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.

 

[MattyS]

I'd just like to add, do your research on the companies you pick. How long have they been active?
Check their reviews, check companies house too. Also ask them how long they guarantee their work for. Make sure they have insurance.

Also, my installation is happening this week!!! Cannot wait.

 

[Rolfe]

Woo-hoo!

I would counsel against GivEnergy. I am not having a good experience with them.

 

[Bam Bam]

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 !

I'm sure nothing could ever go wrong there!?!

 

[Bam Bam]

I would counsel against GivEnergy. I am not having a good experience with them.

Sadly I would have to second this. The equipment is great but the company are having big troubles and being very poor with existing customers.

 

[Rolfe]

I am being ghosted at the moment. I have sent numerous emails, and received nothing but automatic replies saying that they aim to get back to me within five working days. But they don't. Last time I had a problem it was sorted out with a quick phone call where I spoke to a knowledgeable lady. Now they have replaced knowledgeable lady with a robot, and it's impossible to speak to a human being. They are known to be laying off staff, as some of said staff have recounted their woes on Twitter and YouTube.

I'm now worried that I'll be left with a battery and an inverter with no backup, if they go out of business.

 

[T1 Terry]

Woo-hoo!

I would counsel against GivEnergy. I am not having a good experience with them.

I am being ghosted at the moment. I have sent numerous emails, and received nothing but automatic replies saying that they aim to get back to me within five working days. But they don't. Last time I had a problem it was sorted out with a quick phone call where I spoke to a knowledgeable lady. Now they have replaced knowledgeable lady with a robot, and it's impossible to speak to a human being. They are known to be laying off staff, as some of said staff have recounted their woes on Twitter and YouTube.

I'm now worried that I'll be left with a battery and an inverter with no backup, if they go out of business.

If you were over this side, I say you were being council(led) by GivEnergy, that is their tactic if you have a valid enquiry regarding something they have either done, or have not yet done, try to pretend you don't exist .....

T1 Terry

 

[Susanna]

@T1 Terry @decrep

I believe this is a typical set up for a domestic heat pump system

 

[Bam Bam]

I am being ghosted at the moment. I have sent numerous emails, and received nothing but automatic replies saying that they aim to get back to me within five working days. But they don't. Last time I had a problem it was sorted out with a quick phone call where I spoke to a knowledgeable lady. Now they have replaced knowledgeable lady with a robot, and it's impossible to speak to a human being. They are known to be laying off staff, as some of said staff have recounted their woes on Twitter and YouTube.

I'm now worried that I'll be left with a battery and an inverter with no backup, if they go out of business.

They haven't been replying to customers for some time.

I once got a reply several months after raising an issue, which had been resolved in the meantime by talking to one of their staff at an event stand.

This was last October and I was then recommended to join the Facebook group because that was the only place they regularly monitored at the time.

Don't know what would happen if they went out of business. Perhaps they would be bought out by the staff or a larger company, but possibly not.

The good news is that you can apparently control the equipment locally and there are several ways to do that.

But, in general, software support could become an issue when protocols change in the future.

 

[T1 Terry]

@T1 Terry @decrep

I believe this is a typical set up for a domestic heat pump system

That's just a system using a heat pump water heater to replace the kero or gas heated boiler.

I was talking about a reverse cycle air conditioner that compresses the refrigerant gas until it becomes hot, this hot vapor is under high pressure and travels through the pipes till it reaches the inside wall unit. The cold air from the room extracts the heat from the refrigerant vapor and condenses the hot vapour into a cooler vapour or even a liquid, but it would need to be real cold inside the house to drop the refrigerant below its vapour point.

This cooler vapour passes through the outside unit where the vapour passes through a pressure reducer, causing it to become a very cold liquid ..... if it can absorb enough cold from the outside air ..... if it can't, it remains a low pressure vapour and enters the compressor again and becomes a hot vapour, and the process continues ....

I made up a sort of pictures and text explanation I stole from another site and I will credit them with the work if you would like the visual explanation posted here

T1 Terry

 

[Susanna]

@T1 Terry - my post was in explanation of why heat pumps in domestic buildings are not necessarily suitable for all homes, including mine! See my post #34.

Our government seems keen to push these systems for every household to replace gas fired boilers. They need a fair amount of space, as you can see.

 

[decrep]

Hey guys, I think it's called talking at cross purposes.
It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking Aussie and British cultures are identical.
They aren't, the differences may be subtle but they are big enough to cause confusion.

 

[Everest]

the differences may be subtle but they are big enough to cause confusion.

 

[Black estate]

Just think of the power I could have generated today