More Renewable Shenanigans at Nowty Towers

[Joeboy]

I'm afraid I'm a profligate waster of self-generated power as we run our air con at 20°C overnight, on the eco setting which slows the internal fan right down so it's silent, then I turn it down to 18°C on the auto setting during the day, with the bedroom door open so the coolth makes its way downstairs. This (combined with the floor cooling when it's really hot) keeps the ground floor at around 21°C to 22°C. SWMBO would bend my ear if I set the thing to as high a temperature as 25°C!

To be honest OGB, if I had air con up in Scotland where my arrays are I would do the same as you. Its one of those wonderful times when the excess power has an extended use beyond the moment ar home. I'd treat the whole house to a 12 hour temp pulldown every Summer day! Out here in we've gotta pay. Although to be fair it doesn't cost much. My power bill here is only about £20 a month when I am insitu. That leads onto the whole power in UK cost rip off conversation but that's another conversation. In saying that SWMBO has actively kept shopping receipts for this time (5 weeks) and we live here at 50%.discount to UK prices. Crazy eh?

[Stinsy]

I'm afraid I'm a profligate waster of self-generated power as we run our air con at 20°C overnight, on the eco setting which slows the internal fan right down so it's silent, then I turn it down to 18°C on the auto setting during the day, with the bedroom door open so the coolth makes its way downstairs. This (combined with the floor cooling when it's really hot) keeps the ground floor at around 21°C to 22°C. SWMBO would bend my ear if I set the thing to as high a temperature as 25°C!

To be honest OGB, if I had air con up in Scotland where my arrays are I would do the same as you. Its one of those wonderful times when the excess power has an extended use beyond the moment ar home. I'd treat the whole house to a 12 hour temp pulldown every Summer day! Out here in we've gotta pay. Although to be fair it doesn't cost much. My power bill here is only about £20 a month when I am insitu. That leads onto the whole power in UK cost rip off conversation but that's another conversation. In saying that SWMBO has actively kept shopping receipts for this time (5 weeks) and we live here at 50%.discount to UK prices. Crazy eh?

Not thought about throwing a panel up in Turkey, Joe?

[Joeboy]

I'm afraid I'm a profligate waster of self-generated power as we run our air con at 20°C overnight, on the eco setting which slows the internal fan right down so it's silent, then I turn it down to 18°C on the auto setting during the day, with the bedroom door open so the coolth makes its way downstairs. This (combined with the floor cooling when it's really hot) keeps the ground floor at around 21°C to 22°C. SWMBO would bend my ear if I set the thing to as high a temperature as 25°C!

To be honest OGB, if I had air con up in Scotland where my arrays are I would do the same as you. Its one of those wonderful times when the excess power has an extended use beyond the moment ar home. I'd treat the whole house to a 12 hour temp pulldown every Summer day! Out here in we've gotta pay. Although to be fair it doesn't cost much. My power bill here is only about £20 a month when I am insitu. That leads onto the whole power in UK cost rip off conversation but that's another conversation. In saying that SWMBO has actively kept shopping receipts for this time (5 weeks) and we live here at 50%.discount to UK prices. Crazy eh?

Not thought about throwing a panel up in Turkey, Joe?

Very much so but we live on a sitesi (complex) out here and it could (not would) be a pita to get going. I might fancy doing one of those movable ringmain plug in sub 16A balcony arrays. Only once I'm bored though....

[John_S]

Interested in your temp settings after a couple of weeks running/acclimatising Nowty? We are at 25 degs eco on both systems 24hrs. Outdoor temps are 36-42 degs. At this setting and running eco we don't dry ourselves out and its very nice to walk in from outdoors.

In the heatwave when it was 30+ degrees outside, I was running the upstairs one at 23 degs and the downstairs one at 24 degrees.

Today its 25 degs outside, I started running the upstairs one at 24 degs and the downstairs one at 25 degs. But the downstairs one is not actually coming on apart from the indoor fan so I am now running both at 24 degs and its better.

Its a really strange way of living now, sometimes it feels a bit too cool inside, so we go out in the garden with a beer and it feels great in the warmth for a short time, then later its a relief to get back into aircon land indoors again.

But the biggest plus by far is the temp in the bedrooms upstairs, if we have ran the aircon midday till midnight, it can go off and it stays comfortable to sleep all night long.

Looking forward to some outdoor cool weather, say 10 to 13 degs where I can see what settings are required in heating mode but keeping the GSHP and storage heaters off.

Then when it gets sub 10 degs, can the A2A HP's work well enough, and and what temp do I need to bring in the GSHP and then the storage heaters.

When I lived for 3 years in Singapore, we ended up setting the air con at 25C. That was sufficient once one got used to it. Outside temperature rarely went over 35C. But humidity rarely went below 80%. It was like living in a steam oven.

[Fintray]

Thought I'd join our southern cousins with the (self installed) A/C but more likely to be used in heating mode up here.

[Stinsy]

Thought I'd join our southern cousins with the (self installed) A/C but more likely to be used in heating mode up here.

Ducting looks nice!

[nowty]

Thought I'd join our southern cousins with the (self installed) A/C but more likely to be used in heating mode up here.

Nice, how was it to install Fintray ?

Easy ?, any part of it difficult or awkward for you ?, would you have done it without seeing my (or others) thread ?

I'm interested to know if others agree to my opinion that the F-Gas regulations banning us DIY'ers are not only a joke, but a barrier to ditching the gas.

[Stinsy]

I'm interested to know if others agree to my opinion that the F-Gas regulations banning us DIY'ers are not only a joke, but a barrier to ditching the gas.

I agree fully. However the powers that be see DIYers as bumbling fools leaving dangerous situations in their wake and qualified professionals as artisan journeyman perfectionists. The reality however is that often DIYers do better quality work because they have time and patience to do the job properly, whereas in the real world a “professional” often does a quick and dirty job due to incompetence or economic pressures.

They’ve relaxed the rules on DIY electrical work over recent years so maybe there is hope…

[Fintray]

Ducting looks nice!

The same type that oldgreybeard mentioned earlier in the thread, I used it because the pipes came through the top corner of the window frame and it blends in quite well.

[Fintray]

Thought I'd join our southern cousins with the (self installed) A/C but more likely to be used in heating mode up here.

Nice, how was it to install Fintray ?

Easy ?, any part of it difficult or awkward for you ?, would you have done it without seeing my (or others) thread ?

I'm interested to know if others agree to my opinion that the F-Gas regulations banning us DIY'ers are not only a joke, but a barrier to ditching the gas.

Hi Nowty, it was pretty straightforward to install the only bit that was difficult was feeding the pipes through the hole in the window frame whilst lifting the indoor unit into place, apart from that it was reasonably simple.

I would have done it without seeing your install but having followed your install it saved me doing any further reading up. I've done solid fuel, oil and gas central heating systems in the past (before everyone was deemed incompetent unless you had a cert!). Did the father-in-laws gas central heating about 37 years ago, still on same boiler and radiators, think only the gas valve has been replaced once and the thermocouple a few times over the years.

I agree with you and Stinsy that there are very many very competent DIYers that could easily fit these systems at a much lower cost than is currently available to most.