Gone West

It looks like, as from today, you will not be allowed to fit a dumb EV charger. You have to fit a smart charger with a data connection to discourage some daytime charging. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1078138/Guide-to-evscp-regulations-2021-V2.1.pdf https://www.gov.uk/guidance/regulations-electric-vehicle-smart-charge-points

You can hire chimney scaffolding, not something I've ever done or would want to do though. This is the sort of thing builders have used in the past for me. https://fossewayhire.com/type27p/chimney-scaffold/

What I was hoping to do was, to put all the PV output, whenever it's available, into a thermal store, rather than run other things in the house and only use the excess to heat the thermal store as a Solar iBoost would normally do. When the thermal store is fully charged the PV output would go back to powering other things in the house. This might reduce oil consumption was the reasoning behind the idea.

Thanks for the offer, but not what I'm looking for unfortunately.

Thanks for all the comments. It seems it would be a complicated solution to a less than good idea. I think the idea of two immersions is simpler so will aim for that, plus thinking about it, at the moment, oil is a third of the price of electricity.

Sorry for all the questions, but do you know the thickness of insulation on the TS. I've seen up to 100mm shown in adverts.

But won't there be situations when I would be using the PV to heat the water rather than burning oil? This is making my head hurt 😁.

Thanks, that's useful info. So is your TS direct feed to the UFH or is there a heat exchanger in the store.

That's right, it does, but what I'd like is all output going to immersion first, then excess going to the rest of the house.

OK thanks, so as large tank as possible running at 70C in winter.

I think Grant recommend a return temperature of not less than 50C to stop corrosion. I'll have to check that.

I currently have a Solar iBoost which feeds excess PV output to an immersion in the vented DHW tank. Is it possible to have a system where all PV generation goes to an immersion in a thermal store, first, and then excess generation goes to the rest of the house?

I'm hoping to do as you suggest but I was wondering about the oil boiler not being in condensing mode if the thermal store is heated to more than 70C. Does it matter?

For eight to nine months of the year we heat our hot water tank with PV plus diverter and solar thermal.

Possibly, I don't think there is any point in rushing into any change at the moment as the market is too volatile. Grant quote 90% efficiency but I know what you're saying.

It doesn't even make sense for me to change from oil to ASHP in order to save money. Oil is 10kWh/litre and £1 a litre roughly, so 1kWh costs 10p.

Has the slab got a lot of insulation under it?

You could try self amalgam repair tape.

This might be of interest to those in the St Albans area. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/festool-uk-tour-2022-elsons-tickets-318847329947

Our plasterer wanted noggins around the edge, we used 12mm board. He said it would crack without them. I can't see 15mm board, which is thick for a ceiling, being any different.

I'm pretty sure you'll get cracks even with 15mm plasterboard.

The minimum flow rate doesn't really matter unless you're into really saving water. If the maximum is sufficient then I can't see the reason for buying the Honesty, as I looked at the Atom and it seems fine to me.

Yes, well I did.

That's interesting because when we lived in Kent the farming was arable and fruit and our MVHR filters and our windows became quickly dusty. Around here it's grass with cattle and sheep and sometimes silage and there's virtually no dust on the windows. Maybe one day, if appropriate, we'll have a MVHR again.

Don't understand.