Discussion ... ASHP(Air/Air) with Solar pv ....

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  • zeupater
    zeupater Posts: 5,355 Forumite
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    Hi

    We had the heat-pump on quite a bit during April but ended up using slightly less electricity than last year (69.0kWh vs 70.9) despite the house temperature being noticeably more comfortable ..... gas usage was the same as last year (ie none!) and the log pile at the end of the heating season is still pretty healthy as we've only used about 1/2 of what we'd normally burn between October and now, which is pretty interesting if repeatable (weather dependant).

    HTH
    Z
    "We are what we repeatedly do, excellence then is not an act, but a habit. " ...... Aristotle
    B)
  • zeupater
    zeupater Posts: 5,355 Forumite
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    Martyn1981 wrote: »
    Yes, I have to back that point up. In my case 'the conservatory' is ....
    ... don't worry about the conservatory or the heat-pump, MrsZ wants to know whether you've dusted the fire surround yet ?? ... :o;)

    Z
    "We are what we repeatedly do, excellence then is not an act, but a habit. " ...... Aristotle
    B)
  • Martyn1981
    Martyn1981 Posts: 14,754 Forumite
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    zeupater wrote: »
    ... don't worry about the conservatory or the heat-pump, MrsZ wants to know whether you've dusted the fire surround yet ?? ... :o;)

    Z

    If you're referring to what I think you are referring, I nearly did (after uploading), but couldn't be bothered starting again.
    Mart. Cardiff. 5.58 kWp PV systems (3.58 ESE & 2.0 WNW)

    For general PV advice please see the PV FAQ thread on the Green & Ethical Board.
  • ASavvyBuyer
    ASavvyBuyer Posts: 1,737 Forumite
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    Now the heating season is over for our GCH (wireless thermostat has not turned it on since 1st May) I have done a quick comparison of the 2015/16 heating season compared to the current one that has just finished (2016/17).

    Over the 2016/17 GCH season we have imported 63kWh more electric than during the 2015/16 GCH season.

    But, used 5,311 kWh less gas than last winter. Saving just under 48% of our usual gas consumption.

    No need to have the gas fire in the lounge on at any time this winter, as the ASHP has always kept the room warm. That probably helps account for quite a bit of the gas savings.
  • Martyn1981
    Martyn1981 Posts: 14,754 Forumite
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    Mart's happy! :snow_laug

    Supposedly shaded temp from garden weather station is 29C, living room is 22C. ...... Cool!
    Mart. Cardiff. 5.58 kWp PV systems (3.58 ESE & 2.0 WNW)

    For general PV advice please see the PV FAQ thread on the Green & Ethical Board.
  • Exiled_Tyke
    Exiled_Tyke Posts: 1,189 Forumite
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    54076_wes070020_FLP_00_l.gif

    Here's my issue. The house is fairly large (4 bedrooms, 2 baths, pretty large lounge and kitchen). The most used room is the lounge but we have a log burner in there. This allows me to turn the central heating lower in the rest of the house (and obviously off altogether in the lounge). So far (in the depths of winter) I would say that the stove has added to comfort levels rather than significantly reduced the bills. I love the idea of a ASHP but were would I put it, and am I going to get much benefit/savings in the shoulder months (in addition to wonderful a/c at this time of year)
    Install 28th Nov 15, 3.3kW, (11x300LG), SolarEdge, SW. W Yorks.
    Install 2: Sept 19, 600W SSE
    Solax 6.3kWh battery
  • ASavvyBuyer
    ASavvyBuyer Posts: 1,737 Forumite
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    Exiled_Tyke wrote: »
    54076_wes070020_FLP_00_l.gif

    Here's my issue. The house is fairly large (4 bedrooms, 2 baths, pretty large lounge and kitchen). The most used room is the lounge but we have a log burner in there. This allows me to turn the central heating lower in the rest of the house (and obviously off altogether in the lounge). So far (in the depths of winter) I would say that the stove has added to comfort levels rather than significantly reduced the bills. I love the idea of a ASHP but were would I put it, and am I going to get much benefit/savings in the shoulder months (in addition to wonderful a/c at this time of year)

    I suspect that you would still get a substantial saving in the shoulder months, but that depends on the cost of your wood supplies for the wood burner; if free then no. Z has previously reported only using about half the amount of wood through this last winter.

    As the lounge is the room used the most, that is probably the best place to put it, as it appears you have an outside wall for the lounge. The outside unit we have is very quiet, so not likely to disturb neighbours if they are nearby.

