SolarPV and Electric Cars

air

Shefwedfan wrote: »

Do it once and do it right.......

As for this nonsense, is this a kind of mantra that use to reassure yourself or something?
Keep that for your cult.

Shefwedfan

air wrote: »

Maintenance / parts for a fixed appliance?
When was the last time you had a repair man out to look at your TV set or fridge freezer?
If you had a problem outside warranty any refrigeration engineer worth his salt should be able to sort it out.
It should require zero maintenance in it's lifetime, much the same as a fridge freezer.

I'm not selling the bloody things btw, just making what I thought was a helpful suggestion to the OP.
I'm sure there's someone locally selling similar units at a half reasonable cost if local hand holding is important to you.

I am the OP

A TV set/fridge freezer no longer last a lifetime. Majority of these products break on a regular occurrence. Most of the time it is cheaper to replace than fix, if possible I will make sure the product can be fixed before I can buy....

Nobody said you are selling the product but why post if you have no idea? how can you make a statement saying it doesn't require maintenance? on what basis have you made this?

Also making a statement like "any refrigeration engineer worth his salt should be able to sort it out" is b**sh*t. And as I already posted with the original Heat Pumps this was the issue, people invested and then couldn't get the unit repaired/fixed.....

n97 mini

air wrote: »

Maintenance / parts for a fixed appliance?
When was the last time you had a repair man out to look at your TV set or fridge freezer?

I don't know where you're buying your stuff, but nothing lasts like it used to. We've had expensive TVs fail after 6 or 7 years (capacitors in the Samsung, main logic board in the Sony). Fridges can develop bad thermostats, I've one at the moment that won't cool below 8 degrees. Logic board in the dishwasher replaced under warranty... starting to fail again too (can't change programmes without doing a full reset). Motor gone in Bosch washing machine, granted it lasted 10 years.

A friend was living in a rented house that had a Panasonic branded air source heat pump which failed. Panasonic guy came out to look at it... it was Chinese clone! Eventually tracked down the company that made it and got a new logic board after 4 months without heating.

Shefwedfan

air wrote: »

As for this nonsense, is this a kind of mantra that use to reassure yourself or something?
Keep that for your cult.

Yes my mantra is do it once and right

If your mantra is wasting money and hiring people that are worth there "salt" then off you go. That's your prerogative.....

You posted on a forum a product with nothing to back it up, don't get the hump when you are called out on it

air

Shefwedfan wrote: »

I am the OP

Hilarious, I was referring to kceire - the original poster of the question on the hot water as is quite obvious.

Shefwedfan wrote: »

A TV set/fridge freezer no longer last a lifetime. Majority of these products break on a regular occurrence. Most of the time it is cheaper to replace than fix, if possible I will make sure the product can be fixed before I can buy....

More meaningless drivel

Shefwedfan wrote: »

Nobody said you are selling the product but why post if you have no idea? how can you make a statement saying it doesn't require maintenance? on what basis have you made this?

There is no maintenance required for any refrigeration device ever made apart from perhaps cleaning filters which can be done by the end user. How much maintenance do you do on your fridge.

Shefwedfan wrote: »

Also making a statement like "any refrigeration engineer worth his salt should be able to sort it out" is b**sh*t. And as I already posted with the original Heat Pumps this was the issue, people invested and then couldn't get the unit repaired/fixed.....

Another blanket statement. I hire people to work on heat pumps on a regular basis without any issue. Maybe people have issues with using the internet / golden pages. There are hundreds of refrigeration contractors in the country.

Shefwedfan

air wrote: »

Hilarious, I was referring to kceire - the original poster of the question on the hot water as is quite obvious.


More meaningless drivel


There is no maintenance required for any refrigeration device ever made apart from perhaps cleaning filters which can be done by the end user. How much maintenance do you do on your fridge.


Another blanket statement. I hire people to work on heat pumps on a regular basis without any issue. Maybe people have issues with using the internet / golden pages. There are hundreds of refrigeration contractors in the country.

You clearly haven't a clue what you are talking about so I will leave it there.

air

Shefwedfan wrote: »

You clearly haven't a clue what you are talking about so I will leave it there.

Good man yourself, I clearly don't.

Now remember - do it once, do it right.

Shefwedfan

air wrote: »

Good man yourself, I clearly don't.

Now remember - do it once, do it right.

So what is your mantra out of interest? "Do it half assed and spend a fortune?"

