Solar panels….?

[Chislenko]

So a few questions for someone who has no clue.

Our roof, although looking good, is as old as the house, (1970's).

Do the installers inspect your roof and state if it is sound enough to take the panels or are they purely about selling their own product? Obviously you wouldn't want to have the panels fitted then a couple of years down the road find they all have to come off to re tile the roof.

I presume they drill into the tiles to secure to the roof, how do they guard against water ingress (heavy rainfall) and do they require access to your loft space to secure from the inside?

What is this battery people are talking about, where does it go and what does it do?

How does the self generated power filter into the house, for instance if I turned on the kettle which power source does it use or does it not work like that.

Apologies if daft questions but I really am oblivious to all this.

 

[kipster]

So a few questions for someone who has no clue.

Our roof, although looking good, is as old as the house, (1970's).

Do the installers inspect your roof and state if it is sound enough to take the panels or are they purely about selling their own product? Obviously you wouldn't want to have the panels fitted then a couple of years down the road find they all have to come off to re tile the roof.

I presume they drill into the tiles to secure to the roof, how do they guard against water ingress (heavy rainfall) and do they require access to your loft space to secure from the inside?

What is this battery people are talking about, where does it go and what does it do?

How does the self generated power filter into the house, for instance if I turned on the kettle which power source does it use or does it not work like that.

Apologies if daft questions but I really am oblivious to all this.

I've only had mine a little while so still learning but the panels are secured on to rails which are attached to brackets. The brackets slide under the tiles and are secured to the rafters. They don't drill through the tiles.

Access to loft was only to run the wiring but this could run outside of the house if you wanted.

The installers surveyed my roof (but not the condition only to see how to install).

The panels connect to an inverter which connects back to the consumer unit. This supplies the electricity into the house. When not enough solar is being produced for the load required it imports from the grid.

My batteries provide additional energy storage, they charge from the panels through the inverter (a hybrid) and when the load required is more than the solar is producing it takes electricity from the batteries. Only when the batteries are depleted will it import from the grid.

Once the batteries are fully charged, excess solar goes to my immersion to heat the hot water. Once that is up to temperature then it exports excess electricity to the grid. You get paid for this once you've got all your docs and have set up an SEG tariff with a supplier.

 

[Chislenko]

I've only had mine a little while so still learning but the panels are secured on to rails which are attached to brackets. The brackets slide under the tiles and are secured to the rafters. They don't drill through the tiles.

Access to loft was only to run the wiring but this could run outside of the house if you wanted.

The installers surveyed my roof (but not the condition only to see how to install).

The panels connect to an inverter which connects back to the consumer unit. This supplies the electricity into the house. When not enough solar is being produced for the load required it imports from the grid.

My batteries provide additional energy storage, they charge from the panels through the inverter (a hybrid) and when the load required is more than the solar is producing it takes electricity from the batteries. Only when the batteries are depleted will it import from the grid.

Once the batteries are fully charged, excess solar goes to my immersion to heat the hot water. Once that is up to temperature then it exports excess electricity to the grid. You get paid for this once you've got all your docs and have set up an SEG tariff with a supplier.

Thank you kipster.

How big are these batteries and where do they locate in the house?

 

[kipster]

Thank you kipster.

How big are these batteries and where do they locate in the house?

I have three (3.3kw each), they are inside the house in a box room but some put them in the loft. The three of them together are about 45cmx45cmx45cm so not very big

This is a photo of the inverter and batteries

 

[cougie uk]

This might be worth a watch.


View: https://youtu.be/4BUUQLsFSmY


Best way to get your money back quickly is to use the electricity you generate.

www.first4solar.co.uk is the company he talks about in the video.

This is a calculator that might help you too.

https://www.pvfitcalculator.energysavingtrust.org.uk/

 

[Gillstay]

This might be worth a watch.


View: https://youtu.be/4BUUQLsFSmY


Best way to get your money back quickly is to use the electricity you generate.

www.first4solar.co.uk is the company he talks about in the video.

