Random Renewables Thread

Guys wrong thread completely and if thus gets moved/deleted I completely understand.

Heat pump tumble dryer threads any advice would be welcome (I have gas tumble dryer installed and may be gone soon).

Tk you.

Recently went from a condensing tumble dryer to a heat pump tumble dryer. Old one used 5kWh per cycle (big load), new one only 2kWh per cycle (even bigger load). I do get complaints though that it is slow. Meh. Better slow and cheap than fast and expensive. I pay the bills here 😂

We're on our second heat pump dryer (last one stopped spinning, cheaper to buy a new one, obselescene by design ftw 🙄)

I don't have much point of comparison having never owned a condenser dryer, but they do seem pretty easygoing on the electricity

The general drawback with them is they run at a lower temperature and don't dry clothes as quickly, full load of cotton's takes around 3 hours

Most of them also have a sensor drying mode so it'll just run until the clothes have reached the desired dryness. Beats the old games of "guess how long it takes" with the vented dryer in my mum's house

It also has a delay timer so you can load it up and then run at night

We use ours all the time, typically twice a day. There'll usually be a wash run overnight, then it gets dried during the day (if I'm up early I'll load the dryer first thing to get the last of the night rate). Another wash generally goes on during the day and then it'll be dried overnight to avail of night rate

The trick seems to be to run a full load rather than smaller loads, the sensor drying system works better. Drying something small can be tricky, often need to use the timed program instead

We haven't noticed any build-up of condensation in the utility room. In fact the air is usually very warm and dry afterwards, it's handy because the heat will leak to the rest of the house

You'll need to clean the condenser out every month or so, otherwise it'll fill with dust. My main buying advice would be to get one that has a filter in front of the condenser, in addition to the usual lint filters

Our first one was a Zanussi and didn't have any filter, the metal condenser fins would literally be plastered with almost solid dust which needed a lot of scrubbing and brushing to remove

The newer one is a Bosch and has a washable filter before the condenser, it really makes cleaning it up a much easier operation

Thanks all of you for the input 👍

I'll have to put condenser heat pump outside (In lean too, which is kinda sealed - it's watertight and has plywood floor). My next concern is temperature. They don't like to be ran below 5 degrees , possibly even 10 degrees. If it got below 10 degrees, I probably won't run it. I really would like heat pump dryer going forward.

Tks again

Bit of a waste having that free heat outside of your house. No chance it can go in the kitchen / utility / beside wherever you have the washing machine?

Thanks - I could get vented (no issue there). But really would like to go health pump dryer. However if I purchase one and it dosent work or costs.just as much as a vented/condenser, I'm screwed 🙃

Could you put some insulation around the shed, so it doesn't get as cold?

i note from the installation spreadsheet the majority have panels under 400w. i presume that's because larger panels are/were more difficult to get hold of in the past.

i'm putting in a ground mount array...my question is would it be better to put in lets say 12 x 500w panels or 15 x 400w for a 6kW array or does it not matter? I have priced up the options and both are pretty much the same price. i prefer the idea of 12 panels (2 rows of 6 landscape) but unsure if there's a drawback to putting in the bigger panel.

finally had the seai inspection today. inspector was a really nice guy and clearly a solar enthusiast. He was to the letter of the law but not in a jobsworth way. explained everything he was checking for. he was on his way west to train up on small/medium wind turbine inspections, mentioned there is a large grant scheme coming in there soon.

anyway glad its done. Can move on with planning some further panels now.

ITS Technologies in the UK. Longi 500w panels.

After Brexit they set up a warehouse on the continent to ship stuff to EU customers. I don't know if they still have it but on their website they say they ship internationally everything except PV kits.

All sorts of border / customs issues if the transport has to come from continental EU and then go out of the EU, into the UK, then back into the EU (Ireland). Can't blame them, they probably experienced issues first hand before they gave up.

Welcome to the Brexit, Sir!

try use AddressPal from An Post, no idea if they have a size\weight restriction

Lads, would you not consider buying from Irish based wholesalers? I know some of them no longer deal with the public, but perhaps via an Irish installer? I'd say deals can be done that avoid major international transport hassle and perhaps some unexpected tax bills.