ProDave

I concur with what @Construction Channel say. The place to learn how to drive a digger is NOT within swinging distance of your neighbours house wall. As one like many on here who bought their own digger, I can confirm the place to learn to drive it is the middle of an empty plot, where the worst thing you can damage WHEN you get it wrong, is an unwanted tree that is destined for removal anyway.

I have done some modeling with PVGIS. It is a tedious struggle as the CVS file is produces won't just import into excell properly requiring some manual editing, so I have just modeled a few scenarios Firstly panel elevation 35 degrees for January and June. January shows a nice flat top for the combined data but June still shows quite a large mid day peak (though the usable duration is much longer than all south) So I then tried June at 45 degree elevation. This widens the peak somewhat. These are all for E/W split. So the steeper angle looks better with a lower but wider profile. I doubt I will achieve 45 degrees without the structure becoming very tall and a bit of an eyesore, so I will probably compromise on the steepest angle I can get while keeping the overall height acceptable.

It was the front elevation with that wall and a drop down to the lower level I remember so yes it was probably a picture on ebuild that I saw it before. I was just starting my house then. I am still working on it but at least living in it even though it is not finished.

Okay I have played with PVGIS a bit more and it will give output throughout the day, but only for ONE string at a time. So I can see if I go for an E/W split the E half peaks before mid day and the W half peaks after mid day. But I want to see the SUM of the output from the 2 strings on the same graph. I guess I could download the PVGIS output as CVS and impot it into a spreadsheet and sum the 2 outputs but that is all getting a bit clumsy. I cannot believe I am the first to want to optimise an E/W split for maximum length of usable generation so I can't be the first looking for a better bit of software to do it can I? The E/W split idea is an attempt to get a more broad and more level output, rather than a relatively narrow massive peak in the middle of the day. And the low angle idea is to get more in the winter when the sun is low and also I believe it gathers more from a bright but cloudy day. But this is why I want to model it so I have some idea what it will give.

Hi and welcome Have you posted that somewhere before? it looks strangely familliar.

The ones Bimble Solar are selling, used panels described as having damage to the backing sheet, though of the 25 only 3 show any signs of damage and it is very minor indeed. If I must use android if that is the only platform the "right" software is on then I will, but I am too much of a dinosaur and prefer my computers to have a decent size screen, a proper keyboard (not a touch screen thing that takes up half the already minute screen) and a proper mouse.

I have no desire to try and use a phone as a computer.

needs to be on line, or widoze or ubuntu

Tried PVGIS but it just wants to tell me the total annual yield. As this is a non FIT system that does not interest me. I want something that can show me a graph of output vs time of day (and be able to show me that at different times of year) and then play with orientation and angles to find the maximum (in terms of hours per day) usable generation. I have the gut feeling a very low angle E/W split will provide that but I want to model it.

This thread is to document the (probably slow) DIY installation of my ground mount solar PV I have just bought the panels I will be using 16 250W panels for the main 4KW array facing south which will leave me 2 spares that I will probably set up independantly on a small inverter facing east. I shall be mounting the 16 panels as 2 rows of 8, portrait mounted, occupying about 8 metres wide by a touch over 3 metres high. The first decision is how to mount them. First off I looked for ready made mounting kits https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Aluminium-Ground-Mount-Kit-for-16-Solar-PV-Panels-for-Garden-Field-Farm/282218731955?hash=item41b58c19b3:m:mAhKzS4fvoS4IL4PF6CSuyg:rk:34:pf:0 Lovely stuff but I am not paying more for the mounting frame than I paid for the panels. So seeking other ideas on this first. Just to compound things, where I want to mount them is in the corner of the garden, and at that point, the ground rises a few feet up a bank. So it will end up with the bottom, south, edge of the panels at the top of the bank, quite close to the ground, and the top, north end some distance from the ground (as the ground is lower) At the moment I am thinking along the lines of make the mounting structure of fence posts concreted into the ground, and joists spanning between them. Motivated partly by the fact is is almost certain I will close in the sides to make this into another shed / covered storage area. Open to better ideas for the mounting structure. One decision is what angle to mount them? I am not wanting to maximise overall yield, rather wanting maximum period of usable power. With that in mind I am thinking to set them to a more shallow angle which will improve early and late generation, particularly in summer. It will also help with the sloping ground issue. Another off the shelf idea might be tom slope them the other way, and make a shallow pitched roof with half of them on the East side and half on the west side, but only a very shallow pitch to this. Again with the intention of maximum as near constant usable power for as much of the day as possible. Where can I model power output throughout the day for different roof pitches and orientations?

