Reply With QuoteHave you got any land with the property?
If so, a ground source heat pump might be worth investigating. When we were looking a couple of years ago, you could receive RHI (Renewable Heating Incentive) payments for one.
Hi All,
Looking for some advice on the above. Not something I know much about but something I think I really need to look at. We moved into a converted and extended Barn last year out in the middle of nowhere. We have the following setup:
1 boiler with a tank for the old part of the house. This covers 3 ensuite bathrooms, one downstairs toilet, the kitchen and the underfloor heating.
1 combi boiler that covers 1 ensuite and the underfloor heating for the newer part of the house.
The issue I have are that both boilers need replacing, one is old on its last legs and the combi was just cheap and not fit for purpose. We could be looking at about £6k for that little lot. The other main issue is the amount of money the whole thing costs to run. We spend about £3k per year on electricity and around £4K per year on LPG gas (the only option for our area). This seems like a crazy amount of money and has led me to think about something like solar power. There has to be a way to get things more efficient and less crazy expensive, like I say not something I have any experience of and would not really know who to discuss it with. I know the initial outlay will be high and we may have to redesign the current systems but has to be worth it over time. This is our forever house but with £7k per year going out the door could be a bloody expensive option!
Any experience or thoughts gratefully received!
Cheers!
Have you got any land with the property?
If so, a ground source heat pump might be worth investigating. When we were looking a couple of years ago, you could receive RHI (Renewable Heating Incentive) payments for one.
We have about an acre of land next to the house. I will have a look at that, not something I have had any exposure to. Thanks!Originally Posted by Bravo73
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Fas est ab hoste doceri
Ground source heat pump + solar + storage batteries + review of where you are loosing heat now (need better windows/insulation ??) will take you a long way.
Will require a fair bit of up front investment but on those bills I think the numbers will work well.
We have 4Kw of PV panels which means we don't pay for electric (once you consider the grants and export) - in fact it makes a profit. We are now looking at the Tesla storage systems simply because I only get 3p/Kw I export, but have to pay 11p/KW for import.
In addition to Ground source heating as mentioned, you might also have a look at Air Souce heat pumps. Couple this with A couple of solar heating panels might be the answer.
Having a south facing roof really also helps.
Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche
Sounds like there are a fair few possibilities that I hadn’t thought of. Do you go to a different provider for each thing or are their renewal energy companies that can advise on the best solution for our situation?
Just feels like all this stuff has the lots potential to get out of hand cost wise and being ripped off always worries me......
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Hi Zander,
I've recently come off the back of a refurb of our house and I took the opportunity to make the house a bit more eco-friendly. I really wanted all the shiney panels etc but the best piece of advice I was given was to make the house as efficient as possible first. I haven't been able to crunch all the numbers yet but we are now using less electricity at a steady amount throughout the year (no winter peak) and our gas is down. My wife is upset that the new underfloor heating doesn't come on as the house is so well insulated.
The best way of finding out how efficient your house is is to get hold of an Infra red camera (best to do it in the winter too as you need a 17degree temperature difference). You can get a basic one that plugs into a smart phone or tablet for about £200 if you don't want to get a professional in. Or if you have a local "eco" group or climate change group they may have one which they will loan out with someone who knows how to use it for a donation. We borrowed one from the group in Cambridge if you are near to there. Looking at the results is quite eye opening.
A useful site to start research is www.superhomes.org.uk but I can't seem to access it at the moment but it looks like their Facebook page is being updated. It is full of advice and experience of people who done anything from changing their energy sources to full on passivehous refits. Some of it is a bit diy but there might be some useful advice covering what you want to do.
I also contacted the people at www.greenbuildingstore.co.uk who were helpful and we ended up getting our external doors from them. Although they don't sell energy generation I am sure they'll put you in touch with the right people.
Having said all that it sounds like you are in a different situation than we were as it sounds like you probably don't want/need to have major works done. Solar, ground and air source heat pumps have already been mentioned and are good options. My parents have solar hot water and love it, wishing they had doubled up on the kit. One option that I wanted to take up was to have solar panels but also a hot water tank so any excess electricity runs the immersion heater. But the funds and space ran out long before we could realise that aspiration.
Hope this has been if some help.
Will
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As others have said - GSHP is the way to go. It’s expensive to instal and makes a mess of the garden but once that’s done you can sit back and enjoy ‘free’ hot water, heating and in my case the RHI will have repaid the initial cost in less than seven years. It’s a no brainer if you have the funds. Yes your electricity bill will go up but the saving overall is fantastic.
I’m on year four and it’s been faultless thus far.
i have already done this with my PV system, however for maximum benefit you need to persuade your good wife to put the dish washer and washing machine on in the morning thus allowing the emersion heater to heat warm water rather than already hot water. Otherwise it's a bit of a bust.
That said, the gizzo i have only cost about £100 so it's chump change in the scheme of things. Mine has saved me about £300 quid in 3 years.
Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche
Why not go here for the weekend
http://www.cat.org.uk/index.html
You'll get plenty of ideas and exposure to what's possible
Good luck everybody. Have a good one.
We have two homes, one totally off grid and solar powered. The other has a grid-tied solar system.
Happy to share any learnings of both installs, we did them ourselves, via PM. Batteries (deep discharge lead acid, Tesla etc) heat dump immersion water heating, consumption management, invertors, controllers, panels, tech, the best and cheapest UK suppliers etc etc
If you have the capital to outlay initially, it’s a no brainer. So much BS about solar energy. Clean and free energy, now who might want to put you off tapping into that??
Some great ideas here guys, thanks for the input. Off to do some reading.
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