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Old 29th November 2018, 17:44   #11
andymc
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Ours are ground-mounted, therefore easy to inspect. They're self-cleaning, and I've only had to take hot water and a brush to them once, after a heron decided they would serve as an excellent latrine ... They were installed at the end of August 2016, sadly a bit late to make the most of that year's peak period of daylight hours but just in time to gain access to the second-highest rate of the feed-in tariff scheme here, before it was further reduced and then abolished entirely.

What sort of ceramic heaters have you been using? We haven't yet bothered with space heating as we have a wood-burning stove and for the past six years or so, a free supply of wood cut and split by yours truly after several trees were cut down to prevent them fouling power lines. However I expect that will finally run out by the end of this winter. In the meantime, as well as powering the household appliances etc (plus the lawnmower, battery-powered brushcutter and other outdoor power tools mainly used between March-October), I'd say over 90% of our annual hot water requirements are met by the sun now, instead of the oil-fired boiler. That was something I hadn't originally taken into account when calculating the payback period, along with an annual output that was slightly better than the initial estimate. Now that the price per kWh has been raised by all the local energy suppliers here, the payback period may even be closer to 6 years than 7.

I'm very keen to fit a battery for storing all our surplus to use after dark instead of exporting it to the grid, as that would enable us to be effectively free of the grid for at least 10 months of the year - no more power cuts in winter, ever again! However the price of such units is still a bit too high for me - partly because the supply of degraded EV batteries for converting to domestic storage is not as plentiful as had initially been expected, due to them proving too darn durable ... But in another year or two I may be able to acquire one with enough capacity to power the house for up to 36 hours' worth of our winter needs - that's all I'd need really, as even on the dullest December days at this latitude, the panels still provide at least 50% of our electricity requirements. Once the cost falls below £1500 I'll definitely consider it.
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Old 29th November 2018, 17:56   #12
Darcydog
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Quote:
Originally Posted by andymc View Post
Ours are ground-mounted, therefore easy to inspect. They're self-cleaning, and I've only had to take hot water and a brush to them once, after a heron decided they would serve as an excellent latrine ... They were installed at the end of August 2016, sadly a bit late to make the most of that year's peak period of daylight hours but just in time to gain access to the second-highest rate of the feed-in tariff scheme here, before it was further reduced and then abolished entirely.

What sort of ceramic heaters have you been using? We haven't yet bothered with space heating as we have a wood-burning stove and for the past six years or so, a free supply of wood cut and split by yours truly after several trees were cut down to prevent them fouling power lines. However I expect that will finally run out by the end of this winter. In the meantime, as well as powering the household appliances etc (plus the lawnmower, battery-powered brushcutter and other outdoor power tools mainly used between March-October), I'd say over 90% of our annual hot water requirements are met by the sun now, instead of the oil-fired boiler. That was something I hadn't originally taken into account when calculating the payback period, along with an annual output that was slightly better than the initial estimate. Now that the price per kWh has been raised by all the local energy suppliers here, the payback period may even be closer to 6 years than 7.

I'm very keen to fit a battery for storing all our surplus to use after dark instead of exporting it to the grid, as that would enable us to be effectively free of the grid for at least 10 months of the year - no more power cuts in winter, ever again! However the price of such units is still a bit too high for me - partly because the supply of degraded EV batteries for converting to domestic storage is not as plentiful as had initially been expected, due to them proving too darn durable ... But in another year or two I may be able to acquire one with enough capacity to power the house for up to 36 hours' worth of our winter needs - that's all I'd need really, as even on the dullest December days at this latitude, the panels still provide at least 50% of our electricity requirements. Once the cost falls below £1500 I'll definitely consider it.
Just a quick reply Andy as we are out tonight- the heaters are the small ones from JML that just plug into a normal socket - they are quite clever bits of kit with thermostat and timer. Do get the JML ones as there are cheaper counterfeit ones out there that are dangerous.

JML do one for £40 or two for £60. Have to say it is great to use these for free so that we don’t have the gas boiler running. Makes those cold frosty sunny days even more enjoyable.

I too have been looking at storage batteries but so far not sure the cost is worthwhile. However I know of a chap that has rigged up an old Toyota Prius car battery to do this - and this was initially very attractive.

But - he then had issues with insurance of the house as it was a bit Heath Robinson.

So at the moment I parked the concept for now.
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Old 29th November 2018, 20:43   #13
AndyN01
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Is it not a fundamental duty of a "Government" to ensure that it's people have power?

Politicians have spectacularly failed and I'm struggling to comprehend a business that loses so much money unless they thought was a classic "nice little earner" government contract.

All pretty pathetic.

Andy
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Old 2nd December 2018, 16:48   #14
macafee2
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just found this
https://guernseypress.com/news/2018/...r-deal-struck/

Sark should still have power...well for 3 months at least

macafee2
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