I am new to all this and looking for feedback on my 'off grid' system

[Oldgreybeard]

Worth remembering that I doubt that anyone has ever said afterwards that they regretted putting too much PV generation in. No matter how much you have, there will always be many days in winter when you wish you had a lot more.

[Oldgreybeard]

I'm prepared to make a few minor lifestyle adjustments anyway, for example getting a lower power kettle, using the 1.2kW air fryer instead of the 2.5kW oven.

There's another thread here on air fryers and other stuff, but they really can save a fair bit of energy. We bought a Sage mini oven/grill/air fryer/toaster gadget a few weeks ago and have not used our big oven since. At a guess I'd say it has probably reduced our cooking energy usage by between 30% and 40%, so a fairly significant saving. It also seems to cook many things a lot better.

[dangermouse]

At the risk of going well off topic, air fryers are great, but it's a stupid name. They should be called 'mini fan ovens'. Anything you normally cook in an oven, if it will fit in the air fryer it will be faster and cheaper.

[dangermouse]

For me, it's get all the HP you can on the roof(s) in one fell swoop. Go from there. There is always a way to shade the HP whether its edge rules or the dynamic between pv efficency vs cost. Nonetheless, play the game to maximise out that first step OP. Do all the homework on the various panels available

Sorry, what's HP? I get your point but don't know that acronym.

[nowty]

For me, it's get all the HP you can on the roof(s) in one fell swoop. Go from there. There is always a way to shade the HP whether its edge rules or the dynamic between pv efficency vs cost. Nonetheless, play the game to maximise out that first step OP. Do all the homework on the various panels available

Sorry, what's HP? I get your point but don't know that acronym.

He means House Panels (Solar panels), get as many on your roof that will fit in in one go as Joeboy has done a lot of piecemeal installations on his roof.

[openspaceman]

This is reassuring, thank you. We really do use 5.2kWh per day, averaged over the year. Obviously it will be a bit higher in winter, but with gas heating, probably not too much.

I'm prepared to make a few minor lifestyle adjustments anyway, for example getting a lower power kettle, using the 1.2kW air fryer instead of the 2.5kW oven.

You do better than I then, I generate about 3MWh and since getting a 6.5kWh battery (£3400) use most of that, to the extent I resent exporting any.

I have a "mini fan oven" (£300) and changed to a 1.5kW kettle and a 1.5kW 36" long immersion element (£60)[1], these just to keep the peak power we are likely to draw below the output of the battery inverter. We manually select the immersion when the battery is charged and the PV is generating. I did not think the solar PV diverters like the Eddi were worth the investment at ~£400 and plan to set up a voltage controlled relay to sense the battery voltage instead, in the mean while just looking at the forecast and switching the immersion works to consume about 2kWh, I wish we had a bigger DHW tank.

[1] While the longer immersion works somewhat it only has a standard length thermostat so once this is satisfied the bit below the thermostat is only warm.

We are just entering the winter period when DHW will be done by our ancient non condensing gas boiler and we will be buying some electricity till mid March and I think I saved over £600 this year from an additional investment of ~£3800, we already had the PV panels for 10 years.

My only regret is not buying 10.5kWh pylontech battery instead of the Growatt.

[Joeboy]

For me, it's get all the HP you can on the roof(s) in one fell swoop. Go from there. There is always a way to shade the HP whether its edge rules or the dynamic between pv efficency vs cost. Nonetheless, play the game to maximise out that first step OP. Do all the homework on the various panels available

Sorry, what's HP? I get your point but don't know that acronym.

He means House Panels (Solar panels), get as many on your roof that will fit in in one go as Joeboy has done a lot of piecemeal installations on his roof.

I actually mean horse power (cheers though Nowty). An anarchronism I know but to get the point across? No point having a 900cc 3 cyl up top when it could maybe be a 7ltr V8.
The one fell swoop PV install works well, I went at it in 5 stages I and with hindsight would change that if I could.

[nowty]

In other words, as many panels as you can fit from the outset, as big an inverter and as many batteries as you can, especially as the first installation is VAT free if using an installer.