shower and fusebox advice

[ColJack]

No point in making H2 from the PV electricity to then burn. Just heat from the electricity directly. Unless you are storing the H2 to allow for seasonal variations.

exactly, no point heating water during the day while you're at work, once it reaches a certain temp it won't heat further, so all that sunlight is going to waste..
also, you can get a more instant heat if you store the gas, and can shower when it's dark..
hydrogen is the cleanest burning gas.. all you get as a byroduct is water..
you could also use the hydrogen in fuel cells to produce electricity at night and during dull days..

 

[stuartsjg]

your preaching to the converted, i used to work for www.regentech.co.uk and also designed two hydrogen powered house, one was "black" hydrogen derrived from natural gas, the 2nd was "green" hydrogen from renewables. The customers website is http://www.berwickshirelimited.co.uk/hydrogen.html

What your saying i have to say is not a good idea. Dont convert what you dont have too. If any solar system is properly designed then the system will make full use of the autumn-spring sun. Peak summer some goes to waste but you cant make use of the energy anyway.

PV is about 1/9th as efficient so for 6kW of electricity you need about 30m.sq of panels. For the same of heat you need about 3-4m.sq. Cost is also around a factor of 10!

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Peak summer some goes to waste but you cant make use of the energy anyway.

You can if you store it.

 

[Space cat]

you could also use the hydrogen in fuel cells to produce electricity at night and during dull days..

That's a big improvement on burning it. . Using high grade (zero entropy) energy like electricity for low grade heat is really wasteful. If you need the heat and your store of electrical energy - whether it's as hydrogen or in batteries - is all you have available, use it to drive a heat pump instead. Take the heat from the feeble winter sunlight and push it up to the temperature you require. You will get more heat energy out than the electrical energy you put in.