cmorewood

Thanks for the reply David. Thats a nice setup you have there. It's given me food for thought. My garage sits at about +5C when the temperature outside is -2C. It's nice to know that the batteries will keep themselves warm. Chris

@StonesYou might want to take a look at this video. I've had batteries for 4 years on the mainland running Agile and then Go tariffs and last year the max price per kWh I paid was 12p this is despite being on a Go rate of 18p peak but load shifting to the off peak 5p rate and using the batteries to cover most of the rest saves about £450 a year for me. When I loose the 18p peak rate in August next year, I anticipate paying 25p ish and before that I will be adding another battery which will give me over 12kwh and should see me through most of the year on 5p/kWh. This is why I'm trying to find out info for the Shetland house, to remove the oil boiler and run it on a heat pump at 5p kWh on batteries.

"The north of England and Scotland use a different Long Range Radio system built by Arqiva, so entirely depends on whether they have coverage in your area, nothing to do with mobile signal " Thanks joth, I've sent an email off to them.

Thanks for the replies. The house is within a mile of open water of both Vodaphone O2 and EE mobile masts so te signal won't be a problem. I wondered if @Stones would have any comment since he's flying the Orcadian flag?

Hijacking this thread slightly as its questions about Pylontech batteries. I'm about to buy 2x US300c batteries to connect to my Victron system. I intend to keep them in my garage which can get down to just below freezing in the winter. They will however be housed in a cabinet. I noticed that the batteries operate best at 10C. My question is do they generate enough heat to maintain a decent temperature in the cabinet or should I br thinking about building a purpose built housing for them? I was intending buying a 18U cabinet for 4 or possibly 5 batteries eventually (to keep everything in one place and tidy) but I'm now wondering if, because of the 35kg weight of each battery pack, I should opt for 2 smaller cabinets. Does anyone have any experience of the temperature and cabinets? Thanks, Chris

I have a question about smart meters and whether certain locations are not eligible. I have been trying to get Octopus to install a smart meter for years in our house in Shetland, which incidentally has no mobile signal issues, to fit batteries and take advantage of the Go tariff, but each response is "we have no fitters in your area". I have't heard and don't know of anyone locally who has been sucessful in having one fitted. I wondered if the islands were a no go area for smart meters? I know there are plenty of highlands and islands folk on this forum, so I thought I'd try to get a definitive answer here. Thanks, Chris

So to round off this post. This has been a learning experience for me. I realised I was trying to run the HP like a gas boiler for the first year, at high temperatures and having it runing for the least time possible. During the summer and before winter I made a few improvements. I replaced the seals in the 2 year old patio door, in November I put up the thin plastic "triple glazing " in the poorly insulated extension and I hired a thermal camera and went over the obvious cold spots/draughts with glass wool insulation, forcing it into crevices etc. I also made the upstairs rads 30% bigger. So far this winter I have been running the HP at 30c water temp (lowest weather compensation) for up to about 15 hrs a day. The house has been a comfortable 20c give or take a degree and its cost me very little more than trying to run it at 45c for shorter periods of time. The outside air tem has not really dropped below -6C this winter and mosly been about 3-4C but we have not really noticed the OAT change as I'm leaving the thermostat to do its job and not fiddling with it. We are actually using £300 less to heat/cook and run an electric car than I did in 2018 with no electric car and gas central heating. I switched to Octopus Go in the summer 18p kWh daytime and 5p kWh 0030-0430 so I have been able to keep my spending under 14pkWh/day with an average of about 10p kWh/day. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I've realised that trying to run the HP like a gas boiler was a mistake and leaving it on all the time at minimum water temp has worked for us. I hope this is of some use to others.

And all I wanted to ask is "Does anyone have a Samsung ASHP?" ??

The Energy Performance Certificate A99 rating was issued in November last year with all the additions we have done, adding insulation (as part of the refurb), ASHP, solar thermal and PV . The figures I have there are for 2018, the last full year I could make a comparison as the house has totally changed since then. £180/yr FIT for PV min estimate as I'm still awaiting payment, they had a problem with a line diagram and didn't contact me. £428/yr RHI for ST minimum estimate as they haven't paid me yet due to a mix up in MCS. The initial setup was self installed but when they installed the HP they added the 58mm tubes and tank and comissioned it as a new installation which in effect it was. £886/yr RHI for ASHP I don't think you "have" to go on to the Agile export tariff. From what I read it was brought in to give those who had no access to FIT i.e had installed PV after the cutoff date of April last year some reward for exported electicity. As far as I'm concerned I stay on the FIT agreement I have with SSE. We will be using as much as we can for battery charging and car charging. But it doesn't really matter as FIT pays you whether you use it or export it. Of course the profit is not actually profit per say, it covers the EST 0% loan we took out to install the ASHP. I can't calculate things on a like for like basis as the house has changed so much and the money we have spent on the house will probably take 10 plus years to recover especially given the global rescession after the COVID19 outbreak has settled. Each sub- project was costed and should begin payback after approx 5yrs Batteries (after they're all connected) 3yrs ST, 7 yrs ASHP, and 11 yrs PV (although the 1st year has outperformed the projected generation figures by 18%) I keep my cars for about 20 years so if the Tesla lasts that long at 4p per mile and 200 000 miles ish I think that will pay for its self as well. But in the end they are all worthwhile as I will be using less energy that I was 2 years ago and doing my bit to save the planet and that is the most important thing to me. Wow this is some welcome thread!!

