DamonHD

FWIW, Radbot + boiler controller tries to heat burstily to let the boiler (+pump) run as hard as possible for as short a time as possible each time. Yes, circulation pumps in homes across the UK probably are >> 1GW in aggregate! Rgds Damon

It's about in line with us, 914kWh/y *imports* for a family of 4, with gross electricity consumption (backing out self-consumed PV) just under 2MWh. http://www.earth.org.uk/saving-electricity-2019.html Rgds Damon

FWIW, here is my little survey of grid-tied storage and what I went with, also not for saving money, and also not able to keep us up if the grid goes down. (The grid has only been down for 2x30m in ~15Y here!): http://www.earth.org.uk/electricity-storage-whole-household-2018.html http://www.earth.org.uk/Enphase-AC-Battery-REVIEW.html Rgds Damon

OK, given feedback here, and as soon as everything settles down from the funding round we just closed, I'll try and get this moving again. UniQ6 + CombiSol + Eddi + hub + Combimate phosphate doser plus possibly a little extra wiring to make a following phase easier plus just possibly some kind of flow meter is about the long and the short of it. Hurrah! Rgds Damon

Putting aside the moral aspect, I still wonder which is loweest carbon. Of course we do not know how fast the GB grid will continue to decarbonise, especially in winter when this really atters. Rgds Damon

Any space heat component may be a long way away yet, but I've attempted to reformulate that question as "for the last ~5 years of the life of this house would it be better to keep the current ~80% efficient gas combi for ~2.5MWh/y of space heat, or switch to low-capex direct resistance, assuming a heat-pump with CoP ~3 is not reasonably do-able?" Rgds Damon

No: I don't think that I have any meaningful way to do that... Rgds Damon

FWIW I run some low-power stuff such as my server (and occasionally my laptop and a small amount of lighting) from a 12V off-grid system with ~500Wp of panels scattered round the front and back of the house at low level. It has some storage, nominally ~2kWh though ageing and in need of replacement. I also have a fairly big (>5kWp) grid-tied solar array and now a smallish AC-coupled battery. All heavy lifting including basically anything to do with heat is done from this part. Rgds Damon

I don't know the details, but given that many people don't know how to make flat-rate gas work well, and many many people don't understand how to make anything with storage and ToU tariffs work well (eg electric storage heaters), I imagine that they ended up running everything on electric resistance heating at a punative day-time / peak rate. Rgds Damon

Only if the tenants (and landlords) understand how to use a heat-pump properly*. Close to here a heat-pump installation left at least one household with at £4k bill which required intervention of the local MP to defang. Rgds Damon *Was just at a Radbot install in a 3yo house where the tenant had asked for help getting her gas combi system set up properly and the landlord offered essentially no help at all, so HP would have been much worse.

Moving to (say) Octopus Agile and simply avoiding running the ASHP from 4pm to 7pm (eg coasting on the house thermal capacitance for space heat) your electricity would cost ~10p/kWh. Rgds Damon

My 3G has a 10Y warranty... Rgds Damon

Read all about my explosive experiences with 3G units, all replaced under warranty: http://www.earth.org.uk/triple-glazing-3G.html#Failures Outer pane failures in each case. Rgds Damon

I would suggest not heating and ventilating at the same time, but temporarily ventilating to air a room (but not to suck excessive heat out of its thermal capacity, eg plasterboard) with the heating off while generating humidity, is reasonably acheiveable. Rgds Damon

When installing Radbots for trials we have a "damp risks" assessment with such questions as "do you open the window or use a ducted-to-outside extractor" when cooking and bathing/showering, do you dry clothes inside, do you air rooms at all, etc. I'll note that MOST people that I survey (and me too, BTW) are doing at least one problematic thing, eg leaving the bathroom door open after showering/bathing and the kitchen door open while cooking, and other ventilation issues. I think it is fair to say that social landlords report that "damp" complaints from tenants are often ventilation and condensation issues, many of which could be mitigated by behaviour changes. Maybe a quick fix/test would be to rent/borrow a dehumidifier for a few weeks and see how much that improved things, and how much moisture it captures. Rgds Damon