(I would like to use hot water to heat the radiators, but no, not sure how that is possible)
Typically we dont need much generation to keep the water hot, plus there is only 2 of us. The Immersion thermostat in the top of the cylinder is set around mid 60’s. Any excess generation from 70-3000watts will then trickle heat that water up to 60degrees. I have placed a thermometer on the top of the cylinder, and usually the water reached 60+ most days. Our gas boiler never runs during the whole of the summer, so much so that I now run it for an hour each month as suggested by the boiler company.
In the winter, mostly it gets in the 50’s, and somedays in the 60’s. I have the central heating thermostat around the cylinder set to around 50, so if the solar hasn’t heated up the water, the central heating will.
Below shows how out gas usage has gone down since the installation in 2019. Most of this is down to the diverter, and then some down to other changes we have made such as all huddling around the Naim amplifier to warm up!
Ah right, we do not have gas, our heating is heat pumps and a wood burner. Unfortunately our solar app doesn’t separate hot water generation. When we change tariffs, I might try removing the 6 - 7am top up and see how we get on for hot water. More research required on hot water consumption I think. Our new export rate is just over half of the fixed import rate, so the difference may not be that great anyway.
Before we replaced our oil boiler with ASHP and PV, we had solar water heating. This solar heated the water in a thermal store (a 250 litre tank) which circulated to the radiators, so we could use solar generation to provide some central heating. A (PV powered) immersion heater fitted to the same tank would do the same.
It was a nice way to get a bit more use from our solar water heater, but required a different type of hot water cylinder than usual.
I feel I have all I need to do it free, but not sure it will work. My mad idea is to use the immersion in reverse. So let the Solar Diverter heat the water in the existing cylinder tank, then if I run water through the coil in the cylinder (i.e. turn on the central heating pump) then presumably that warmer water will run through the radiators. Obviously the 2way valve would need to be open to both. The problem might be what happens when water runs through the boiler with the boiler off - does the boiler stop flow. I cant see me trying it, but the theory has gone around my mind
I’ve just taken a 12 month fix with my existing supplier - EON. One of the conditions for cheaper electricity is I have to have smart meters installed.
We switched to Octopus Agile one month ago. Both of us being at home most days meant we can be relatively flexible when we use things like the washing machine and dishwasher etc. No solar, batteries or EV but probably generally higher uses of electric than average? This is the first months comparison with our old tariff.
Yes just waiting for my new PV system to be cleared to export with Octapus.
Currently charging my battery using economy 7 and then running most of the day off the battery plus any solar… quite surprised how much solar there is when thick cloud and pouring down with rain.
Talking off batteries listening to my Naim and whole house is totally on battery with nothing from grid at 11pm… I think I can hear a a super subtle change to audio… but I can live with it. Using a GivEnergy hybrid Gen 3, 5 kW inverter.
No gas usage for the last few years but still have to pay the bloody standing charge.
The only constant I can think of for electricity reduction is turning off a second (original) deep freeze in the garage which started tripping the consumer unit last year.
That doesn’t look too far out to me.
Knock off the difference between the full year and the year to date figure, which is 2.5 months of winter usage, and a lot of the difference is gone.
Last winter was pretty mild, which might explain your reduced usage in the first few months of 2024. Knock off a bit more for the freezer and there can’t be much in it.
Yes, the usage makes sense, but with only 2.5 months to go the overall cost is roughly half what it was in 2023, so maybe that shows how high prices were then.
The old (2nd) fridge seems to have given up the ghost this week which may not be a bad thing as it has overchilled things for ages, but was handy for more space especially chilling milk/drinks and meat. It was using around 100W/hour or even a little more last time I checked which was quite excessive. Strange tinkling and dripping noises, suspect the compressor is failing or there’s been a coolant leak. Should have realised earlier as some mince had turned brown too soon. Stuck a thermometer in there today and it’s not going below 17 C !
Tempted to get a replacement upright fridge freezer and possibly stop using the newer deep freeze which has been consuming around 0.92 kW daily which seems a little high to me, but maybe not.
No I haven’t because I’ve no idea where the manual is, and can’t access the plate with the model number on it easily at the moment.
It may not be too far out for a chest freezer full to the brim, or maybe it’s set to ‘max’, I just can’t reach the control at the moment to check as it’s in a corner with teh old fridge up against that end. For far too long we’ve just grazed from the top of the chest freezer(s) contents and there will be food below which is many years old. Hence the thought of getting an upright freezer or fridge freezer and flogging the chest freezer. It really needs to be defrosted as all the stuff under the surface is just iced up as a mass, and although I occasionally get enthusiastic and try to break it up I’m always aware how close I come to puncturing the lining and finishing it off!
In addition emptying the potentially worse for wear food ‘below’ isn’t that simple as it would take many food waste bins to do so.
Wasting food is really bad. You clearly don’t need a large freezer if most of the food just sits there for years and then gets thrown away. So you are wasting both food and power. Just get rid of it, have a small freezer and actually eat the food. Animals have died and you are throwing them in the bin. I hate food waste, as you can probably tell!!
It might actually be not too far off - have just looked at a couple of modern equivalents at Currys (all including ours are Logick brand).
The 420l capacity model is estimated to use 269 kW per annum, whereas the 308l model uses around 235 kW per annum, I suspect ours is closer to the lower capacity - it would be using around 335kW annually based on that fairly constant measured 0.92 kW daily for the last month or so - maybe less efficient/well insulated and maybe control set to max. Will find out in due course.
So, you have a chest freezer that you put food into to get freezer burn, and accumulate so much ice, you can’t even clean it out? And you are worried about power use?
I’ve eaten fish that’s been in the freezer for five years.
I just defrosted it, smelt it, cooked it and ate it
Most of our freezer food gets used quicker than that though. Leftovers and extras get put in plastic trays and frozen. We throw away virtually no food.
I generally ignore sell/use by dates, just a smell test and eat it if it passes.
A mate of mine gets loads of food off a neighbour who throws food away thats got only two days left on the use-by date!