    Having the cooling is also great in the current weather.
  • Martyn1981
    Martyn1981 Posts: 14,754 Forumite
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    I don't think I've learned enough yet, but I think ASB is right that you would still save on the wood costs.

    But my thought is that you'd also be able to enjoy a 'quick burn' from the HP, when lighting a fire might be too much trouble. For instance, an hour or so before bed, when it's a little too chilly, or as I've found, those shoulder month days, when you know the house will heat up with solar gain later in the day, but a short burn, perhaps 20 mins of the HP, will do the job (off PV) an hour or so earlier.

    I'm assuming you enjoy the log burner, nice looks, type of heat, naturally lifts human spirits etc etc, so presumably your ASHP use and therefore gains would be a bit less, but you might appreciate the ease of use, if you can get a reasonable price.

    I have to say, I didn't expect to get to play with the AC so soon, and I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have been needed at all last year, but ...... I really don't like being too hot, so the benefit the last 2 days has certainly been worth a lot of money to me, but hard to quantify.
    Mart. Cardiff. 5.58 kWp PV systems (3.58 ESE & 2.0 WNW)

    For general PV advice please see the PV FAQ thread on the Green & Ethical Board.
  • tunnel
    tunnel Posts: 2,588 Forumite
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    Martyn1981 wrote: »
    I have to say, I didn't expect to get to play with the AC so soon, and I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have been needed at all last year, but ...... I really don't like being too hot, so the benefit the last 2 days has certainly been worth a lot of money to me, but hard to quantify.
    My wife hates being hot......it's the main reason I bought ours years ago. As for the current weather...well let's just say we were burning our FiTs earnings long into the night past couple of days.
    2 kWp SEbE , 2kWp SSW & 2.5kWp NWbW.....in sunny North Derbyshire17.7kWh Givenergy battery added(for the power hungry kids)
  • zeupater
    zeupater Posts: 5,355 Forumite
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    edited 26 May 2017 at 8:11PM
    Exiled_Tyke wrote: »
    54076_wes070020_FLP_00_l.gif
    Here's my issue. The house is fairly large (4 bedrooms, 2 baths, pretty large lounge and kitchen). The most used room is the lounge but we have a log burner in there. This allows me to turn the central heating lower in the rest of the house (and obviously off altogether in the lounge). So far (in the depths of winter) I would say that the stove has added to comfort levels rather than significantly reduced the bills. I love the idea of a ASHP but were would I put it, and am I going to get much benefit/savings in the shoulder months (in addition to wonderful a/c at this time of year)
    Hi ET

    I don't know how you use the rooms, the layout of the furniture or where the property boundaries are (too close & planning restrictions could apply), but my gut feeling would be to look at the the same wall as the log-burner, but in the single storey area at the back of the house ... this would provide a heat source which isn't too close to the burner if you decide/need to run both together, which will provide a more even heat distribution.

    To give an idea ... consider a L shaped layout consisting of two rooms (similar in size to the lounge & dining room in your diagram) with double doors between the two rooms and both rooms also having double doors onto a hall - our log burner would be at the top of the vertical section of the 'L' & the ASHP in the horizontal part. We use the smaller room for TV etc and that tends to be where we sit most of the time. With doors closed, the heat-pump has no problem raising the temperature in the TV room in a few minutes even when it's very cold outside, before ramping down to draw very little power ... opening the adjoining double doors to the lounge increases the 'time-to-temperature', but the unit will still easily cope with heating the space in all conditions we've encountered so-far (remember - we have loads of insulation & high internal thermal mass) .... If you use the 'Dining Room' on the layout as a TV/entertainment area and installed the heat-pump in there (on long external wall), then you would be able to have a very similar set-up to us, but it may be a little too close to the burner when using both together (thermostat set-point cut-out) ...

    For the shoulder months we've tended to heat the 'living area' with the heat-pump during the day, then open up the doors to the hall overnight to allow the heat throughout the house ... this is just an extension of what we've done for years with the log-burner, with the doors effectively being used as baffles to control the temperature, so nothing new ... you would obviously be able to (& probably already do?) use your doors in a similar way.

    On the logs side, ASB remembers it right, we've still got about half of our usual October delivery left due to considerably shortening the burn-season ... part of this could also be due to annual temperature variations, but with last winter being similar to the previous year it looks encouraging ...

    HTH
    Z
    "We are what we repeatedly do, excellence then is not an act, but a habit. " ...... Aristotle
    B)
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