The Boy That Cried PV Extension

[Mart]

Yep, gotta love cheap rate!


And in further news, I've just completed an exhaustive and comprehensive upgrade of the kitchen heating system, voila :-

[Stinsy]

Funny you mention it but my bill just dropped:

For completeness here's my gas bill:

[Mart]

My bill should arrive in a few days. Gas should be similar to yours, with the bulk being standing charge. Quite a change compared to previous Novembers. Jan gas consumption tends to be higher on average than Dec, but not much. So looking forward to not (fingers crossed) using the GCH during the month, and becoming part of the HP world, or HP light perhaps, but if it works, it works.

Update on the fan ..... it really works, and I'm shocked. I assumed it had to work a bit, but wasn't expecting much. However on setting 1 (of 3), it's blasting air into the kitchen and the temp on the opposite side window has gone up about 1C. It actually went up a bit more, but the temp outside has also risen. Whilst that won't impact the temp of the air in the conservatory (just the COP), it will affect the temp near the outside window.

Temp around 20C at the window, and around 23.5C in the conservatory (21C in living room). That's with 'pre-loading' overnight. In the morning I turn the unit down a degree on the setting, and the temps drop about 1C all round.

Battery powerstation arrived. Looks great, but lower charge rate as I feared. It actually charges at ~300W, but at 400W I would have been able to manage an 80% charge on cheap rate. Also the fan is noisy when charging. Live and learn.

[Mart]

Hi Stinsy, bill has now arrived, shockingly low, especially for a heating month.





Looks like about 0.5kWh of day rate leccy is sneaking through each day. I can live with that.

[Stinsy]

c. 1.9% of your total electric being peak is doing really well. You'll always get some because it takes a while for your inverter to react. Therefore devices such as induction hobs, clothes irons, etc. will always result in a smidge.

I managed c. 1.7% of my electric being peak, but then I use way more than double the electric you do.

[Mart]

c. 1.9% of your total electric being peak is doing really well. You'll always get some because it takes a while for your inverter to react. Therefore devices such as induction hobs, clothes irons, etc. will always result in a smidge.

I managed c. 1.7% of my electric being peak, but then I use way more than double the electric you do.

Yep, you are spot on, it's tea time when I think most of it tunnels in when we aren't looking. Micro-waves, induction, and also the simple fact that the inverter is capped at 3.68kW, so very easy to go over that when several items are in use. But of course the power topping 3.68kW doesn't matter too much, as the time/energy is quite low.

Definitely starting to think more seriously about ditching gas. If the oven and DHW are so relatively small, then cheap rate HW tank heating, and some daytime import when cooking won't dent the leccy figures too much.

Roll on January to see what I'm missing, and how much of a sustained cold period the A2A units can cover. I'll curse myself now by suggesting it's looking better than I expected.

Unpleasant/pleasant surprise this morning. We had a powercut at about 7am. DNO advice was that it would be back on by 8.30am, so with the recent powerstation purchase, charged overnight, we ran one of the A2A units. If the estimate had been for longer / later in the day, then I would have plugged the freezer in. Still not convinced I made the best decision, but a bit more pleased with this week's new toy. And power came back on around 8am, then went off again just before I could post a long comment. Back again then 10mins later.

Bonus win - our old combi doesn't have any battery backup of the settings. So when we get even a brief powercut, I have to enter all the heating program times again, and reset the clock. But today (twice) I simply changed it from on to off (DHW stays on) and walked away - Smug Mode. Sometimes it's just the little wins.

[Mart]

Just checked back to Nov 2023 and leccy consumption was 463kWh and gas was 781kWh.

So very roughly, looks like leccy is up ~270 units, and gas down ~700. But will also depend on weather, and BEV charging/use. So just a guide.

[Stinsy]

I have 2x 16A ovens and a big 900mm induction hob. My 3.6kW inverter does just fine!

Combi just there for DHW at the moment. I've long had a plan to put a tank in but that can had to be kicked down the road...

[Joeboy]

c. 1.9% of your total electric being peak is doing really well. You'll always get some because it takes a while for your inverter to react. Therefore devices such as induction hobs, clothes irons, etc. will always result in a smidge.

I managed c. 1.7% of my electric being peak, but then I use way more than double the electric you do.

Yep, you are spot on, it's tea time when I think most of it tunnels in when we aren't looking. Micro-waves, induction, and also the simple fact that the inverter is capped at 3.68kW, so very easy to go over that when several items are in use. But of course the power topping 3.68kW doesn't matter too much, as the time/energy is quite low.

Definitely starting to think more seriously about ditching gas. If the oven and DHW are so relatively small, then cheap rate HW tank heating, and some daytime import when cooking won't dent the leccy figures too much.

Roll on January to see what I'm missing, and how much of a sustained cold period the A2A units can cover. I'll curse myself now by suggesting it's looking better than I expected.

Unpleasant/pleasant surprise this morning. We had a powercut at about 7am. DNO advice was that it would be back on by 8.30am, so with the recent powerstation purchase, charged overnight, we ran one of the A2A units. If the estimate had been for longer / later in the day, then I would have plugged the freezer in. Still not convinced I made the best decision, but a bit more pleased with this week's new toy. And power came back on around 8am, then went off again just before I could post a long comment. Back again then 10mins later.

Bonus win - our old combi doesn't have any battery backup of the settings. So when we get even a brief powercut, I have to enter all the heating program times again, and reset the clock. But today (twice) I simply changed it from on to off (DHW stays on) and walked away - Smug Mode. Sometimes it's just the little wins.

This encouraged me to check low/high rate consumption here. 3.3% at high rate. I'd be happy with if I hadn't seen you guys figures!



I am looking forward to the 5th Dec for the official gas meter removal. Although Octopus have agreed to backtrack on that meters s/c as they're late in removing from initial query.

Using my hallyracket man maths that's £102.60 pa not going to gas s/c. Spending that on the heat pump at night rate and going on Fintray's current.scop of 4.4 that's....6,449 kWhs of heat . Jings!

[Krill]

I just checked my bill for October.

~450 kWh of electricity used, 0.7 kWh of peak rate (Octopus Cosy, 3 hours), ~13 kWh of day rate. So around 3% not cheap rate.

Luxpowertek aren't the most responsive, but the ability to parallel and turn the second inverter on and off does wonders.

Anyone got an below 1%?