Moved from house with solar panels, advice please

sondheimsoc

Hi, we have moved from a house where we had solar panels installed in 2011 (using my husband's redundancy payout) and it was the best thing we ever did. I even manged to sell the FIT on before we moved.

We are now in another south facing house and I am seriously thinking of having them again, despite the lack of financial incentive this time round.

My question is: we have a system central heating boiler with a large water tank. I'd like to use solar thermal panels to heat the water but would also like to have solar PV. I have researched and there appears to be a hybrid version that does both although I haven't as yet managed to find any installers. I wondered if any of you knew about these / had experience and whether you'd recommend them, or do we go for 2 separate installations?

Thanks

Lynne

Ectophile

It might be simpler to use solar PV to heat the tank.  Use a "diverter" to send excess power to the immersion heater.

sondheimsoc

Many thanks, I didn't know about diverters. I've just Googled and yes, they sound as if that would be the best way forward. Any advice on best makes/suppliers?

mickyduck55

I have a Solic.. its inexpensive and does the job.. no system data and no adjustment but it is simple to fit and works...

sondheimsoc

Many thanks.

70sbudgie

I looked at solar thermal before I looked at PV (in the gap between FITs and SEG). I couldn't make it stack up financially (not even close). But I have recently bought a solar diverter. Same outcome (hot water) but for ~£300 instead of £5k.

Screwdriva

70sbudgie said:

I looked at solar thermal before I looked at PV (in the gap between FITs and SEG). I couldn't make it stack up financially (not even close). But I have recently bought a solar diverter. Same outcome (hot water) but for ~£300 instead of £5k.

I broadly agree with this. There were some major solar thermal incentives in some parts of the UK. Today, it really only works if 1) You have a South facing roof in the Southern parts of England 2) It is piped to work with your gas boiler/ heat pump set up correctly.

Your best bet is to invest in a good Solar PV rooftop system and sell the excess energy to the grid. The variable SEG tariff has been consistently paying 2X the purchase price of electricity of late and, with no sight of stability on the horizon, is likely to prove more financially rewarding than a diverter. Your main challenge will be finding an installer willing to install quality components this year. 

ispookie666

I moved and gave in after 9 months. Always have had diverter. With batteries may not make economic sense 

Mikeyboy01443

I just use my immersion to heat water, i control it manually at the moment but i have bought a WiFi switch to control it more easily.
I didn't want to spend the extra hundreds on a diverter just to press a switch 

mickyduck55

Mikeyboy01443 said:

I just use my immersion to heat water, i control it manually at the moment but i have bought a WiFi switch to control it more easily.
I didn't want to spend the extra hundreds on a diverter just to press a switch 

I really don't get it... its not simply clicking a switch .. its clicking it when you have excess generation and clicking it again every time a cloud passes... Im retired so not really busy BUT I am absolutely certain I would switch the immersion on, pop to the allotment, the loo, shops and find I had used 1 - 3  kWh heating my water using mains power because I hadn't noticed it was cloudy / importing.  If its financially a good idea probably not if you have a good SEG (but if that's the case its not sensible to heat using electricity) but its been sat there for 6-7 years just doing its thing. 

Dave_Fowler

mickyduck55 said:

Mikeyboy01443 said:

I just use my immersion to heat water, i control it manually at the moment but i have bought a WiFi switch to control it more easily.
I didn't want to spend the extra hundreds on a diverter just to press a switch 

I really don't get it... its not simply clicking a switch .. its clicking it when you have excess generation and clicking it again every time a cloud passes... Im retired so not really busy BUT I am absolutely certain I would switch the immersion on, pop to the allotment, the loo, shops and find I had used 1 - 3  kWh heating my water using mains power because I hadn't noticed it was cloudy / importing.  If its financially a good idea probably not if you have a good SEG (but if that's the case its not sensible to heat using electricity) but its been sat there for 6-7 years just doing its thing. 

And it's not only that; a switch is on or off - 3kW or nothing. A controller will mop up whatever power is available, so that every last Watt hour is used to heat the water.