How to plan a solar system

[gra_farmer]

My GF lives in a rented bungalow (more like a villa) with small bathroom, 1 bedroom and a living/kitchen area.
The house is set up with economy 7 storage heaters which are totally useless and cost a fortune to run. Currently she is on a PAYG meter. There is no central heating as such and the water is heated by time switch electric in the loft.

She's a Nurse and starts early in the morning. Damp is a problem for her and with the rising costs of electricity its getting harder to heat the place for reasonable cost.

What are the solar options available if she just wanted to heat the house (some of the rooms) at set times during the cold season?

I am pretty sure she could get permission to fit them and associated electronics but i think the owner would be reluctant to pay for it so we would have to finance it.

Advice would be great please,

Fitting solar is not cheap, and on rental accommodation I would not recommend. If you had radiators, I would say get solar thermal water heater tubes/ panels but you need to get these installed correctly and annual maintenance to work correctly. Solar PV is maintenance free.

What I would do is get a smaller system which is not linked to the house, 2kw of panels, 12 or 24 Volt inverter and solar charge regulator and a battery (12 or 24v) and 5kw capacity. Run low wattage oil filled heaters off that, if she moves everything can be easily taken with her.

I have two battery setups, a 1000w inverter and separate 460ah li po4 battery



And an Anker power station



The big solar panels are wired directly into the house, pictured is the 8kw inverter.



I'll pull together a list of recommendation of kit later

 

[Stew]

My GF lives in a rented bungalow (more like a villa) with small bathroom, 1 bedroom and a living/kitchen area.
The house is set up with economy 7 storage heaters which are totally useless and cost a fortune to run. Currently she is on a PAYG meter. There is no central heating as such and the water is heated by time switch electric in the loft.

She's a Nurse and starts early in the morning. Damp is a problem for her and with the rising costs of electricity its getting harder to heat the place for reasonable cost.

What are the solar options available if she just wanted to heat the house (some of the rooms) at set times during the cold season?

I am pretty sure she could get permission to fit them and associated electronics but i think the owner would be reluctant to pay for it so we would have to finance it.

Advice would be great please,

Curveball idea but how about a discussion with the landlord about tackling the damp. Using a PIV in a bungalow is a common solution. Or go for a dehumidifier. Damp air takes more energy to heat than dry air.

 

[gra_farmer]

Curveball idea but how about a discussion with the landlord about tackling the damp. Using a PIV in a bungalow is a common solution. Or go for a dehumidifier. Damp air takes more energy to heat than dry air.

Agreed, but landlords are often difficult. Dehumidifiers dry and provide back ground heat...so agree there over heating.

My understanding of the question was that the heating didn't work, thus made the house cold and damp? And the cost of heating... @lostplanet can you confirm?

If the heating is a fixture of the rental, the landlord should correct this...in the short term having a small solar and battery setup collects electricity while the nurse is at work is a way forward that can be easily taken with you if and when a move happens.

 

[Stew]

Agreed, but landlords are often difficult. Dehumidifiers dry and provide back ground heat...so agree there over heating.

My understanding of the question was that the heating didn't work, thus made the house cold and damp? And the cost of heating... @lostplanet can you confirm?

If the heating is a fixture of the rental, the landlord should correct this...in the short term having a small solar and battery setup collects electricity while the nurse is at work is a way forward that can be easily taken with you if and when a move happens.

Quite possibly. The house being damp is a long term issue that the landlord might not be too keen on. Damp is a different issue to heating that can be dealt with in a different way than just more heat. It was just a thought as it’s quite a common problem.

 

[lostplanet]

My understanding of the question was that the heating didn't work, thus made the house cold and damp? And the cost of heating... @lostplanet can you confirm? @gra_farmer

The economy 7 system is just crap to blunt. Although its supposed to be cheaper overnight to charge the storage heaters, they are still very expensive to run. Its unlikely that the LL would want to improve the system at their cost, ie having central heating, radiators and a boiler/heat pump installed and new double glazing. The outside walls are pebble render which sucks in moisture and I think there is not a cavity to be filled with insulation so without a total refit i think she's accepted that she needs to make the best of it. The rent is cheap to reflect this..

The house has a ancient villa vent system that is supposed to move air around the house. as far as im aware it doesn't work and i think there's a bit of bs going on with it working at all.

Again problem with dehumidifier is the electric bill for running it.

So if having a solar system that could store enough energy to run 2 or more oil radiators or something equivalent for heating when she needs it for a decent saving then its worth pursuing.

So i guess my question is, Is it possible to realistically halve the electricity bill because the solar is providing the saving in not being charged for the cost of electricity to have heaters on?

 

[gra_farmer]

My understanding of the question was that the heating didn't work, thus made the house cold and damp? And the cost of heating... @lostplanet can you confirm? @gra_farmer

The economy 7 system is just crap to blunt. Although its supposed to be cheaper overnight to charge the storage heaters they are still very expensive to run. Its unlikely that the LL would want to improve the system at their cost, ie having central heating, radiators and a boiler/heat pump installed and new double glazing. The outside walls are pebble render which sucks in moisture and I think there is not a cavity to be filled with insulation so without a total refit i think she's accepted that she needs to make the best of it. The rent is cheap to reflect this.

