Solar Panels

[Eco-Andy]

(New to Site)
Hi

I have been reading all of your posts, and very interesting they are.
I too have had Free Solar Panels fitted in April of 2012 and brought myself a Wattson Energy Monitor to understand more about using free electric.

I thought I had missed my chance of free solar power back in Nov 2011 when I had a survey done from another solar panel company offering to fit free panels; however the government reduced the feed in tariff so the company backed out.

Another company found me from Goggle mapping and contacted me as my roof faces south.

So I have had my panels just over a year now and are more than happy with the power they supply and are showing signs of reducing the electric bill, however I got on the eco wagon of thinking.

I had already fitted 4 solar panels to my south facing wall generating a micro power system of 250 watts so I installed a 150 watt 12 volt Immersion Heater into the side of my domestic water tank with the required controllers to help warm up the hot water tank during the day, also fitted 12 volt LED ceiling lights in all the down stairs rooms so my downstairs lighting is run from the 4 x 110amp batteries that get charged up from my 4 solar panels.

To help the 12 volt immersion heater I fitted I have also run a 22mm piping from within the conservatory to the hot water tank to support the immersion heater. This is feed by gravity so if the water in the tank is warmer than the water in the pipes in the conservatory then the water does not flow.

This worked so well when I rebuilt my side conservatory I extended the water pipes 15mm now, through the flat roof and out to the Green house where I have fitted the roof space with a continual array of pipe work going backwards and forwards up to the apex of the roof, with the door shut the temperature can get up to 120 deg C (No longer use the Green house for Plant growing), this has resulted in the gravity feed water reaching 35 deg C at the entrance to my hot water tank, and all for about £3.50 for some garden pose pipe stuck to a timber frame.

All this before my free solar panels where fitted, so what could I do with spare power from my free solar panels.

As I brought a Wattson energy monitor to monitor the free electric I noticed from the graphs that can be viewed from the computer how much power is going down the grid, so I looked on the net to so what there was for only using the free power generated and no more and I came across a nice little box that plugs into a power socket and communicates with the wattson and only switches on when the Wattson tells it to. I have used this in the winter during the day when we are all out to switch on an 800 watt blow heater when the house is cold and during the summer I have invested in a 1.8kwt 8Lt water boiler (Tea Urn) to heat water up for cups of tea and when starting dinner.

The Wattson can control 4 of these plug adaptors, switching the one which uses the most power first.

Not satisfied with all this I was reading a post from PockPower about a low power immersion heater which I had been searching for in vain for a while, only to find he was using the same type of setup I wanted for my immersion heater.

I shall have to remove my Salamander from my tank to fit my new immersion heater. This salamander is a water pipe fitting that uses the connector for the immersion connector hole, I have needed this in the past as I have a Log burner fitted to my gas central heating system and the pump pressure should not be allowed to interfere with the gravity feed hot water from the fire during the winter months, I will have to fit a motorised valve so I do not push the water round the fire box and warm that up as well, when the gas boiler cuts in to heat up the water if it has not reached temperature by the time the gas boiler cuts in during the summer.

I know I will never get a return on my investment as I am already 60 years of age; I am only doing as much as I can before I reach retiring age and have less money coming in.

[emordnilap]

Welcome Eco-Andy. Very intriguing and interesting first post.