All Electric Domestic Energy

[crookesey]

I watched a TV property program where a guy converted a house and went all electric. He swore by the central heating saying that his rads took only 5 minutes to heat up, he said that the boiler held 40 litres of hot water that was sufficient for him living on his own, and didn’t disclose his costs. Where this did interest me was in respect of hot water storage, 40 litres would not be sufficient for the wife and I, perhaps this could be increased, also I was expecting him to say that he had installed solar panels but he didn’t.

 

What I was wondering is could an all electric home with solar heating be the answer to the current crisis?

[Thirsty Relic]

34 minutes ago, crookesey said:

I watched a TV property program where a guy converted a house and went all electric. He swore by the central heating saying that his rads took only 5 minutes to heat up, he said that the boiler held 40 litres of hot water that was sufficient for him living on his own, and didn’t disclose his costs. Where this did interest me was in respect of hot water storage, 40 litres would not be sufficient for the wife and I, perhaps this could be increased, also I was expecting him to say that he had installed solar panels but he didn’t.

 

What I was wondering is could an all electric home with solar heating be the answer to the current crisis?

I certainly wouln't be happy relying on one energy source - should that hit a problem you could hardly huddle round a gas fire to keep warm etc etc.  Far better in my mind to have 2 different sources.  By the same token, I don't to "dual energy" with one provider, despite the incentives to do so.

[fools]

Having two different providers billing you is of no benefit, more hassle, more money.

 

As for solar heating, not much sun today, and electricity is nearly 4 times the cost of gas.

 

The forced move to noisy heat pumps is probably going to be another disaster in the offing. Probably get kicked into touch when they wake up to the reality.

Edited April 1, 2022 by fools

[S1 1DJ]

My last one-bedroom apartment to let cost at least £50 a month just to heat the 40 l water tank. I was wary of using panel heaters as they were very expensive.

 

Cost me £6 a month for a full tank of hot water per day on gas in my house (during warmer months).

[carosio]

2 hours ago, fools said:

Having two different providers billing you is of no benefit, more hassle, more money.

 

As for solar heating, not much sun today, and electricity is nearly 4 times the cost of gas.

 

The forced move to noisy heat pumps is probably going to be another disaster in the offing. Probably get kicked into touch when they wake up to the reality.

I do wonder what level of noise they make when bolted to the house wall.

[Guest]

The government should be taking the lead with a small panel of experts to delve into the pros & cons of all the different forms of heating, cooking & insulation and issue the correct advice.

They need to bear in mind that people live in  many different forms of housing including small terraced houses with little or no space outside for heat pumps and also consider people in flats & bedsits.

There are new forms of solar roof coverings including some which comes in large sheets and covers your whole roof and some are more efficient than others.

We need all items connected with heating or insulation to be free of VAT and we need government subsidies for those at the bottom of the pile to achieve this.

We need a scheme that will not see greedy landlords taking up poor peoples subsidies to line their own pockets because this itself would be a first.

All energy companies should come under full government control and we need government telling the truth about what is happening.

The present excuse for not windfall taxing energy firms is that they are investing billions into future energy savings BUT,    are they really?

and is this not the money that WE  are giving them in levies, standing charges etc.

I know an open and honest government would be a new idea but things are going to be desperate for a lot of people and we don't want fat cat ministers and MP's pulling strokes whilst we pay for all their subsidies and expenses.

[geared]

18 hours ago, crookesey said:

I watched a TV property program where a guy converted a house and went all electric. He swore by the central heating saying that his rads took only 5 minutes to heat up, he said that the boiler held 40 litres of hot water that was sufficient for him living on his own, and didn’t disclose his costs. Where this did interest me was in respect of hot water storage, 40 litres would not be sufficient for the wife and I, perhaps this could be increased, also I was expecting him to say that he had installed solar panels but he didn’t.

 

What I was wondering is could an all electric home with solar heating be the answer to the current crisis?

Yea, but you need several things to make it work.

 

1. A large roof on which to install a large enough solar array

2. A decent sized home battery to store the energy created

3. Heat pump heating

4. £30,000+ to buy the stuff.

[crookesey]

3 hours ago, geared said:

Yea, but you need several things to make it work.

 

1. A large roof on which to install a large enough solar array

2. A decent sized home battery to store the energy created

3. Heat pump heating

4. £30,000+ to buy the stuff.

Yes you could buy a lot of conventional energy that couldn’t you?

[Anna B]

When I bought my own solar panels, I was told by the salesman that 'all houses built after 2016 would have to have solar panels by law.' 

I thought  a) this was true,   and   b) it was a good idea. 

 

Obviously it hasn't happened.

 

Was it just a barefaced salesman's lie, or has this ever been mooted, let alone passed by the government, and then just been ignored, or has it ever been a recommendation by one of the house building fraternity? 

 

I still think it's a good idea, along with grey water systems, double glazing, good insulation and possibly a small roof top wind turbine, all included at the time of building. 

Edited April 2, 2022 by Anna B

[crookesey]

1 hour ago, Anna B said:

When I bought my own solar panels, I was told by the salesman that 'all houses built after 2016 would have to have solar panels by law.' 

I thought  a) this was true,   and   b) it was a good idea. 

 

Obviously it hasn't happened.

 

Was it just a barefaced salesman's lie, or has this ever been mooted, let alone passed by the government and just been ignored, or has it even been a reccommendation by one of the house building fraternity? 

 

I still think it's a good idea, along with grey water systems, double glazing, good insulation and possibly a small roof top wind turbine, all included at the time of building. 

Did your costs go down?