Marvin

Someone should tell these people about the UK Small Robot Company. I only saw it in the USA news. https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/09/tech/robot-zaps-weeds-spc-intl/index.html This should be mandated!

Oh yes, but now will need planning permission...

It appears the system failed the MCS requirements as a micro generation system and the idea died a death in this country.... Also it caused complications when requesting connection to the grid... However, I will carry on...

Hi @joe90 Apparently about 70% of wind directions are ok.

Well there has been a lot of comments and generally it seems that I am wasting my time. Thank you posters.😒 However I am struggling to obtain any information on which ways, and what designs, would produce what power. Can anyone point me to technical data that I can hopefully understand so I can see that the idea is dead in the water (so to speak)? Otherwise, its controlled experiments, which have to be done big scale to try and reduce the errors.(I can see sheets of OSB being required...) The problem with small tests is the inaccuracy. Any help before I go all in on the experiments greatly appreciated. Marvin

Yes we all agree the challenges regard domestic wind turbines: too small to produce the power or too big to get permission and so on, so let move on... My wife often comments that it's very windy here and we have been thinking of how to utilise the wind to produce electricity when we came across these ideas: The first thing to be done is to work out the direction and wind speed on top of our roof to see if this is at all practical. Being on the Isle of Wight we have had a blast or too recently and our PV stayed on the roof! (thank goodness its always embarrassing asking the neighbours for bits of your home back). Situated in a dip/shallow valley the wind seems to pass us north to south or south to north which would suit the ridge. So I have ordered a wind direction and wind speed monitor and will set it up to see what we have. With this information I can then consider if we have enough wind to make it worth while. Wish me luck!

Thanks for sharing the graphs.👍 Very impressed with your low grid demand! We have a MVHR, ASHP, PV and EV. our air tightness and insulation are also quite good. 100m2 floor. The best we could get is buying about 10-13kWh a day from the grid for March but we do only charge the car at home. I am beginning to realise how the peaks and troughs of the PV supply can be picked up by a battery back up and this helps to bring the amount down. The idea of off grid for us is unachievable with our lifestyle/budget but battery backup is looking more and more desirable.

Hi @Ajn I have seen you can buy 90kWh reconditioned car batteries which I'm sure could be used, but at a cost of about £14k just for the battery still too expensive for me which is a shame as the size would fit nicely under my utility suspended timber floor right by the consumer unit. Oh well☹

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Having recently purchased some expensive equipment from china, please be aware anything over about £135 now has a serious amount of inport tax added by the courier when it enters the UK.

Progress seems to be going backwards.

Yes, little left of our window frames after insulation. We made the internal skin window hole larger too....

Hi @Tetrarch Storage is another challenge all together and is the reason we are building power stations rather than energy stores. Our PV supplies most of the power we need for the year, just not when we need it. Using the European PVGIS calculator even with 100 12v 100amp batteries we would run out in winter. However for us it seems well worth the effort for the other 8 months of the year. A lot lot lot less batteries and only need to cater for power demand during late night early morning....

205 litre tank 60ltr buffer. Both highly insulated.

Check that you local council will do pre planning meetings. Some will some will not.

Hi @HughF and @Fly100Yes we have a Cool Energy inverTech Air Source Heat Pump CE-iVT9 4.3kW-9.5kW installed in May last year. I did not know that it had electronic expansions valves! Not had a problem so far. The people were very helpful. I would learn as much as possible about how ASHP's work to understand how to get the best from one. By flow set point did you mean the flow rate or temperature? On ours the temperature changes to what is set for the hot water or the heating when doing the hot water or heating. We actually use the weather compensation setting. If your going to swap a boiler for a ASHP you'd better check on the emitter (radiators) requirement as the lower the water temp the bigger the emitter to keep the same temp! since the 5th of Jan 70 days averaging 11.3kWh a day for heating and hot water, 2 people, 20C average 24 hour internal temperature, 100m2 floor. Good luck.

Hi @Jwenty Another item that may be considered in the ASHP calculations (which I did planning central heating) is to assume any wall connected to another building had a temperature the other side from your building of 2C in winter. This pushed the theorised heat requirement up but sometimes neighbours go away. What does your less than 2 year old EPC (that you require for MCS ) say?

Hi @JohnMo Just ran my building through this. Their calculations run as follows for our building: (Floor area of building times assumed wattage per m2 of floor) 100m2 multiplied by 20-40 watts is 2000 to 4000 watts or 2-4kW. I assume that it implies that the ASHP unit needs to be between 2-4kW input?? but this is not clear?? (multiply your answer by 2000 for heat loss and hot water) 2-4kW by 2000 gives 4000- 8000kWh. When we had a gas boiler in the same building for 3 years, after we renovated but before installing the ASHP, we used about 5500kWh per annuum. I would have expected the result to be in the lower half of their calculations because of the buildings more than average insulation and a warmer climate on the Isle of Wight. We have the Cool Energy inverTech Air Source Heat Pump CE-iVT9 4.3kW-9.5kW and it runs fine. From Jan 5th 2022, when I started recording, we have used 635.41kWh over 58 days for heating and hot water. The ASHP will run at a maximum of 16amps which is about 3.5kW input. For us this calculator gave a good indication of what we would need. It may or may not work with other properties - I don't know. M

Hi @Jwenty This is a very difficult question to give a good reply to. I believe that there is no alternative but to go through all the major variables that affect the result in detail. In my humble opinion, if you are not prepared to do this, as this is a lot of information, you are stuck with general assumptions. For an example of details to consider, in order to reply people here would require clarity on some items already mentioned: Are you comparing the 9000kWh of gas with the output of the ASHP or the input? What is the expected COP of the proposed ASHP? You calculate down to -2C: Interesting that your in Bristol. As you know ASHP's work best running low and slow: The lowest temperature recorded in Bristol in the last 20 years I think was minus 7 or minus 8C although that is not an all day temperature. A big source of heat loss in winter is to do with refreshing the air in the building. Are you aiming for a MVHR or is it trickle vents, and an airbrick for the wood burner? The devil is in the detail. Oh, and yes we fitted an ASHP to our renovated bungalow that has AIM (Airtightness, insulation, MVHR) and now APE (Air Source Heat Pump, PV and EV.) to a high standard. Marvin

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.sgn.co.uk/sites/default/files/media-entities/documents/2019-11/SGN-Excavation-Guide-160216.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiWifXm8Pn2AhXTTsAKHZA4BfQQFnoECAQQBg&usg=AOvVaw0scq1RZq_KBVOXFbxgRoAd

Best to go AIM where possible: Airtight, insulation and Mechanical ventilation if you can without loosing the heart of your build. Good luck. M

Hi @fletcher5555 Good luck with your project. Ask plenty, learn lots, save time/money. Marvin.

Don't get jealous of these rates they f**ked up, and if I leave it they will only send me a HUGH bill sometime in the future....

Clearer photo hopefully.

Just looked at last months bill! It says I'm on a fixed rate until 22 Dec 2023. Can anyone beat this: