Small / simple solar panels?

[winston1]

Forget direct water heating my father-in-law was conned into fitting this it looked good an he thought he was getting the water heated by solar however when he turned the gas off to fit a new cooker he found he has no heat in his water not even the chill was taken off. When fitted they disconnected the immersion heater and connected to central heating instead so his electric bill dropped but only because heated with gas not electric the panels did not even remove the chill.

Clearly something wrong then, because they should work. They won't give very hot water but preheat and the chill should certainly be removed.

 

[JP_]

The more I read the more I think that they are still not worth the money.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

If they were worth the money then people would not need to be bribed by being paid far more than the market rate for the electricity they produce in order to install them.

 

[JP_]

OK, I have a plan!

Although, the cost of installing is still absurd ... but .... summer time ceiling fans! They use about 80 watts, so a 250 watt panel working in full summer sun should be able to power 3, and this could help keep a nice free breeze indoors in the summer.

Maybe for the winter an LED bulb in the ceiling fan could help brighten up the house during the day - one panel would only need to generate about 24 watts for 3 of these fans (lights on, motor off): http://www.amazon.co.uk/Blankets-Ce...&sr=1-2&keywords=ceiling+fan+with+led++lights

But ... a lot of money for a free fan / light. Would still be cheaper to save that money![/url]

 

[Aragorn84]

running an 80w ceiling fan for 8 hours a day from the mains will cost about 6p.

 

[leeco]

I have a 800w setup on my boat and it runs the boat good in summer not so much in winter.

It cost me about £1000 from www.bimblesolar.com

The MPPT controller alone cost me £500 but it's a fm80 outback.


I have thought about fitting a off grid system on my house.