Economy 7

[blackrodd]

The first house me and E'r Indoors had was on E 7.
At that time, This meant using as much power, like washing machine etc between 2 am and 7 am daily to try and keep the cost down. Took that out and went on to have some back up.
As we live in the country, by choice, the reliance on any one or even two power and heating source could be a let down.
Firstly the good old rayburn, Mine was made in 1954. These earlier ones supply most of a family's hot water (depends how many baths daily) does a roast like no other and will drive a radiator, say, in the bathroom, and heats up the kitchen, and easy to fuel. Newer ones (S fuel) will do 10 rads and Domestic hot water
I have an electric fan assist oven as the rayburn can be off from april 'til october.
A small 30kg propane cylinder beside the gas hob, which is above the F.Assist. Oven,Two cylinders a year less that £60. Does all the cooking and tea. No expensive 3kw electric kettle!
The dreaded microwave, but it does save fuel.
Flat top log burner,which we have cooked on it, sucessfully.
Combi boiler outside, instant hot water,all day, and wet central heating, but heating not really used much.
So if another 1947, 1963, or 1978 winter arrives we should be able to be warm and fed.
Regards Rodders

 

[mind_the_goat]

Wood/coal burner with a back boiler and/or solar hot water.
I think it's possible to use the heat in the system to move the water round the system. For solar water heating you could could add a small PV to run a pump.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I think this is likely. Stove immediately, solar for some time in the future -we'll just install the system to allow for it. As you say, as far as I know there is no electricity needed. We've just lost £40,000 on the house, so money's not flush.

 

[mind_the_goat]

"Water heating via sunlight and panels on the roof is a £13k to £20k investment"

Do fitters in your area all drive Aston Martins ? A 4KV PV system would come in less that that, Solar water heating much much less. Did you talk to a company that dropped a flashy leaflet through your door? We did that for a PV system once and got a quote nearly 3 times the ones we got from 'real' companies.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I did wonder that, too. My existing tank looks almost new, so it'll have a bit of second hand value to offset another one. I've bil's who can get me a tank at a reasonable price (still phenomenal :shock: ) and do the plumbing, so I'll get a tank that allows for an electric heater, a back boiler and solar thermal in the future when the finances settle from moving. Solar thermal isn't too badly priced if you install yourself, but you lose any RHI payments unless you can get a registered installer to sign it off - it's difficult to do the maths on this without knowing exactly what the payment would be. I had a good friend who installed his own 30yrs ago and swore by it. West Cornwall is as good as it gets for solar thermal and PV apparently. I'm looking at a Dowling Little Devil 12b. - I got peed off with £400 - £500 of parts every three years with a Clearview, nice as the stove was.

 

[beech1948]

"Water heating via sunlight and panels on the roof is a £13k to £20k investment"

Do fitters in your area all drive Aston Martins ? A 4KV PV system would come in less that that, Solar water heating much much less. Did you talk to a company that dropped a flashy leaflet through your door? We did that for a PV system once and got a quote nearly 3 times the ones we got from 'real' companies.

You may be right. I have no knowledge about your locale. I chose to use the estimates from the Energy Savings Trust and my own experience of getting quotes. Maybe its the over expensive rip off south east issue again.

Getting it cheaper is a good aim but this often requires more time and effort than most people can be bothered with. Thats why this debate is so important.

What would be a good DIY approach to the plumbing and electrical issues and how do you get it signed off.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

You can get properly certified kits ex. the cylinder for not much over the £1000 (supposedly for a family of four or five), but you need someone with MCS certification to sign it off to get the RHI payments. As I said, it's difficult to do the maths when you don't know how much the RHI payment is - if someone is going to sting for a couple of grad for fitting it and the payment is a couple of hundred a year it's ten years before there's any return - is it worth the bother? Another problem is that the FIT (for PV) and RHI is index linked, so you can allow for a future increase, but you don't know by how much. I haven't as yet looked into getting someone to sign one off although I suspect it will be difficult/very expensive.