Making the jump to solar

[Rolfe]

Ah right, am in the middle of installing one, has it been used in “anger” and did it work?

No, it's not been used in anger, yet. Power cuts are infrequent here since the electricity supply to the village was upgraded and run underground about 25 years ago, so it's more of a precaution than anything else. I mean how much of an idiot would I feel, sitting there with a battery full of electrons, but unable to use it?

My main concern was to keep the central heating boiler on, because most other things can be got round temporarily (candles, battery operated lights etc.) but the house can get very unpleasant very quickly if the heating goes off in winter. Again, all that kerosene in the tank and it's useless for want of a couple of hundred watts mains power.

When I got the quote, I seem to remember the price for the automatic switching was significantly higher and I was looking at the manual switch. But the work was delayed for about six months because reasons, and when it was done the installer said it would switch automatically, and demonstrated. I thought, oh crikey, is this going to cost more than I expected? But no, when the invoice arrived it was still under £700.

It was a cold day when the work was done, and of course the power was out for several hours. I ended up sitting in the car with the heating on, listening to the radio and reading my Kindle and my phone. Then I boiled the kettle on the VtL and made coffee. My installer was slightly surprised to be handed a steaming mug of coffee when the power was completely out.

 

[Rolfe]

They do that as well as the big earth spike. A young apprentice was left a vegetable and his boss didn't bother to do the tests and just turned on the new circuit; the apprentice was holding onto the pipe at the time while laying on the ground under the house ..... turns out the active had been connected to the pipe, not the earth wire ...... the boss went to gaol for 15 yrs for culpable negligence causing injury ......

That is absolutely tragic.

 

[Everest]

I see earth wires in my house connected to the water pipes, which seems to make sense.

Most underground water pipes are plastic (since the last 50 years), so the earth bonding on your water pipe is to provide a protective earth to the pipework - i.e. so you don't get a shock from pipework that has come into contact with a live wire.

 

[Rolfe]

Ah, I see (I think). The earth bonding always seems to be to a copper pipe though.

 

[T1 Terry]

Most underground water pipes are plastic (since the last 50 years), so the earth bonding on your water pipe is to provide a protective earth to the pipework - i.e. so you don't get a shock from pipework that has come into contact with a live wire.

Still either copper or gal pipe over here ..... new houses have PEX sometimes, but mainly in the budget builds, copper lasts a lot longer and not prone bacteria breeding when the weather is warm ....

T1 Terry

 

[Everest]

Ah, I see (I think). The earth bonding always seems to be to a copper pipe though.

plastic coming into the house to the main stopcock, then usually copper within the house that needs a protective earth.

ETA: Just for confusion... the polyethelyne pipe coming into the house is often abbreviated to PE. Same abbreviation as protective earth !

 

[Rolfe]

I see.