I'll bite once...so you haven't actually answer any questions apart from try small little jipes....it is the internet, grow up....

You keep saying a refrigeration device never needs servicing? I asked what this is based on and no answer?
You said that things are now made to last a lifetime. This was pointed out as incorrect, so any answer here?
I asked who would provide maintenance/service on the item you are buying from Germany? again no answer provided.

I pointed out problems with original heat pumps and dodgy dealers, this is well known. You are talking about doing the exact same here, so any what is the difference here?

Fire all the snide comments you want, but maybe in the middle try to justify what you posted about....

Gumbo

just to be clear guys, I will not be installing one of these systems.
Its either Solar PV, Solar Thermal or nothing at all.

Shefwedfan

kceire wrote: »

just to be clear guys, I will not be installing one of these systems.
Its either Solar PV, Solar Thermal or nothing at all.

I'm solar PV, I have dropped the thermal

air

Shefwedfan wrote: »

You keep saying a refrigeration device never needs servicing? I asked what this is based on and no answer?

I should have said "domestic refrigeration device".
I've never come across a single fridge, freezer, heat pump, dehumidifer or any other similar device that requires any maintenance other than filter cleaning.
I'm not aware of any such device that requires maintenance. A refrigeration circuit by it's nature is supposed to be hermetically sealed. If the circuit leaks it will require repair / replacement. There is no maintenance that will prevent such a failure. Whether or not it happens is down to the quality of the manufacture, materials and assembly.

Shefwedfan wrote: »

You said that things are now made to last a lifetime. This was pointed out as incorrect, so any answer here?

When did I say this? I inferred that maintenance shouldn't be required as there is nothing to maintain, nowhere did I say it would last a lifetime or into eternity.

Shefwedfan wrote: »

I asked who would provide maintenance/service on the item you are buying from Germany? again no answer provided.

Already answered, a competent frigeration engineer should be able to service these units. I'm not promoting buying it in Germany, that only came up as it was the first unit I found when I searched online. There are likely to be dealers for that brand in Ireland.

Shefwedfan wrote: »

I pointed out problems with original heat pumps and dodgy dealers, this is well known. You are talking about doing the exact same here, so any what is the difference here?

This is not the exact same. I assume you are referring to whole house heat pump systems which are complex, require on site assembly which is cruicial to their life expectancy and performance. Their performance is further impacted by the airtightness and insulation levels of the home that they are installed in.
For a ground source heat pump, the depth and arrangement of the collector field / boreholes is another variable.
Every one of these aspects is completely out of the control of the manufacturer.


In contrast, the product I mentioned is a standalone completely manufactured product. It's a white good.
It only requires power and a cold water feed to install. There is an order of magnitude less variables in the installation than that of a whole house heat pump be it air source or ground source.

Shefwedfan wrote: »

Fire all the snide comments you want, but maybe in the middle try to justify what you posted about....

Your own responses are pure BS - your mantra etc, you haven't engaged in any kind of mature objective discussion whatsoever. Shame on me for being dragged down to your level. You clearly don't know a whole lot about the subject but you're forcing your ill educated opinions down people's throats instead of asking questions.

air

kceire wrote: »

just to be clear guys, I will not be installing one of these systems.
Its either Solar PV, Solar Thermal or nothing at all.

I'd go with PV in that case with a diverter in that case. If you're not happy with the hot water output you can just add additional panels (assuming you have the roof space).
Just select an inverter with some additional headroom.
Most would be good for up to 12 panels in series these days.

Your available roof's orientation and the proximity of the proposed panel location to the hot water storage tank would be other factors to take account of though. If they are far apart it's a further advantage for PV.

Gumbo

air wrote: »

I'd go with PV in that case with a diverter in that case. If you're not happy with the hot water output you can just add additional panels (assuming you have the roof space).
Just select an inverter with some additional headroom.
Most would be good for up to 12 panels in series these days.

Your available roof's orientation and the proximity of the proposed panel location to the hot water storage tank would be other factors to take account of though. If they are far apart it's a further advantage for PV.

Yeah, max I can go is about 8, which will give about 2.3kw output.
This is the max without planning also and will have direct access to the cylinder etc during renovations.

Im still in 2 minds and may divert the funds to insulation instead.

air

kceire wrote: »

Yeah, max I can go is about 8, which will give about 2.3kw output.
This is the max without planning also and will have direct access to the cylinder etc during renovations.