This is a calculator that might help you too.

https://www.pvfitcalculator.energysavingtrust.org.uk/

I did not buy my various solar installations for the money, but it has worked out anyhow and a lot of the videos and fact sheets out there are poor. They don't include if the price of energy goes up, the money you save on not wearing out your boiler as it only works for 6/7 months of the year and the good your doing. I also see it as a advantage when you come to sell.

 

[Alex321]

Thank you kipster.

How big are these batteries and where do they locate in the house?

The size varies depending on the make and the capacity, but they can be fairy large.

They will normally be located close to the inverter, and that is not necessarily inside the house at all.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Just had 10 panels installed

So far it looks like running the dishwasher and washing machine pretty much just use the solar energy generated
and the background usage during the day is totally from the panels

But if I switch the kettle on - or something equally powerful - then it mostly comes from teh grid

However, the batteries have not arrived yet, so that should change things

 

[MrGrumpy]

I used the calculator further up and estimates it would cost me money to fit solar ? Think I need to speak to my neighbours as they have solar . See what they think , on savings .

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

After less than 2 week - and all very sunny - it does look like it will be worth it for us

but there is also the environmental aspect of things - we are making green electric and every bit reduces the need to fossil fuels by a bit

I cannot understand why there isn't more of a move for the government to help people install them

 

[irw]

After less than 2 week - and all very sunny - it does look like it will be worth it for us

but there is also the environmental aspect of things - we are making green electric and every bit reduces the need to fossil fuels by a bit

I cannot understand why there isn't more of a move for the government to help people install them

I'm currently looking into getting solar power and battery storage now I've got a hybrid car...what company did you use, and would you recommend them?

 

[Chislenko]

The size varies depending on the make and the capacity, but they can be fairy large.

They will normally be located close to the inverter, and that is not necessarily inside the house at all.

That's encouraging that the inverter and batteries don't need to be in the house as a bit stuck for space. We have a nice area behind the kitchen where I could build a storage box for the inverter / battery, however it is a long way from the fuse box / meter so would require quite a lot of cabling around the outside of the house.

NB. Obviously Google was watching me yesterday reading this thread as I got a pop up as from EON advertising solar!! It suggested the batteries are circa £3000 each, is that a normal price for them?

 

[kipster]

That's encouraging that the inverter and batteries don't need to be in the house as a bit stuck for space. We have a nice area behind the kitchen where I could build a storage box for the inverter / battery, however it is a long way from the fuse box / meter so would require quite a lot of cabling around the outside of the house.

NB. Obviously Google was watching me yesterday reading this thread as I got a pop up as from EON advertising solar!! It suggested the batteries are circa £3000 each, is that a normal price for them?

Depends on the size. I paid £3.5k for 3*3.3kw batteries (installed) so £1.2k each (installed)

I didn't pay vat as it was all part of the installation of the system.

 

[Alex321]

That's encouraging that the inverter and batteries don't need to be in the house as a bit stuck for space. We have a nice area behind the kitchen where I could build a storage box for the inverter / battery, however it is a long way from the fuse box / meter so would require quite a lot of cabling around the outside of the house.

Our inverter is on the outside of the gable end, but is probably only about 20ft from the meter. The battery will be going on the ground under the inverter.

NB. Obviously Google was watching me yesterday reading this thread as I got a pop up as from EON advertising solar!! It suggested the batteries are circa £3000 each, is that a normal price for them?

As Kipster says, it depends on the capacity of the battery. We are having a 16KwH battery, and that is a little over £8000. A 10Kwh one would have been £6000.

But our installer are having supply problems with the battery (an LG model), so the latest estimate is September, and we had the panels installed in February.

 

[jowwy]

Our inverter is on the outside of the gable end, but is probably only about 20ft from the meter. The battery will be going on the ground under the inverter.



As Kipster says, it depends on the capacity of the battery. We are having a 16KwH battery, and that is a little over £8000. A 10Kwh one would have been £6000.

But our installer are having supply problems with the battery (an LG model), so the latest estimate is September, and we had the panels installed in February.

what battery are they getting??