Hot water debate

70sbudgie

Pile_o_stone said:

Magnitio said:

Pile_o_stone said:

We have our PV attached to two immersion heaters on our tank. The iBoost diverts excess solar to the top immersion heater  first, where I  set the thermostat to 80C. Once the top of the tank reaches 80C, it  diverts to the immersion at the bottom of the tank. This immersion maxes out at 60C. On a good day we get a 350L tank full of water at 60C. We have a mixer valve that prevents scalding water getting to the taps.

Not only are we saving money because we are not using the gas boiler to supply hot water for showers, etc., we have had weeks where the boiler has not been used at all, which I  assume will prolong the life of our boiler.

What rate do you pay for your gas and what rate do you get paid for exporting electricity? The large difference between these (i.e. electricity export being greater than gas) and a comparison of environmental impact was the main reason for the debate.

For our 4kw array, we are on FITs, so we get paid a fixed amount for generation not how much  we export. For the additional 1.8kw array, we don't get paid for anything we export and don't receive anything for generation.

From the calculations of the OP, the difference between heating his water and earning money from exporting the electricity  sounded marginal and so in that case I'd use  the energy myself and have lower gas bills. 

Is there a specific reason why you don't get paid for exporting from your 1.8kW array? 

QrizB

70sbudgie said:

Pile_o_stone said:

For our 4kw array, we are on FITs, so we get paid a fixed amount for generation not how much  we export. For the additional 1.8kw array, we don't get paid for anything we export and don't receive anything for generation.

From the calculations of the OP, the difference between heating his water and earning money from exporting the electricity  sounded marginal and so in that case I'd use  the energy myself and have lower gas bills. 

Is there a specific reason why you don't get paid for exporting from your 1.8kW array? 

If I was to hazard a guess, it will be because it's not MCS certified.

(You can get almost any qualified electrician to install a solar PV system, and it could cost less than going to a solar installer, but without all the MCS paperwork you can't register it for SEG.)