Im still in 2 minds and may divert the funds to insulation instead.

Direct access is one thing but the length of the run is a key factor too. The twin wall stainless pipe typically used is reasonably expensive, then you have to add high temperature insulation. The losses it introduces can be quite significant then also.

Honestly I would be slow to install thermal again.
Between controller, temp sensors, circulation pump, expansion vessel, pressure relief valve & drain, thermal mixing valve, glycol, air bleed valves and everything else there's a lot of paraphenalia involved.

Gumbo

air wrote: »

Honestly I would be slow to install thermal again.
Between controller, temp sensors, circulation pump, expansion vessel, pressure relief valve & drain, thermal mixing valve, glycol, air bleed valves and everything else there's a lot of paraphenalia involved.

This is whats turning me off Thermal.
The ongoing maintenance and more risk of failure, the only good thing was that it included a 300L stainless steel cylinder.

The prices ive got so far :

• Kingspan 30 tube Solar Thermal system, 300L stainless steel cylinder, all supplied and fitted for €3700 after SEAI Grant. 20 year warranty.
  
• Tech Solar 30 tube Solar Thermal system, 300L stainless steel cylinder, all supplied and fitted for €3000 after SEAI Grant. From same company as above - 7 year warranty.
  
• 2.3kw Solar PV System and Immersion Divertor supplied for €2485 + VAT. Have to fit myself or get it fitted.

Ive got various other prices from other companies ranging from 4k to 6k for similar systems.

Just get night rate electricity and save yourself money !

I'd hate to have to replace one of these heat pumps if it failed out of warranty !

listermint

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Just get night rate electricity and save yourself money !

I'd hate to have to replace one of these heat pumps if it failed out of warranty !

Sure your against lagging jackets
Waste of money

KCross

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I'd hate to have to replace one of these heat pumps if it failed out of warranty !

Or one of those EV things, I hear the batteries are very expensive!

KCross

KCross wrote: »

Or one of those EV things, I hear the batteries are very expensive!

I wouldn't know, will have long flogged it before the issue arises !

listermint

listermint wrote: »

Sure your against lagging jackets
Waste of money

Oh she's well lagged , and one reason the water is still warm enough in the evening.

If I needed more water I'd just get a larger tank and run the immersion longer at 6.5 Cent per Kwh it't a no brainer, the oil heating takes of the colder months and certainly makes heat pump or solar thermal non viable.

rolion

For hot water, the solar panels have the best efficiency.
The hot coil great contact surface in the cylinder plus the thermodynamics of the coolant inside it doubled with the heating circulation of the hot cylinder... will not be beat by a 30cm long resistive immersion.

In order to balance the PVs for hot water, the inverter and the diverter has to work together. Based on the house behaviour, I will say that over the weekend, when house full, the PVs will not do a big job, compared with week days when no one in the house using the electric appliances.

Over a good day, a solar tube beat the PV panels at any hour.
Over a bad day, the PVs will barely keep the inverter warm for spiders while the soalr tubes will warm up slowly the water.

AND, there is no FIT in Ireland at the moment, it has been stopped last December.

Solar PV is fine on cloudy days if you have enough panels. Then on the negative side you need to dump a lot more in Summer , I just don't see solar PV working without FIT.

Gumbo

rolion wrote: »

For hot water, the solar panels have the best efficiency.
The hot coil great contact surface in the cylinder plus the thermodynamics of the coolant inside it doubled with the heating circulation of the hot cylinder... will not be beat by a 30cm long resistive immersion.

In order to balance the PVs for hot water, the inverter and the diverter has to work together. Based on the house behaviour, I will say that over the weekend, when house full, the PVs will not do a big job, compared with week days when no one in the house using the electric appliances.

Over a good day, a solar tube beat the PV panels at any hour.
Over a bad day, the PVs will barely keep the inverter warm for spiders while the soalr tubes will warm up slowly the water.

AND, there is no FIT in Ireland at the moment, it has been stopped last December.

Deleted User wrote: »

Solar PV is fine on cloudy days if you have enough panels. Then on the negative side you need to dump a lot more in Summer , I just don't see solar PV working without FIT.

I personally wouldn't be running dishwashers or washing machines during the night to avail of night savers so for me it would be a change to running the dishwasher and washing machine on delay when we leave the house in the morning for work.

