Hi all,
I live the the very North West of England (on the Scottish border)
I have a 3 bedroom house with 12 solar panels on the roof (there when I bought the house so no idea of capacity). What I know about solar you could write in only a few words so any info would be very helpful. House has good levels of insulation.
I have been toying with the idea of getting a storage battery and running my warm air heating from that all year round (topping battery up overnight on cheaper rate in the winter when solar panels do not provide enough umph). Off set slightly by small feed in £ through the summer months.
I need to replace the Warm air 'boiler/heater' anyway so was going to remove the existing gas one and install an electric one. Not much difference in cost to purchase the 'boiler' if I go Gas or Electric. Currently VERY old gas one installed.
Now my question is, Is this the best way of doing it?
I know gas is cheaper per KWH than electricity even on night rate electricity but I will have a good few months (Oct, Feb, March, April) where I will need the heating on and can run off free solar stored energy from the battery and/or direct from the panels (as the solar panel should provide enough to keep the battery full). I will also run the emersion for hot water so again similar to the heating but obviously I will need HW all year round.
I could just install another gas one and use gas for heating and battery for all other electricity needs (hot water through emersion heater, washing machine, shower etc etc etc) but I wondered if anyone has a similar set up for have any information on anything really .
Is it worth it and will it actually pay back the cost of the battery (battery around £5k)? I obviously don't have to buy the panels etc so will have shorter payback than if starting from scratch and have to buy everything.
From internet searches the life span of batteries is about 10 years.
Any advice as to options I may not have considered would be gratefully received!
Thank you!