Onoff Posted February 13, 2021 Share Posted February 13, 2021 Looking for suggestions should finances ever permit! My SW facing, nom 45deg roof is I imagine ideal for either PV or solar thermal. However I'd like to change this hip end to a gable. That I guess loses that lovely big area for panels. If it wasn't for the hip/gable possibility I'd have already fitted the x3 ST panels I have. (These are the panels that got damaged in storage and now need repairing). Btw I know the collective view here about solar thermal. It's the polar opposite of people I know locally and on the Navitron forum. "Free hot water from April to October" as one using it for 15 years put it sounds good to me. Along with minimal servicing and no breakages. Thinking about it I've also got the garage roof, again with a SW facing roof: This is the SW facing garage roof (taken from the neighbour's front garden): Thinking I could put panels on the garage roof? Would it then be an idea to have the cu in the garage and feed the house from there? At the mo the mains supply comes in overhead from a pole North of the house in the 3rd picture above to the NW corner of the house. Looking to the future then I guess an EV charge point(s) will be needed and located on the garage. An underground power supply would be preferable. Just looking for some other opinions. (Other than knock down / rebuild ?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyT Posted February 13, 2021 Share Posted February 13, 2021 I think those on the navitron forum had the Evacuated tubes before PV, solar diverters become more common and lower cost. now I would fill the roof and possible ground mount PV and have as much as possible and limit the inverter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted February 13, 2021 Share Posted February 13, 2021 The garage looks best for the PV, easier to fit and you don't have to look at them. I take it you have power to the garage? If not do you know an electrician? A normal 4kWp array just needs a 16A supply connection. It does not matter where they are connected it will all be upstream of your meter, My kit is all in or on sheds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onoff Posted February 13, 2021 Author Share Posted February 13, 2021 18 minutes ago, ProDave said: The garage looks best for the PV, easier to fit and you don't have to look at them. I take it you have power to the garage? If not do you know an electrician? A normal 4kWp array just needs a 16A supply connection. It does not matter where they are connected it will all be upstream of your meter, My kit is all in or on sheds. ? There's a dodgy overhead SWA from the corner of the house to the garage on a wire catenary at the mo. See lower left. That'll get replaced soonish I hope by a trenched in duct as I need to get the gate intercom and CCTV to the house too. A bit of a convoluted route up the drive, through the garage, down into a trench then into the house. Getting an underground supply would be a pita and cost a few £££££. The pole we're currently off of is on the neighbours land the other side of his block paved drive. He's also got lots of underground cabling. With hindsight I could have perhaps got him to put a duct in for me years ago. Never mind. The other pole is across the road. Maybe get a pole put on my land? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted February 13, 2021 Share Posted February 13, 2021 Why do you need to update the house feed to do this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onoff Posted February 13, 2021 Author Share Posted February 13, 2021 19 minutes ago, ProDave said: Why do you need to update the house feed to do this? Sorry, to do what? I'd like to get rid of the incoming overhead... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted February 13, 2021 Share Posted February 13, 2021 9 minutes ago, Onoff said: Sorry, to do what? I'd like to get rid of the incoming overhead... I thought you were just on about installing solar PV? If the overhead SWA works and is rated properly that would not stop you installing PV on the garage. If you want to change it for other reasons that is a separate issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onoff Posted February 13, 2021 Author Share Posted February 13, 2021 2 hours ago, ProDave said: The garage looks best for the PV, easier to fit and you don't have to look at them. I take it you have power to the garage? If not do you know an electrician? A normal 4kWp array just needs a 16A supply connection. It does not matter where they are connected it will all be upstream of your meter, My kit is all in or on sheds. I'll openly admit to knowing jack about PV. The kit, inverters, how it connects etc. In fact I've actively avoided learning about it. Luckily there were no question on it in the 18th ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted February 13, 2021 Share Posted February 13, 2021 Just now, Onoff said: I'll openly admit to knowing jack about PV. The kit, inverters, how it connects etc. In fact I've actively avoided learning about it. Luckily there were no question on it in the 18th ? In simple terms treat it as any other 16A radial circuit to a 16A "load" Only in this case it does not consume 16A it produces up to 16A. That gives the rather interesting problem that "volt drop" manifests itself as volt rise. So if you have a long circuit with a poor Zs the voltage at the inverter could rise above 253V where most inverters will shut down in some way. So calculate your volt drop in the normal way, and add that to your typical supply voltage and ensure you don't exceed 253V As well as all fusing. rcd's etc for any normal circuit you provide an AC isolator switch next to the inverter and also a DC isolator switch for the PV panels (some inverters have the DC isolator built in) Most 4kW inverters will have the panels as 2 strings so you would need a 4 pole DC isolator, or two separate 2 pole DC isolators. In days gone by for the FIT you would have a generation meter next to the inverter to measure how much you have generated. Without a FIT that is not strictly necessary but still a useful thing to fit. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gone West Posted February 13, 2021 Share Posted February 13, 2021 2 hours ago, Onoff said: Btw I know the collective view here about solar thermal. It's the polar opposite of people I know locally and on the Navitron forum. "Free hot water from April to October" as one using it for 15 years put it sounds good to me. Along with minimal servicing and no breakages. I looked into ST when I was designing my house. Didn't think it was worth it for me because roof access would have been difficult but I thought the drain back system was good. https://www.viridiansolar.co.uk/resources-3-6-solar-thermal-plumbing.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pocster Posted February 13, 2021 Share Posted February 13, 2021 3 hours ago, Onoff said: Looking for suggestions should finances ever permit! My SW facing, nom 45deg roof is I imagine ideal for either PV or solar thermal. However I'd like to change this hip end to a gable. That I guess loses that lovely big area for panels. If it wasn't for the hip/gable possibility I'd have already fitted the x3 ST panels I have. (These are the panels that got damaged in storage and now need repairing). Btw I know the collective view here about solar thermal. It's the polar opposite of people I know locally and on the Navitron forum. "Free hot water from April to October" as one using it for 15 years put it sounds good to me. Along with minimal servicing and no breakages. Thinking about it I've also got the garage roof, again with a SW facing roof: This is the SW facing garage roof (taken from the neighbour's front garden): Thinking I could put panels on the garage roof? Would it then be an idea to have the cu in the garage and feed the house from there? At the mo the mains supply comes in overhead from a pole North of the house in the 3rd picture above to the NW corner of the house. Looking to the future then I guess an EV charge point(s) will be needed and located on the garage. An underground power supply would be preferable. Just looking for some other opinions. (Other than knock down / rebuild ?) Get planning for another build ! You can then take forever ( as always ) building it . Don’t faff about start from scratch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onoff Posted February 13, 2021 Author Share Posted February 13, 2021 55 minutes ago, pocster said: Get planning for another build ! You can then take forever ( as always ) building it . Don’t faff about start from scratch Where's the fun in that when I can spend years redressing other people's cock ups and considering workarounds before I even start something here? ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onoff Posted February 13, 2021 Author Share Posted February 13, 2021 As a "quick fix" to get the ST panels up and running I did think of building a timber pergola outside these sliding doors. It'd mean I could get the ST up and running. Also be handy for access when and if I change to a gable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteamyTea Posted February 13, 2021 Share Posted February 13, 2021 How much shading do you get from all those trees? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyT Posted February 13, 2021 Share Posted February 13, 2021 Sell them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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