So if having a solar system that could store enough energy to run 2 or more oil radiators or something equivalent for heating when she needs it for a decent saving then its worth pursuing.

Again problem with dehumidifier is the electric bill for running it.

So i guess my question is, Is it possible to realistically halve the electricity bill because the solar is providing the saving in not being charged for the cost of electricity to have heaters on?

With solar panels and a battery system, you are effectively paying for your electric upfront. The pay back is over time.

If the system is more portable, it doesn't matter if it costs money upfront, as you will have it a number of years, and can move it.

So effectively you could install 4kw of panels, and a 3kw inverter, note you can over load the inverter. You need spare port on your consumer unit.

All of this can be done for under £2,000 if you do it yourself and just use the generated electric (no buy back). To get someone else to do it, it will cost about £8,000 with smart buy back setup.

As it's pay as you go electric, I would go for a simple setup of an Anker solarflex power station and 2kw of panels from CEF. Link the panels directly to the Anker power station on a long line as needed to the panels outside...done.

The Anker power stations are really good, and newer ones have mppt that is automatically on with the sun.

It doesn't take long to adapting to only using the power station

 

[lostplanet]

So its as simple as plugging a 3 pin plug on a heater to the anker and produce warmth?

I don't understand how the solar works (obvs sunlight) but over the winter is when the power would be needed, are the panels efficient enough to provide enough power these days to run for example:

Heater on in main living room, bedroom and bathroom at 0500, switch off at 0630. back on at 2000 and off at bedtime (most likely 2200+). There would be occasions where she works night shifts so more power would be needed on the colder days when she is at home for most of it.

The initial payout would not be a problem for us to do it ourselves. the worst thing is having the reoccurring expensive costs (and increases) and also sitting in a freezing house because of the price of electricity.

 

[gra_farmer]

So its as simple as plugging a 3 pin plug on a heater to the anker and produce warmth?

I don't understand how the solar works (obvs sunlight) but over the winter is when the power would be needed, are the panels efficient enough to provide enough power these days to run for example:

Heater on in main living room, bedroom and bathroom at 0500, switch off at 0630. back on at 2000 and off at bedtime (most likely 2200+). There would be occasions where she works night shifts so more power would be needed on the colder days when she is at home for most of it.

The initial payout would not be a problem for us to do it ourselves. the worst thing is having the reoccurring expensive costs (and increases) and also sitting in a freezing house because it is costing so much to heat.

Simple answer is yes, now the effencey of the panels over winter is the issue. Expect 3% of the panel rated output on a cloudy day, but you can be surprised.

My advice to you is go bigger on the power station, then you have flexbility on those days at home, and depending on what power station you go for, max out the possible input.

If I was going to do it again, I would buy the below - https://amzn.eu/d/fVr4jLv

 

[lostplanet]

That's very interesting, we will discuss this further.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[lostplanet]

Cant seem to get a definitive price on a CEF solar panel. could you link please?

I like the look of the Anker solix F3800, that would be ideal if the solar could keep it topped up during cold, wet or snowy days.

 

[Stew]

So its as simple as plugging a 3 pin plug on a heater to the anker and produce warmth?

I don't understand how the solar works (obvs sunlight) but over the winter is when the power would be needed, are the panels efficient enough to provide enough power these days to run for example:

Heater on in main living room, bedroom and bathroom at 0500, switch off at 0630. back on at 2000 and off at bedtime (most likely 2200+). There would be occasions where she works night shifts so more power would be needed on the colder days when she is at home for most of it.

The initial payout would not be a problem for us to do it ourselves. the worst thing is having the reoccurring expensive costs (and increases) and also sitting in a freezing house because of the price of electricity.

What’s the current electric bill and at what rate?

I’ve not seen villavent before - I’m having a watch of video on them now.

 

[gra_farmer]

Cant seem to get a definitive price on a CEF solar panel. could you link please?

I like the look of the Anker solix F3800, that would be ideal if the solar could keep it topped up during cold, wet or snowy days.

JA Solar 565W Mono MBB PERC Half-Cell Silver Rigid Solar Panel - JAM72S-30-565-LR

JA Solar 565W Mono MBB PERC Half-Cell Silver Rigid Solar Panel - JAM72S-30-565-LR The JA Solar 565W Solar Panel is Assembled with multi-busbar PERC…

batterygroup.co.uk

Here are the panels I have...they have been upgraded mine were 500w each.

Now the issue with winter electric generation, it will be lower, you will need more panels as they can be 3% (or lower) of wattage rating.

Just a hint here, they can be setup on the lawn, they don't have to go on a roof. The main thing is the rail and brackets, they cost more than the panels.

 

[lostplanet]

thanks for replies so far. I will get the rate etc.