Help with changes to current set up

NedS

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82124089#Comment_82124089

Staggering the loads is your best option. Things like heating hot water will presumably not take the full cheap rate period and can be staggered with anything else likewise, and as you say the EV charging can load balance as a last resort.

Also, I have an option to turn my heat pump down to half power mode (you may have similar, or a quiet or ECO mode that reduces power) so it takes a little while longer to run the DHW cycle but isn't running flat out. My 12kW heat pump ramps up from around 1.5-3.0kW over the course of the run. When running flat out during an octopus free electricity hour, it can peak at ~4.8kW

Final option - sell the hot tub!

bintyandthebeast

I really don't want to pull 100amps+ and keep fingers crossed so will stagger what I can. Most nights the car is done after a couple of hours and hot water can get moved by 2/3 hours which should sort it.

We do have an eco mode on our Panasonic heat pump and I also think it's been massively overspecced so will see how first winter goes.

I appreciate I should probably look at a 3-phase supply but trying to avoid the expense. It would more than cancel out the savings I'm making when installing new batteries & larger inverter to charge them a waste of time

NedS

@bintyandthebeast wrote:

We do have an eco mode on our Panasonic heat pump and I also think it's been massively overspecced so will see how first winter goes.

Same here, we have a 12kW heat pump, when a 5-7kW unit probably would have done the job. Running in Eco mode should hopefully reduce power draw at the expense of taking a little longer to heat the tank. As the Eco name suggests, it's also more economical as compressors are more efficient operating in the 40-75% range than when running flat out, and Eco mode most likely restricts compressor frequency which reduces power use and improves efficiency.