The Solar PV would be enough to run the house on tick over and one full appliance, so I could schedule the dishwasher for 2 hours after I leave, that gives the washing machine plenty to finish up. Then there is always the drip feed of 200w to the immersion that keeps the water hot. So when the appliances finish, the immersion will take full power and fully heat up.

After that, yes, the PV goes to waste alright, nothing I can do about that but it's the same for the thermal, once the water is warmed as much as possible then it doesn't no more.

reboot

BoatMad wrote: »

The ESB is totally against microgenetstion FIT , and so is the CER. so you can forget about solar PV and FIT

What's being discussed and is expected to be announced is FIT for solar farms. This is not aimed at microgenetstion and will be licensed etc.

The only option is powerwall type storage.

Other then a hobby interest , the economics of solar DHWH and solar PV are appalling at present.

Totally agree Boatman, I have had a lead acid version of the "Power Wall" for many years, moving over now to Lipo. The house is run on a variety of 12 v and USB supplies.
The EV charges on an overnight rate of 8p/ unit/ kwhr. Savings all round and a fun hobby.

air

kceire wrote: »

The Solar PV would be enough to run the house on tick over and one full appliance

Not that realistic an expectation unfortunately with a 2.5kW system.
It would be only a small number of hours a year that it would maintain 2kW or greater output for more than an hour at a time.


Just to close off the groundless attacks on me regarding the air source water heater.

On maintenance, the manual for the Nuos series is available here:

Page 39 details the maintenance required:

The following procedure should be carried out to ensure the efficient
operation of the Nuos.
3.
Inspect the inside of the cylinder - see 8:2.
Remove top cover and brush and vacuum enclosure. Clean
evaporator and fan removing all dust etc. from it’s fins, using a vacuum
cleaner in ‘blow’ mode is ideal.
4.
Clean air ducts and grilles (where applicable).
5.
Clean casing with non-abrasive household cleaner.
6.
Remove control panel cover and carefully blow out dust and debris.
Check cable connections are sound.

There are a few more steps but they aren't relevant to the heat pump aspect of it, just standard cylinder checks.

On local supply, I found an Irish supplier for Ariston (search Ariston Ireland) but they don't list prices on their website - which seems to be a common feature of Irish companies. They have photos of all the heat pump models on their site.

The 250L version is about €2k in the UK though.
Other points of note:
You can hook up solar thermal to it also (more expense )
Electrical consumption is 750W for a heat output of 2775W (@ 7C inlet temperature)
There are ducting kits available for it for taking in and exhausting air to outside.

Gumbo

air wrote: »

Not that realistic an expectation unfortunately with a 2.5kW system.
It would be only a small number of hours a year that it would maintain 2kW or greater output for more than an hour at a time.

Sorry, I should have clarified, the system discussed on site is now a 3kw system. But I completely get your point that it wont power it 100% all the time.

Thanks for the other info, its only healthy conversation at the end of the day. If we all had the same opinions and beliefs, we might aswell be living in Lego City.

air

No problem at all, happy to help.
The thing with renewables like all things in life is that there are no absolute answers.
The viability of one system vs another is different for everyone depending on household occupancy pattern, orientation of roof (and available area), priority of financial return vs environmental, insulation levels and a million other aspects.

It's great that there are now essentially 3 different options available for renewables around hot water - thermal, PV and heat pump. Each one has it's own pros and cons.

A final option that might be useful for people very tight on space is the phase change PV storage units sold by Sunamp for example. Very expensive for now though.

Shefwedfan

air wrote: »

Just to close off the groundless attacks on me regarding the air source water heater..

Grow up. Nobody attacked you.

When I pointed out a few points you restored to childish jipes at me..How many times you post about my seemingly "mantra"??? who is attacking who now?

When I pointed out about your snide comments you tried to take the high ground.

You finally posted some good information today and thank you for that.

air

Shefwedfan wrote: »

Shefwedfan wrote: »

why post if you have no idea?

Shefwedfan wrote: »

on what basis have you made this?

Shefwedfan wrote: »

should be able to sort it out" is b**sh*t.

Shefwedfan wrote: »

You clearly haven't a clue what you are talking about so I will leave it there.

Shefwedfan wrote: »

You posted on a forum a product with nothing to back it up, don't get the hump when you are called out on it

Shefwedfan wrote: »

I noticed you didn't include the bit about maintenance/parts etc
Do it once and do it right.......

Attack, attack, attack with nothing to contribute.

