[meldrewreborn]

Originally Posted by LeeDQ_EONNext

@P962c Thank you, I will have a look.

I wonder if anyone else on the community is looking into this type of technology?

I doubt that many would consider solar thermal in addition to solar PV plusheat pump. The number of such installations would be comparatively small, and because the financial benefits are extremely marginal, few would be attracted unless they are the most committed green advocates.

if people can’t be convinced to install solar thermal in a non PV/heat pump home (and very few are) the likelihood of doing it where those features have been installed is rather slim.

incidentally do Eon Next offer a solar thermal package? If so what is the comparative take up to solar PV?

[retrotecchie]

@meldrewreborn

If I had a hot water tank, I'd consider solar thermal long before I considered solar PV.

But I have a tankless combi system fuelled by oil and I won't gain much advantage in solar thermal.

[P962c]

@LeeDQ_EONNext

Attached the solar generation from our system from installation to the end of last month to give an idea of what can be expected
Hope it is of interest

[meldrewreborn]

@retrotecchie

Yes you might but I don't think you are typical. When I look at roofs around my way there are quite a few PV installations, but very few solar thermal ones, and most of the latter were installed under the very generous scheme from my council, virtually none where the full cost had to be paid.. The ration would be, I guess, about 15:1. Solar thermal just doesn't deliver the returns that PV can - in my opinion.

[retrotecchie]

@meldrewreborn

Solar thermal can harvest 80%+ of the solar energy as heat from 1 square meter of ST compared to around 22% for PV. Solar thermal is a quarter of the cost per kilowatt of solar PV.

Whenever anyone mentions solar, everyone wants to jump on the PV bandwagon. Solar thermal has it's place and if you are already in possession of a tanked water heating system, solar thermal just makes a lot more financial sense to me than PV.

[meldrewreborn]

Originally Posted by retrotecchie

@meldrewreborn

Solar thermal can harvest 80%+ of the solar energy as heat from 1 square meter of ST compared to around 22% for PV. Solar thermal is a quarter of the cost per kilowatt of solar PV.

Whenever anyone mentions solar, everyone wants to jump on the PV bandwagon. Solar thermal has it's place and if you are already in possession of a tanked water heating system, solar thermal just makes a lot more financial sense to me than PV.

What you say is entirely correct, but the price of electricity is 4-5 times the price of gas. My two panels could be increased to capture more heat, but I actually couldn't make any use of it. whereas lots of PV panels could generate power to export or store for use later in the day. The people who make these decisions might not thoroughly investigate solar thermal, but if they did they'd likely enough go for PV. Perhaps a small installation might make sense to some but the evidence is that its not something many people around me go for. Perhaps the obsession with having combi boilers is partly to blame.

[retrotecchie]

@meldrewreborn

Yes, those combi boilers are not ideal. But for anyone with an older tanked system or even a tank with just electric immersion heaters they are the mutts. And solar space heaters are definitely worth considering.

[Mailman]

Originally Posted by wizzo227

Your thread was really useful to show how much stuff goes into a retrofit, and how important it is to have the space for it all and a hot water tank. Please could the newbuild housing regulations absolutely require the proper tank radiators and piping as yours, because retrofitting those resulted in your taking apart and redecorating every room of your house. Please could moderators consider lobbying for newbuild to have the rooftop photovoltaics and insulation, warm water pipework and radiator components of this system as a minimum, and absolute prohibition of new fossil gas boilers so that trades have a firm date to retrain by? Has anyone got one or more rooftop solar water heater panels series-connected in a system like this one ?

I agree but the reality can be sadly different. 😕

I looked at the scope of the development nearby (288 houses - work started a couple of months ago after planning permission granted last year). It is having the groundwork done as I type (no bricks/foundations yet just a big splodge of mud). Every single one of these houses has been spec'd with a Baxi Gas Boiler! Probably with microbore as well😗

[P962c]

Hi @Mailman

We have houses being built in our area that have solar panels (no battery) and electric car chargers (no where to get a car close enough to use them!!!) but no heat pumps. They have plenty of insulation but are being fitted with gas boilers. Crazy😠

[retrotecchie]

@Mailman

My house was fettled with 10mm microbore feeds to each of the radiators, but they are fed off a heating 'ring main' which uses 22mm copper for the flow and return to the boiler itself. According to my plumber, not only is it the optimal way of feeding radiators for a gas or oil installation, but works rather well with alternative heating sources too. The 22mm 'ring' runs through the space between the downstairs ceiling and upstairs floor in an insulated duct with access points to get to the radiator feeds. Not only that, but he fitted a few additional tap-off points too in case I decide to finish the internals of the barn properly and want to fit a couple of extra radiators out there. He's also fitted a couple of 15mm hot and cold pipes for water in case I fancy an en suite or kitchenette out in the office in the future.

Most systems are plumbed with radiators in series, but mine are effectively in parallel if you use an electrical analogy. I've lived in too many houses where the first radiator in the chain gets hot first (often the kitchen which needs heat the least) and then they eventually warm up in sequence. Mine all get hot at the same time, which makes for a far more even and efficient heat distribution and allows me to be comfortable at a lower, but far more consistent, 16°C downstairs and 14°C in the bedrooms.

It was a bit of a work up in an 1840s stone built cottage, but as the place was pretty much an empty shell, lifting floorboards to access all areas was easy to do with the house unoccupied. The sparkies also ran new electrics and I had access to run my CAT6 and CT100 feeds tor my networking and AV needs.

The external boiler was a clever move too as, if I ever decide to go down the heatpump route in future, there's no internal work to do. But heat pumps, I'm afraid, are not on my radar just yet. The boiler has a 15 year warranty and oil is much cheaper than gas and will be for the foreseeable future, so it will probably see me out.