to fill your battery so there is usually nothing to sell.
Your export needs to be metered, a new smart meter can do that.

On the right tariff and with the right inverter you might be able to charge your battery at night using cheap rate electricity and then use (or possibly export) that electricity during the day.  You would need a smart meter (or perhaps an old Economy 7 meter) to be able to do that.    

lancunian

The battery should be supplied as part of the installation.
It is a local scheme installing free solar panels.

BUFF

lancunian said:

It is a local scheme installing free solar panels.

who runs it & who owns the installation (& gets any export payments)?
This potentially could cause an issue when selling the property if they are leased.

Benny2020

Yes, make sure you understand the deal

Ectophile

It all depends how the battery is connected.

For example, my system has the solar panels and the battery both connected to the inverter. The inverter has a sensor on the incoming live mains, so it always knows whether power is flowing into or out of the house from the grid.

The battery is only ever charged from solar power. There's no option to use off peak grid electricity.

Reed_Richards

My system is much the same but the meter that measures generation from the solar panels measures electricity flow in both directions and by default displays the difference, which is the electricity generated.  Therefore if I had access to off-peak electricity (which I don't) then i could use it to charge the battery yet still know how much my solar panels have generated.  My inverter has the capability to do this, although the setting is rather obscure.