You might notice I addressed every one of your questions comprehensively.
You rubbished me because I posted a link from Germany about support. I did this simply as it was the first one I found with a price, to help give the ballpark on costings.

You rubbished my assertation that no little or no maintenance was required until I posted the excerpt from the manual which states this more or less. A bit of cleaning of grilles etc once in a blue moon which can be completed by the homeowner.

Overall you were really rude from the start. I'm well up to speed on the area and you clearly aren't. I was posting from my phone and didn't have a lot of time to flesh things out fully initially. Instead of asking polite questions you just rubbished the whole concept of air source heat pumps and went off on a tangent about irrelevant German supply issues, maintenance that isn't required anyway etc etc.

Over and out.

unkel

n97 mini wrote: »

Fridges can develop bad thermostats, I've one at the moment that won't cool below 8 degrees.

Ah shure that'll do. 100l of 45C water is grand for a family for a day, who needs an ice cold beer and a full hot bath anyway?

reboot

More heat than light being generated on the subject of Solar PV, and how useful it would be for EVs.
Th

reboot

reboot wrote: »

More heat than light being generated on the subject of Solar PV, and how useful it would be for EVs.
Sorry finger trouble.
I am confused by posts jumping between PV, and the EV charging, solar heating, and feeding into the grid and running the house on solar.
All I can contribute is that solar PV projects can be very cheap, a few hundred in my case, but are perhaps best concentrated on charging the many, 5 v usb laptop, tab and phone device.
The local garage are happy to pass on disguarded 12 v lead acid car batteries, which I charge from solar, and with cheap cigar plug 12 v/ usb adapters the devices can be charged for free.
I don't think it's worth spending lots on large panel set ups, when the night tarrif is 8 p/ unit, and the whole house benefits until 9 am.
Recently the move from lead acid to Lipo batteries has presented new challenges, but sure it's all a learning process, and good fun, hopefully?

Shefwedfan

Energia sent email about Solar Thermal. I emailed just to see if they done PV

Hi XXX,

Our partner company (Activ8 Energies) provide an excellent PV solution.

Activ8....are they mental. I am asking them to confirm if the thermal is also Activ8. If they are using them that is a joke....

Yeah I think I got the same email.

Something like 4,500 for thermal ,? Ridiculous. Especially at today's electricity costs. And especially considering most people have central heating.

Shefwedfan

Deleted User wrote: »

Yeah I think I got the same email.

Something like 4,500 for thermal ,? Ridiculous. Especially at today's electricity costs. And especially considering most people have central heating.

Price seem ridiculous alright. I have sent email to Activ8 direct asking for 2kW and 3kW pricing out of interest. I know they are a shower of gangsters

unkel

Those the clowns that will do you a "special deal" because you will be their show customer? I had them in my house too many years ago. Hilarious the offer they came up with. There's a thread in the renewable forum about them

Sickening to think about the people that have actually been bullied into signing up though

Shefwedfan

unkel wrote: »

Those the clowns that will do you a "special deal" because you will be their show customer? I had them in my house too many years ago. Hilarious the offer they came up with. There's a thread in the renewable forum about them

Sickening to think about the people that have actually been bullied into signing up though

I know all about them, had one guy drop in at one stage, I told him I was selling the house and moving because I wanted a bigger garden so no point trying to sell me solar, he then tried to sell me his house in Cavan as it was ideal commute to Dublin.....

When I started to tell him all about the area in Cavan he stopped and said he would leave me to it:D

My brother is not sure, but thinks it was them that came to his house, he is interested in Thermal, they started off saying it would replace his geothermal heating system and the starting price was 15k but they could get it to somewhere near 6-7k if he done X,Y,Z....he didn't get card or anything but sounds exactly like the s**t they go on with

I will say, a friend of a friend got them in, 3 bed semi in Dublin. Raved about how good they where, was brilliant system etc. Had loads of hot water.....

unkel

Yeah I think they quoted me something like €10k. Was supposed to do most of my space heating in winter as well as my hot water heating :rolleyes:

The really nasty thing is that you invite them into your house, and both husband and wife need to be there and to sign. This means it's not a normal hard sale and the normal cooling off period doesn't apply, so once you sign, that's it. A bit like the time share selling in apartments in Spain in the 90s. I guess all those dodgy salesman had to find other scams when those were finished...

antoinolachtnai

Why would the normal cooling off period not apply?

man_no_plan

antoinolachtnai wrote: »

Why would the normal cooling off period not apply?

