Customer wants options on upgrade

[Riley]

Evening all, I have a customer that is looking to upgrade their current system. Typically I gave them a wealth of installation options last time but they didn’t think they’d change too much.

5 years down the line now they find themselves with an old old boiler that is in need of upgrade and a 5year old unvented cylinder that works perfectly.

When we installed the cylinder we offered the option of twin coil as the cust was toying with solar to subsidise water heating.

They of course went for the cheaper option and now find themselves needing a new boiler and are now wanting to seriously look at solar.

What options do I have here. I’m not a renewables expert and would definitely bring in someone for the solar panels but as I see it, as it stands they will need to also upgrade their cylinder to accomodate a twin heat source.

Are there any clever ways to use solar to subsidise the actual heat produced by the boiler or is that just being stupid??

All I can see as an option here is super efficient boiler, likely economiser and upgrading the cylinder appropriately. Then getting a renewables Co to do their bit. Any options I’ve blindingly missed.

Before anyone says it cust wants new gas boiler rather than alternative main heat source.

Thoughts welcome

 

[ShaunCorbs]

Tbh I would push them down pv solar side less maintenance and they can use the excess power for battery or theee needs

 

[Riley]

Cheers Tell me more Shaun, need to let them know some thoughts. What practical use could the batteries have? Are we just talking EVs or similar or is it just power back to the grid?

 

[Murdoch]

The batteries, on really sunny days should allow you to power your house when the sun isn’t shining

 

[Riley]

Is is possible to get a combination of the two ?

 

[SJB060685]

Solar thermal evacuated tubes are probably the most efficient out of the lot. Whilst it’s true PV will supply power all year round they are not as efficient as the above mentioned. Does the customer want free electricity or hot water?

 

[Riley]

This is the question I need to ask then. Could the house conceivably have both? It’s a large property

 

[ShaunCorbs]

Solar thermal evacuated tubes are probably the most efficient out of the lot. Whilst it’s true PV will supply power all year round they are not as efficient as the above mentioned. Does the customer want free electricity or hot water?

You can use the free elec to heat the how water via an immersion

 

[ShaunCorbs]

Cheers Tell me more Shaun, need to let them know some thoughts. What practical use could the batteries have? Are we just talking EVs or similar or is it just power back to the grid?

Yes or via immersion

 

[Riley]

So could we conceivably Have both??

 

[ShaunCorbs]

Yes with a pv system depending on space you might be able to get a decent set of panels on the roof

I’m removing a few water solar system this year tubes have blown and systems arnt doing what the owners want etc

Had ours from 2017 saved 12 tons of carbon from elec production and added 33 trees

If it was straight back to the grid around 3k would of been paid on a 3 kw system

Total yield over that time 11.95 mwh

And upto 81kwh this year

 

[Riley]

Cool thanks mate. Least I can speak sense now

 

[ShaunCorbs]

Big selling point I think on a decent installer system is no maintenance other than washing the panels twice a year which is easy or most window cleaners do it now

 

[ShaunCorbs]

Good article

Heating Your Water With Solar PV | Solar Power Diverters Explained

A Solar Power Diverter or Immersion Diverter, diverts your surplus Solar energy from your Solar PV Panels into heating your Water.

www.deegesolar.co.uk

 

[Murdoch]

Yes to the above but if you have a combi boiler it’s a non starter.

New homes need pv panels and hot water tanks.

 

[Riley]

Doesn’t have to be a combi as they have a cylinder

 

[Chuck]

So could we conceivably Have both??

You'd need to do your costing and ROI calculations quite carefully in this case. Two half-sized systems are going to be more costly to install and maintain than one full sized one.

My preference, for what it's worth, is for PV. The flaw with water-solar is that they produce loads of hot water in the summer when you need it least. Electricity, on the other hand, is useful all year round.

 

[king of pipes]

The other option would be thermodynamics to heat the hot water and PV to back it up and produce electricity to run the system it can have battery backup? or feed back into the grid for payback plenty of info on YouTube. Kop

 

[Riley]

Thank you all some really interesting ideas to put back to my cust. Can always rely on you lot