The Tesla display gives me readout when I charge at 5a that equates to 1kWh and when I up that to 6a it changes to 2kWh. If I'm reading it properly I put the solar thermal in myself about 7 years ago. it cost just about £900 including new 150 lit tank it was initially a Navitron 20 tube 42mm system.. worked fairly well in the summer . the hot water fed into the cold water of the combi boiler and so pe heated the water for the boiler all year.. even by a couple of degres in the winter. I gradually added bits i.e 10 Navitron 58mm tubes then another 10 and when we had the roof done last year I switched the 48mm tubes for a 58mm system. The new system which has been up and running for about 9 months is a 40 tube Navitron, (well 38 complete tubes as I managed to break the seal on two getting them on the roof but they're still working just not as efficiently as the others) into a 200 lit double insulated copper tank which is connected to the 210 lit as a pre heat so that if the water temp goes over 70c it diverts to heating the secondary tank. That lot cost about £1200 to fit and I managed a lot of it. ST works much better than PV I've found you seem to get more "bang for your buck" Servicing? There is none for the ST the PV I think is about £135/yr pls mileage.. but since they're coming back to connect the batteries...

When its all up and running.. a good bit. 2018 the last complete year no solar no batteries just 15 tubes for solar water heating. Gas 14178 kWh costing £ 400 approx Elec 3851kWh costing £532 £932 total 2021 expected with everything running properly smart meter, batteries and car 8000 miles per year 70% charging at home Gas 15kWh costing £65 approx Elec 6500 costing £440 @ 6p overnight or solar charging £505 total minus RHI/FIT £1494 Profit £989 or over £82 pm Of course this is just guess work.. but I have figures for the house going back 10 years when the kids were still at home so its an educated guess.

I'm Lucky in having solar thermal for 80% of our hot water needs.. It only really needs an assist in the 4 winter months and even then only a couple of times a week.. now the kids have gone and of course the obligatory 60C legionaires once a week. I've got 40 Navitron 58mm tubes heating 350 lit in 2 tanks. Its a little overkil for the summer but it means in the winter we can last a little longer without the HP. We're planning, once we get the smart meter, on charging the batteries, car and using the HP at night. I'm paying 15p per kWhour on the green fixed tariff at the moment so being able to run everything at about 6p is a massive saving for us despite the addition of the car. But having all the batteries online will mean that we use them in the expensive periods during the day and so should see an H24 rate of about 5-7p. I'm using an Ohme smart charger, again waiting for the smart meter to use it in anger, but still trickle charging off the excess solar at 6ah, 2kWh I just monitor the sunshine and stop it if it gets cloudy. and if I ever get to do a journey over 10 miles!! I'll use the local free charger in town although I'll sit and watch a movie for the time it takes !! at 20kWh I can't seem to get the 50 kWh ones to work with the Tesla. Thats an interesting graph Mr Magic. You really can see where the windy days and the poor solar generation are interesting to see just how little coal generaton there is.

Shortly I hope, I'll be on the Octopus Agile tariff which is based on the wholesale grid price. A no brainer for those with batteries. https://www.energy-stats.uk/octopus-agile/ Although you could use my referral code instead ?

That I don't know I'm afraid. I don't think so, but I havent't gone that deep into it. In fact yes it does! It allows you to download the raw data to the cloud in .csv and .xls format

The graphs are for the past 2 days, I find that the most useful, however I can display from an hour to years.

Here's a few views for you As you can see they're quite detailed.. You will notice the SOC graph isn't correct. We surmise thats because there's no BMS on the system.. there will be one when the new batteries get connected and possibly the Greenrock EMS next year

Yes, I can monitor via the VRM portal.. monitoring a bit more at the moment (the plans have gone awry with the virus changes.. 7KWh less as the new batteries aren't connected, no smart meter so I can't get on to the Octopus Agile Tariff and the arrival of the EV) as I'm trying to balance trickle charging the car and washing machine/dishwasher plus the recharge of the batteries from the solar during the day (not all at once obviously) Fortunately in the East of Scotland we get a good amount of sunshine, as long as the wind stays westerly. I also have a daily and monthly Excel worksheet moitoring useage and production and cost. I've often had the "we need to increase your DD" email and gone back to them chalenging their figures and they've backed down ?