Cooling off is only for distance marketing I think.

antoinolachtnai

As I understand it the cooling off period applies for an off-premises sale and so the cooling-off period applies. 
The directive reads: 

• ‘off-premises contract’ means any contract between the trader and the consumer:
  • (a)  concluded in the simultaneous physical presence of the trader and the consumer, in a place which is not the business premises of the trader; [...]

gfog

A very impressive wealth of information in this thread, thanks all.
In contrast I am new to this and just have a couple of basic questions. I am in the process of purchasing a new house that has two/three solar PV panels installed, I do not have the specific specs at the min. Am I right in saying the below?

• These generate electricity to the house during the day that gets used were needed and when not it is returned to the grid. Does this effectively roll back my meter?
• If in the future I want to expand this to include a battery i.e. Powerwall is this a simple upgrade/add on down the road?

Cheers in advance.

antoinolachtnai

No. Your meter will not run backwards. You will not get payment or a credit for the electricity generated. The benefit of all electricity so generated is spread among the suppliers of domestic and small commercial users. 
No, installing a battery is not a simple upgrade/add-on.

gfog

Appreciate it Antoinolachtnai.
Wasn't hopeful for the first point but was hoping adding a storage unit down the road would have an option.

ELM327

I am in the late stages of buying a house and I want to install solar as I drive an EV now and we intend to become a 2 EV household at the next car change.

However I wouldnt dream of installing PV solar without a powerwall or battery connected to it. I have no intention of generating excess free electricity during the day and then paying for electricity in the evening/night? What a backwards country we are when there is no FIT.

gfog

completely agree.
Such a shame and lack for foresight as per usual.

Gumbo

gfog wrote: »

A very impressive wealth of information in this thread, thanks all.
In contrast I am new to this and just have a couple of basic questions. I am in the process of purchasing a new house that has two/three solar PV panels installed, I do not have the specific specs at the min. Am I right in saying the below?

• These generate electricity to the house during the day that gets used were needed and when not it is returned to the grid. Does this effectively roll back my meter?
• If in the future I want to expand this to include a battery i.e. Powerwall is this a simple upgrade/add on down the road?

Cheers in advance.

No feed in tarrif so essentially the electricity produced is wasted on you but,

you could fit an immersion divertor (iBoost on Donedeal for €250) and then when nothing in the house is using power, when in work for example, it diverts the power to your immersion and heats the water for you.

Solar P.V is uneconomical in Ireland, save your money.

Electricity costs 16.5 c per kWh day and 6.4 night. Do the maths on that.

Most people who install solar PV in Ireland end up dumping the majority of the electricity into the likes of hot water and boast about all the hot water they have when in reality they'll never use even a quarter of it.

You will generate far too much in the brighter days that you'll never use and not enough in winter.

The idea of the feed in tariff is the grid becomes your gigantic unlimited storage battery and all the excess goes to the grid and you buy it back when you need it.

Solar PV just doesn't work without a F.I.T and if you want to buy a battery for storage then you'd be better off charging it on night rate electricity and using it at peak times for cooking etc. The only thing is that battery storage will cost thousands , again, off peak electricity costs 6.7 cent per KWh.

n97 mini

Deleted User wrote: »

Solar P.V is uneconomical in Ireland, save your money.

A lad posted on one of the FB groups. Got around a 3kw PV system installed 6 months ago. It's cut his (not very high) bills by about 50% in the 6 months, which includes winter months. Can't remember the specifics but the payback time is about 5 years in his case.

You'd be surprised how much electricity the house is using during the day. Ours is constantly drawing around 300 watts with everything in standby when no-one is home (I guess I could improve on that by switching everything off except the fridge). Even more of a draw if there's a stay at home parent with kids.

Gumbo

n97 mini wrote: »

A lad posted on one of the FB groups. Got around a 3kw PV system installed 6 months ago. It's cut his (not very high) bills by about 50% in the 6 months, which includes winter months. Can't remember the specifics but the payback time is about 5 years in his case.

You'd be surprised how much electricity the house is using during the day. Ours is constantly drawing around 300 watts with everything in standby when no-one is home (I guess I could improve on that by switching everything off except the fridge). Even more of a draw if there's a stay at home parent with kids.

And there's a limit to what you can totally switch off, for example my CCTV system is connected to the DVD Drive and the net, which means these are constantly running. Router etc