@joe90 You have the Lossnay unit same as me I believe? You can speed up both the intake and exhaust fans by using the dip switched on the board. I don't have the exact manual as the ones on line are for a very slightly different control board. But with the unit on, go and turn each dip switch on one at a time, and you will find one speeds up the inlet fan a bit, and another speeds up the exhaust fan a bit. Handy to balance it if there is a difference between inlet and outlet airflow. I have not balanced mine yet either.

I pondered what to do with the mechanical thermostat. It is not needed for normal control as would be with a conventional boiler. The heat pump takes care of controlling the temperature with it's own thermistor. But it seemed wrong to do nothing with it. The heat pump itself cannot possibly heat the water to anything like boiling, so poses no danger to the cylinder. But this particular heat pump contains a willis type in line immersion heater as well. So a possible failure mode is the contactor that controls it, or the controls failing and that sticking on. I don't know what safety precautions LG built in, but I would expect as a very minimum it would have the conventional immersion heater thermostat so even then overheating should not happen. But in any event connecting the mechanical thermostat to shut the 2 port valve seemed a simple and obvious safety feature.

The ASHP came with a thermistor to put into a pocket. That is the primary temperature control. In the other pocket is the mechanical dual tank thermostat supplied with the tank. That is set to a higher temperature so never normally opens, but if something makes the tank overheat, that will open and remove power to the 2 port valve feeding the tank.

Mine heats the water until the themister in it's pocket senses the temperature you have asked for. The flow temperature gets to about 55 to achieve that.

I expect the water in the tank will circulate well when it is heating up. I am pretty sure the heat pump coil goes virtually top to bottom in the tank. It is more a case that once warm and shut off, the thermostat in it's pocket won't sense much of a temperature drop until nearly 1/3 of the hot water has been used up. So you could well start your showering with only just over 200L of hot water available. My immersion is quite low down so I expect when the PV is powering that it will heat the lot well.

I have set the hysteresis to 3 degrees, so with the tank heated to 48 it will start re heat at 45. I think another issue may be thermostat pocket location. Our tank came with 2 thermostat pockets. The highest one (about half way up the tank) was hopeless, you only got half a tank of hot water. It is now in the bottom pocket but even that is nearly 1/3 of the way up the tank, but there is no other option. So I suspect we might not really be getting 300L of hot water in the tank. I guess a test might be to temporarily borrow the immersion heaters thermostat pocket and try the heat pump thermostat in that. A lesson here when buying the tank would have been to specify an extra thermostat pocket really low down perhaps.

Yes but the Steibel is the "safety net" If you are the unlucky one that has the last shower and it runs cold, then the Steibel will let you finish your shower and get the shampoo out of your hair, but you might have to turn the flow down a bit to maintain an acceptable temperature. That is it's purpose, and sounds infinitely better than nothing but cold water to rinse your hair. That is all it is for, nothing more nothing less.

