Nowty Towers Vs UK Grid Storage

[nowty]

Nowty, have you passed your own PB for gas off in Winter?

Never been past end of October without the gas boiler back on, at least in the peak leccy hours so in that way its a record. And there is almost no doubt my personal best will be achieved, i.e. less than 4,009 kWh of gas in a 12 month period subject to the heat pump not having a catastrophic failure.

But whether I beat my personal pledge target of less than 2000 kWh of gas from 1st May 2021 to 30th April 2022 is still open to question, especially if we really do have a prolonged cold spell later in the winter. And for example, I am off to my parents in the north later in the week and I will probably shut down the heatpump and turn back on the gas boiler for my absence.

I doubt SWMBO would be able to deal with a water pump failure !, I cannot imagine her on her hands and knees in the freezing cold with a torch and pair of pipe wrenches and me on the iphone talking her through it.

[Joeboy]

Nowty, have you passed your own PB for gas off in Winter?

Never been past end of October without the gas boiler back on, at least in the peak leccy hours so in that way its a record. And there is almost no doubt my personal best will be achieved, i.e. less than 4,009 kWh of gas in a 12 month period subject to the heat pump not having a catastrophic failure.

But whether I beat my personal pledge target of less than 2000 kWh of gas from 1st May 2021 to 30th April 2022 is still open to question, especially if we really do have a prolonged cold spell later in the winter. And for example, I am off to my parents in the north later in the week and I will probably shut down the heatpump and turn back on the gas boiler for my absence.

I doubt SWMBO would be able to deal with a water pump failure !, I cannot imagine her on her hands and knees in the freezing cold with a torch and pair of pipe wrenches and me on the iphone talking her through it.

That's excellent to read. Well done! I'm away out for a pint on Weds with a few offshore mates. Only after arranging the date (8th) did I remember that the smet2 is being changed out on that date. Much the same swmbo reaction as the hypothetical pipe wrenches I expect. Oh well!

For comparison and from memory, back in a Winter month 16 or so. We used 3,650kWh in one month. I hope you beat that for your full year.

[Stinsy]

Nowty, have you passed your own PB for gas off in Winter?

Never been past end of October without the gas boiler back on, at least in the peak leccy hours so in that way its a record. And there is almost no doubt my personal best will be achieved, i.e. less than 4,009 kWh of gas in a 12 month period subject to the heat pump not having a catastrophic failure.

But whether I beat my personal pledge target of less than 2000 kWh of gas from 1st May 2021 to 30th April 2022 is still open to question, especially if we really do have a prolonged cold spell later in the winter. And for example, I am off to my parents in the north later in the week and I will probably shut down the heatpump and turn back on the gas boiler for my absence.

I doubt SWMBO would be able to deal with a water pump failure !, I cannot imagine her on her hands and knees in the freezing cold with a torch and pair of pipe wrenches and me on the iphone talking her through it.

I think you could easily disconnect from the gas completely! Think of all the standing charges you’d avoid and the FF you’d leave in the ground.

• If you fit pumps suitable for circulating cold water they’ll last a decade or more.

• You have plenty of backup heat sources (eg storage heaters). You could even use peak electric in real life/death/divorce emergency. :-P

• You can swap your gas hob for an induction one.

When you go away, why don’t you leave the GSHP on 24/7, set the storage heaters to charge on the cheap rate, and let your batteries do their thing?

[nowty]

When you go away, why don’t you leave the GSHP on 24/7, set the storage heaters to charge on the cheap rate, and let your batteries do their thing?

I would and have done that in the past but not in winter. Whilst I'm away I might ask her on the phone, what's the number on the blue display in the lounge (battery voltage), and what's the number on the blue display in the boiler room (hot water tank temp). And from that I can change battery inverter settings online or turn heatpump heating or hot water on via WiFi sockets.

But this time of year requires a lot more monitoring and tinkering if the house is to run without the gas boiler. And if the heatpump has an issue, its not just the water pumps, the river heat exchanger may need a quick pressure wash. And if the batteries get really low, the Sunny Island sometimes thinks there is a battery problem and shuts down, etc.

So at this time of year I have to get the house to run in failsafe mode if I am away, which will be run the gas boiler for heating and hot water for a few days. And that also solves the battery level issue as its the heatpump which takes the bulk of the power.

[Moxi]

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[nowty]

Well I almost achieved full battery overnight but not quite as I was a bit conservative in the max charge voltage of the supplementary battery charger. I have upped it half a volt for tonight for that little bit extra.

A little milder here today so that helps the house daytime load but the solar is shocking, only one out of 3 inverters running and a grand total of 0.2kWh generated so far today.

[nowty]

Gas boiler still switched off at Nowty Towers but yesterday the heatpump was on 24/7 for only the second time ever, last time was 11th Nov 21. Still running fully off of the batteries charged by cheap rate but only just.

[Stinsy]

Do you only boil the kettle during the cheap period?

[nowty]

Do you only boil the kettle during the cheap period?

Don't need to with a 6kW battery inverter, but as I keep telling SWMBO, in winter when the heatpump is on if you boil the kettle, wait till its finished before using the toaster or the microwave to heat your milk up. And if you have your washing machine on you may have to delay your cup of tea until the heater has finished and try to run it at 40 degrees, not 50 degrees.

"But its whites, it has to be 50 degrees !, all my friends run it at 60 degrees but you wont let me !"

[Joeboy]

Do you only boil the kettle during the cheap period?

Don't need to with a 6kW battery inverter, but as I keep telling SWMBO, in winter when the heatpump is on if you boil the kettle, wait till its finished before using the toaster or the microwave to heat your milk up. And if you have your washing machine on you may have to delay your cup of tea until the heater has finished and try to run it at 40 degrees, not 50 degrees.

"But its whites, it has to be 50 degrees !, all my friends run it at 60 degrees but you wont let me !"

None of that would fly here! I consider a small amount of grid grab to be perfectly acceptable if it keeps all the knives in the rack.