i have just ordered a 16 panel 4 kw system , its costing a bit but comes with a 25 year guarantee to be working at 90% after 25 years , it will run the heating and hot water and comes with a guarantee to save us £560 a year in leccy . i have taken my time choosing the right company and done some homework etc , i know 4kw will run the night storage heaters in the day if i put them on a day switch , i know the dump option will continually use the excess to heat the immersion and i know i can buy battery's for night storage if i want - cool , but- i have not spoken to anyone that has them and wondered if anyone on here has them , just wondered if they have an drawbacks etc from your experience . i know i will get the usual people saying , " rip off company's , won't be there in 25 years , solar won't work that long etc , but i have looked into that and it doesn't matter if the company stick around or not the government guarantee the return and the manufacturer the panels and there are other guarantees built in too . the other thing i like is i can either sell them with the house or take the whole lot to my next house as it will be mine . All i need to know is whether or not you have them or any any friends have them and what they perform like after a while - please
My Mum & Dad have got solar panels & they have seen some great savings in summer, not sure how much though! When they first had them, they was a little worried about using the heating in winter & the savings being offset from the summer months..they still heat the water using solar and still see a pleasing reduction during the winter! They swear by it!
i'm septicle on this, not looked at the price of insulation, with our house being a 70's house, whats the effect of having the extra weight on one side of the trusssles..long term. i know my first house had tiles on the back and slates on the front, the weight of the tiles caused slates to move and roof to leak. Have you informed you house insurance of modification,
I've got a PV system and its been running for 16 months. In the first year it produced 91% of my total electricity use, but of course I didn't use all of it. So I'm installing a Solar Dump Switch to heat the water. Also with the FIT its reduced my total energy bill by 62%. Not bad for sunny Scotland.
All I will say is you were right to take your time and research. No matter what anyone tells you all solar panels are made in China and I think 10 years is more a realistic figure before they need replacing. Be careful also these companies selling you panels where you stick them on your roof but you are feeding the national grid, effectively they are just renting roof space off you and probably making a mint out of it! I know a guy at work has a fancy solar/ combined heating setup and he swears by it, worth the money.
we have a 4Kw system on a south facine roof, over the summer we are generating much more than we need, and with the old style spinning meter, it just runs backwards if we dont use all the power generated. so although we dont use it when it is produced, it winds back the meter and we get to use all electricity produced. we have had it installed since november 2011 and have generated approx 3400 units. so that adds upto 3400 x £0.43 for FIT 3400 x £0.15 off my electricity bill 3400 x 0.5 x £0.05 selling unused back to the grid ( they assume you use 50% of generated power) total saving of approx £2057 over two winters and a summer. did however get a call from the leccy company after submitting a meter reading after the summer, according to the meter, we had only used about 45 units over the three month billing period!!!
Positive so far , the insurance company will be informed in due course Phil , i have read that the economy 7 night storage heaters can be used in the day to warm up , put them on a timer and heat up 2 kilowats and then do the other 2 kilkow at a different time in the day , this is a result for me but will have to see , either way it should be cheaper than my leccy bill atm , panels are graded and tested by kite mark , the onesi chose are guaranteed for 25 years and are guaranteed through the government to be producing 90% of efficiency after 25 years .
Would love to have them but we have an L shape semi detached house with the roof north facing so what with lack of roof and north facing its not worth it My mother has had a 4kw system and finds it most helpful as she is in a lot so heating on. Did you know that even if you move you still get the government pay back as the contract is with you not the property.
yes , or you can sell it to the next owner , i have gone for 90% usage so the payback is only £560 a year !
Wouldnt be without ours. 4kw system, Hadnt counted on savjng so much in our electricity so reckon breakeven in just over 5 years and not 7 yrs as we originally thought.
how much is "a bit" and how long will it take to pay back.? sounds interesting. im just over £1800 per year for our all electric ice box...
8g outlay 560 a year back and hopefully only a nominal leccy bill, we pay over 2k a year in leccy atm, you can see the advantage for us !
Read this. Well off people with solar panels are being subsidised by poor people who can't afford them. The panels make lots in the summer when nobody needs it, but just 10% of the elec in the winter, Up til xmas you got 6x the price for your elec, now it's been cut right back, so not the deal it once was. Even so, greedy sods with panels and heat source stuff have added 10% to the rest of our bills - that's subsidy for you rather expensive home generated electricity. It's a scandal. Sorry this is the daily mail. A quick google shows the same thing is happening in countries around the world. The only people getting rich are the panel makers. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...d-make-lucky-rich--pushing-bills-rest-us.html
I think the theory is - the more panels on roofs the more free electric is generated but it needs people to pay for them and have them installed! Hence the carrot!
Free for you, but we pay 6x the price for it! It Gov pretending to be green con where someone is making a LOT of money and it's not you or me - we're both paying. I hear they only last 8 years in reality... Also some whacking great EU tax has just been put on the panels (60%??) backdated to 5th of March. It's the Germans - costing them Billions so they want to put people off. Stocks of leisure ones are disappearing from Ebay at a rate of knots...
I will, but there won't be any subsidies involved and i won't be flogging my surplus for 6x the price in summer when nobody needs it. I think you missed the gravy train anyway Malc? Or at least 1st class is full now the rich have their panels, so second class with less payback for you.
The deal seems ok to me and others seem happy with theirs and if it means i can save money then great, as for missing the boat, cest la vie !
I'm afraid once the subsidies vanish (which they will, as energy costs are rocketing on the back of stuff like this), solar panels will just become ornamental roof tiles. The panel industry/market in Germany (the greenest of the euro-folk) is on the verge of collapse, others to follow. Sorry