The whole point of this particular heater is it only operates when needed. If the input temperature already meets it's set point, it will not heat it. So in the Mac D case they could just do as I have done and have it in the output of the UVC with no need for changeover valves. As to flow rate, the fact the shower, all plumbed in 15mm and now passing through the "restrictions" of the heater, can still deliver 17L per minute says flow rate is not an issue. If I were plumbing this again, I would have used standard ballofix valves for the showers, not the full bore ones, that would have reduced the shower flow a bit. I don't want to heat the tank water any hotter from the ASHP I am trying to get the best COP and least defrosting possible from that. Shortly I will be installing solar PV. For much of the year excess from that will keep the tank hot so I would then expect this run out of hot water to only be an occasional winter problem, which the Stiebel Eltron will deal with. A case of making it a robust system that will cover all eventualities. Like @joe90 I anticipated I might need this (thanks to @JSHarris for originally finding this particular heater and suggesting the idea) and had already installed a 10mm cable and spare rcbo in the consumer unit.

I will admit to pulling out the cable clamp and not using it. And that silly grommet thing now has a cut in the back so I could feed the cable in and then fit the grommet back afterwards. I never have that trouble with most electric showers, it just needs a bit more room.

Hence the flow restrictor idea.

I have just installed our Stiebel Eltron DHC-E 8/10 instant water heater. I have had it over a month now, but this was prompted by another "run out of hot water" incident this morning * This is an electronically controller instant water heater that modulates it's power to maintain a fixed water output temperature set on it's dial and can heat with a power up to about 10Kw It is connected in line with the output of the unvented hot water cylinder. The idea being most of the time it will do very little, but in the event of the hot water running out, it will take over and at least produce some hot water so ones shower can continue (although you will probably have to turn down the flow rate to maintain a sensible temperature) Just a few observations. This has gone to the top of my list of most awkward appliances to make the electrical connection to. Whoever designed the cable entry arrangement needs to be condemned to a lifetime of fitting cables into them. I was also confused by two L terminals. The manual says L L (L N) so my best interpretation of that is the left hand L terminal is L and right hand L terminal is in fact N I had deliberately left the UVC cold while I was installing this heater. The tank temperature was probably in the region of 30 degrees and I was able to get a hot enough shower temperature with a decent flow rate, though the heater was flashing it's light to indicate it was running at full power so not achieving it's 50 degree setpoint. In normal use I have the tank set to 48 and the Stiebel Eltron set to 50 so it will do a little bit of uplift. * This is the third (or is it 4th) "ran out of hot water" incident. We have a 300L UVC. This morning SWMBO had a "hair wash" shower and I timed her at over 15 minutes in the shower. Immediately afterwards, daughter had a shower and about 5 minutes in, complained it was getting cold. SWMBO tells me this is unacceptable. As part of my "research" I did the bucket and timer test and found that the rainfall shower head is delivering 17 litres per minute. That will empty a 300L tank in just under 18 minutes. I am trying to educate the ladies that a shower tap is not a binary device, it can be anywhere between fully off and fully on and it does not need to be fully on. In the mean time I might look at some form of flow restrictor, but I don't want anything that makes the water flow noisy.

Any surface imperfections are lost in the noise and can be ignored. Just make sure you screw the boards down, not nail them if you want squeak free.

If you had asked me 10 years ago I would have said Grant, but so many I have been involved with recently have had issues. What is wrong with the old one? unless the water jacket has rusted through, there is usually not much a new burner or burner overhaul won't fix.

Well I ended up with a pallet of 25 of the Bimble solar PV panels. They had listed one on ebay and I won it for a little less than the price they are listed on their website that with transport works out at £50.8 per 250W panel, or 20.32p per watt. I was pleasantly surprised unpacking them. Most of them seem fine with no problems with the backing. One has a split in the backing about 1cm long, and 2 of the panels have the backing peeling at the top edge in one small area like this I think my "fix" will be to cover the affected areas with a bit of sticks like sh*t smoothed down with a finger.

Not an easy job, not one I would DIY. I was in a house once where they were doing this. They took out great big blocks of stone but often what is in the middle is rubble / dust. I recall it all got very hairy at one point where the wall above the opening started collapsing and they had to very quickly get some more temporary props under. Getting the lintels in was also interesting. And there was a huge stack of them to fill the nearly metre thick wall opening. Then they had to rebuild all the collapsed wall above the opening.