They're Aquion S-line batteries. specifically the Aspen 48S 2.2 KWh. not the smallest (935H x 330W x 310D) or the lightest at 118kg but when they're depleted you can tale them to the local tip as they're only plastic and aluminium. They take no looking after, just make sure they dont get too cold, no lower than -5c and you can use the full capacity, unlike the other types of battery which can only use a percentage of their capacity. Unfortunately, they're no longer available new under the Aquion brand as Aquion in the US went bust due to cashflow problems. (you may be able to pick up one or two secondhand) Blue Sky in Austria bought the rights and now produce an amazing range of batteries, BMS and EMS. Check out their YouTube channel. You can find them for sale in the UK but I don't think they have a UK dealer yet. I have 2 new, well one year old now, and I managed to pick up 3 others from Kent in December which will give me 11KWh and I'm awaiting their connection.. but now that might be a while. Aquion_Energy_Aspen_48S-2.2_Product_Specification_Sheet.pdf

"I suspect the internal thermometer (2) is reading low. Can you see where it actually is and get your thermometer in EXACTLY the same place? " No Sorry Dave the internal no.2 is surrounded by very tight foam insulation with only the tip of the sensor, where the sensor wire joins, protruding. "But irrespective of that, there must be a parameter that lets you set the target temperature higher than 45 degrees " I've been through the ( very complicated) manual. I can't see anything that can get me any more heat. I think that No.2 is giving false readings to the HP controller leading it to believe that it is at a higher temp. I'm surprised there's no others here with Samsung experience I was led to believe it was quite a popular HP.

Thats just it Dave .. It won't go any hotter. Thats the max I can get out of it. When the OAT goes down the temp stays the same and from all the graphs I can see the water temp should increase up to about 50c at about -10c OAT but it just stays at 44C. That in its self we could live with but its the 6c temp drop (on weather correction) from HP sensor 2 to sensors 3 & 4 that's troubling as te max temp we can get into the house is 38C.

? Correct 4.4Kwh. well spotted. I think they're geat.. they need no looking after and no BMS just deplete and charge. I will be installing a BMS when I get the other 3 connected.. but that's going to be a while away. I'm also considering the Blue Sky Greenrock EMS when they get a UK dealer. Sounds wonderful and Welcome to THE forum. Thanks Mike

Brae? Just been chatting to a Telsa model 3 owner from Brae on another forum ?

ok .. results are in. I left the HP to stabilise for about an hour each time and measured at 5 points: 1 Heat pump copper pipe about 6 cm before flow leaves the unit 2 Heat pump existing sensor on the flow side which reads remotely at the control unit inside 3 Inside the wall in the cellar about 1.2m run away from no. 2 sensor and 1.25 from no.1 4 Heating manifold flow 5 Heating manifold return All taken at 6-7C OAT No weather correction: 1 38.4 2 40 3 37 4 37 5 33 With plus 5c weather correction: 1 38.3 2 44.4 3 38.3 4 38 5 35 This is about as hot as the temp (44.4) shows on no 2 no matter how cold it gets.

"constantly driving them at 50 degree flow temp will make your COP very poor and cost you more money to heat your house" We're living in a house thats not quite finished on the outside and has a load of draughts when its windy so loosing heat in the roof area. As it gets down to -5c ish with a bit of wind, the downstair room temps overnight hit 15c with the HP on H24. I realise this will change as we get the house sorted.. indeed it has changed since we got some of the roof sorted. Just need the tiles on the dormers and a good (warm) blow and I'll be able to figure out where the draughts are. but that looks like it'll be months away. "Take one of the covers off, you should find some copper pipe inside you can get the thermometer onto, or even onto the output pipe of the heat exchanger. Turn off all the weather compensation and just set it for a constant flow temperature." I've managed to do that today Dave I had to look round for a different screwdriver bit and ended up using the 7mm socket to take the covers off. what a faff getting the holes lined up for reassembly. I'll post the reults later tonight. Thanks

Does it ever get to -15 in Shetland? Du must bide in da langcambes? I've never seen highter than 46 degrees output, but that is on the water heating side.. never the heating. I have the temperature compensation as well with the ability to ask for up to plus or minus 5 c on each side of the curve, its been set to plus 5 since mid November so in theory it should be producing 50c at -5c but its nowhere near that. I have tried adjusting pump flows, There is no internal pump as far as I know just an external in the "cellar" and one on the UFH manifold Dave, I tried the thermometer on the flow as it leaves the HP. Unfortunately that doesn't work as the flow pipe is made of braided steel and I'm assuming has a rubber pipe below it so the HP is showing 44.5c but the thermometer, stuck a couple of inches below the insulation is only showing 27.1 and the one on the inside of the wall and the manifold is showing 35c. Thanks for the help and advice guys. I guess I'll have to wait till the heating guys come back.