low-wattage immersion heaters

[ebee]

once your hot water tank is happy then would it be feasable to use the excess to charge some batteries -i`m thiking to keep an inverter on standby in case of mains fail and not enough sunlight/wind. could keep a little bit of lighting going and phone chargers and laptop and router connected via UPS

 

[SpecialK]

once your hot water tank is happy then would it be feasable to use the excess to charge some batteries -i`m thiking to keep an inverter on standby in case of mains fail and not enough sunlight/wind. could keep a little bit of lighting going and phone chargers and laptop and router connected via UPS

Depends how you have it setup?. Mine is grid connected so when there is no sun / battery left the power gets pulled from the grid. I don't have the part wired in yet which would give me power during a cut. It starts sending power to the hot water tank once the battery is full as electricity is much more expensive than gas so I want to store as much as possible before heating the water...

 

[JohnD]

Ah you are so right. I assumed that the diverter would in reality just switch the heater on or off. Reading some more, I can see that (at least some) will go in line and feed the excess.

I won't even need to change the existing 3kw unit!

If you have a gas boiler, the cost of HW is so low, that splashing out on an Immersun or similar will cost more than it saves.

 

[Grenage]

You could well be right, but if I already have the panels, the tank, and an immersion heater, it's not much outlay.

 

[JohnD]

Immersun will cost around £300

And take years to earn it

In summer, my gas usage for HW is about 50p a day

 

[SpecialK]

Immersun will cost around £300

And take years to earn it

In summer, my gas usage for HW is about 50p a day

Sometimes its not all about the money.

 

[JohnD]

You could donate or sell the electricity to the grid to make a tiny reduction in fossil fuel usage and climate change.

 

[Grenage]

I occasionally see second hand units on eBay for very little money. That's probably what I'll look out for.

Fair point about energy donation though.

 

[JohnD]

I've got a faulty one you can have for a tenner.

 

[SpecialK]

You could donate or sell the electricity to the grid to make a tiny reduction in fossil fuel usage and climate change.