Electric heating with Solar PV

[Caddy]

Hello

 

I'm having a Solar PV system installed next week. Part of the system is to have an Eddi to divert any surplus to my immersion heater. The Eddi seems to have 2 output feeds and I was wondering if the other could feed to some kind of electric heater? Or is it only possible to feed some electric underfloor heating as shown on the Myenergy website? I have an all electric heated house (no main gas or oil) and trying to figure out if the PV can be used to heat my house in some way. One old storage radiator and several convection heaters do not make for cheap electric bills. On another thread someone mentioned that modern storage radiators probably cannot be charged with PV this way due more complex electronic controls.

 

[JohnMo]

Unfortunately PV doesn't generate much electricity in the heating season, so using it for heating may not be very successful.

[ProDave]

I have my (home made) PV diverted connected to a 700W convector heater as an additional load, mainly for when the surplus PV is more than the immersion heater can sink on it's own.  It does not come on at this time of year, what little surplus there is easily gets absorbed by the immersion heater.  But it is useful mainly in the spring when it is still cold enough to need heating but the solar PV is usually doing well.

[Caddy]

Thanks for the quick replies. I think I'm a pretty low level energy user. I live on my own and even though I work from home my laptop and monitor don't seem to consume much. On the basic smart meter unit my base level during the day is 1p/hr currently (no heating on). I have one shower, so I don't think I'm a heavy water user either, so I'm not sure if the immersion will absorb all the spare, time will tell I suppose. Something like what ProDave has as some low level heating in the room I work in would be ideal if there was some spare after the immersion.

[Caddy]

Just had a quick chat with tech support at Myenergi about this. The problem seems to be new electric equipment having to be Lot20 complient. and the use of open window sensors and other modern energy saving tech in these heaters. This equipment need a 240v constant feed for the heaters to work and it would be rare to get this from the spare solar PV. The Eddi would work with older heaters with mechanical thermostats and timers that work with a purely resistive load. I think this is what someone mention to me before in another thread. The Eddi can be made to run with electric underfloor heating though still apparently. Some things are currently not Lot 20 complient like towel rails. Maybe I just fit a towel rail in my office, lol. 

[ProDave]

You want old school heaters, NOT this LOT20 rubbish.  An old fashioned storage heater that is nothing but a heating element a thermostat and a pile of bricks would work but almost impossible to buy those new now.

 

For simple panel heaters, a bit less hard to find non LOT20 heaters.  The simple plug in ones (that can be wall mounted but not very pretty) are still widely available https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/334170215917?epid=8033159787&hash=item4dce18d5ed:g:2V8AAOSwjVthWyiX

 

These are available in any number of places e.g are on sale in our local hardware shop etc.  I paid about £20 each for our ones. 

[Caddy]

Wonder is this one is dumb enough? https://www.appliancesdirect.co.uk/p/epph5w/electriq-epph5w?refsource=apadwords&mkwid=sl5VMKE2X_dc&pcrid=444691871515&product=EPPH5W&pgrid=101649716086&ptaid=pla-840173355027&channel=googlesearch&gclid=Cj0KCQiAys2MBhDOARIsAFf1D1doTUTYmvlbiuYfXgMEwJCQwUOCDByAq1RZ8sumAb7JISkFddn9MHIaAuVmEALw_wcB#!#maindesc

 

No mention of Lot 20.

[JohnMo]

If you want a storage heater look on gumtree, people give them away, not new but...  Maybe worth a punt

[TonyT]

A few greenhouse tubular heaters would be good