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Sunamp not heating the water


Inchbyinch

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  • 2 weeks later...

As an update to this, I've been looking at ways to retain the switched boost functionality that we have at the moment, and add energy metering for both the PV diverted energy and the grid boost energy, so that I can get a feel for just how much grid energy we use.  This has been prompted by the discussion in this thread:

 

I already had a spare 4 module DIN enclosure ( less than £7 from eBay), so I've decided to replace the time switch in my set up with a DIN rail mounted 16 A time switch, plus two single module DIN rail energy meters.  I'll post photos of the set up here, as soon as I've finished it.

 

The idea is to have one energy meter recording the diverted PV total energy to the Sunamp and the other recording the grid boost energy to the Sunamp.  I'm going to retain the separate boost enable/disable switch, as the neon indicator is a useful guide to show that the system is in boost mode.  The 2 module wide time switch is one like this: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DIN-Rail-Digital-LCD-Power-Programmable-Timer-AC-220V-16A-Time-Switch-RelayBI117/153187211217?epid=850258809&hash=item23aaab57d1:g:9iAAAOSwSflbopYN:rk:1:pf:1

 

The energy meters needed a bit of thought, as the LCD ones that I've used for other energy monitoring purposes would have the disadvantage of not being able to be read when not energised, which would be the case for a fair bit of the time.  Instead I've opted to use 1 module wide ones like this: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AC-5-30-A-50Hz-Single-Phase-DIN-Rail-Type-Electric-Kilowatt-Hour-KWH-Meter-BI041/163042593097?epid=8019867926&hash=item25f6188949:g:YDIAAOSwCLVbvsIt:rk:1:pf:1 that have an electromechanical counter, so can be read at any time.

 

It's a bit simplistic, and relies on my taking meter readings from time to time, but is pretty foolproof and should give a good indication as to just how much DHW energy we get from PV and how much comes from the grid.

 

More details and photos to follow, once I've got it up and running.

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