Electric combi boilers / solar panels / eco heating solutions

That’s fucked up. How big’s your house?

Just over 200m2

Sounds about right if somewhat reasonable.

Has anyone had inset solar panels fitted i.e., ones that replace slates/tiles? Any good/bad experiences or knowledge of minimum required roof pitch?

I've just come across these. They look pretty amazing.
Basically solar panels that look just like normal slates.

https://gb-sol.co.uk/products/pv-slate/

Electric Underfloor Heating throughout (no rads) in a flat that has no gas supply, opinions?

Expensive to run, unless it’s well insulated I’d have thought.

Generally decent well insulated slab is what you’d want in an ideal world. Retains thermal mass/heat.

That said, warm feet, convenience and no rads, what’s not to like!

Yep, insulation is pretty good, walls are thick as anything, double glazing etc.
Thanks

Do not do this. It will be ruinously expensive to run. Seriously.

Electric UFH is fine in a small bathroom, turned on for a short while whilst having a shower just for underfoot comfort, but that's it. You really, really don't want to be using electric UFH to actually heat your living spaces, even with massive amounts of insulation, at today's leccy costs.

Look into air-to-air or air-to-water ASHP. Check out the HUG2 government grant scheme; if you live in a qualifying postcode, you'll almost certainly be eligible for a free of charge ASHP install without any means testing.

Had our first 'Visit a Heatpump' guest last week, sweet grandad just looking to "do the right thing" for his grandkids...

Our listing, if anyone on here wants a poke around: https://app.visitaheatpump.com/hosts/441

Storage heaters with an off-peak tariff sounds like a better solution.

Maybe some strategically placed ir panels.

These look way better than normal solar panels. Would be intriguing to see what they add to the cost of a normal household install. Thinking in terms of loft conversions where you are redoing a large part of the roof anyway.

Ooh, this is cool, will share with work. We only seem to get to visit houses with poorly set up trial systems that cause the kind of complaints you see on any adverts for heat pumps. I might go pick the brain of a well set up local one and see if I can help the poor housing association fuckers that hate their's.

Thanks.

The place already has electric storage heaters. I don't love the look and would appreciate gaining the extra room space from removing them.

Maybe they're still the best option.

It's on a highrise (very high - no balconies) so installing an ASHP is a no go.

I need a new electric boiler also. Looking at that ZEB thing.

I liked the look of the ZEB which is I suppose a massive storage heater of sorts. Just very little real world information about it. Essentially 40kWh (less 5kWh for water) 35kWh to heat the house over 24hrs, which seems a bit light, but doable dependent on loads of factors/lifestyle I suppose.

There are some nice space/storage type heaters. We have a small everhot heater in our office, which is only 1.5kW but it's a well insulated room (approx 15sqm) and keeps it toasty.

In other news, two good(ish) solar days in a row here.

We are looking at getting air source heat pump, solar and a storage battery some time next year.

Any tips on how to find an installer, or even recommendations?

I could ask Octopus as they're our electricity supplier, and probably would be afterwards too, but I expect there are better options, would prefer a local firm. I've looked at the energy saving trust website but no one stands out.

Octopus

Avoid as installer in my experience

Go via HeatGeeks

Bet the price is a lot more via HG and that’s is what most folk look at these days

Just realised I can offset the tado room temperature to stop the stupor and nodding off because “I’m cold, no wonder as it’s only 22° in here!?”
Wish I had thought of that last winter.
Next mission is how ventilation condensation dew point and humidity are all interlinked and opening a window is not a criminal offence…

They use ‘better’ (more expensive) equipment and offer a guarantee on ‘cop’. They are far more thorough with surveys and calculations, but you’re right you pay for it.

Just in the process of doing this with Octopus although going to move it to March since the cold weather has arrived. Solar and battery Eon came out best because they offered a decent feed in rate. I’ve been told they’ve cut the rate I got though so perhaps that won’t be the best option anymore.

HeatGeeks

Thanks for putting me on to them. Lots of info on their site. We have a draughty Victorian house and it looks like there are HP setups that could work. Also I hadn't realised the boiler scrappage scheme runs out in March so we will need to get a move on. I'll try to fix up an assessment before Christmas.

It looks like solar would be a separate project, which is fine.

Our complication is that we want to do a loft conversion, which is where the solar would go, and it might mess up heat assessment calcs as it doesn't exist yet!

Heat calcs can be done from plans and spec.

Octopus won’t do it, though sounds like they’re out anyway.

I know exactly but its the cost that these things all come down too and as im sure someone else in here found out it was like 20k and they would save £8 a month.

boiler scrappage scheme runs out in March

...2028. Don't worry, you've got plenty of time.

Octopus installs are getting better, they're investing massively into their installer training. I wouldn't hesitate to go with them these days; in many ways, they're a better bet than a small independent, one of them being their ongoing support is excellent and they're very unlikely to fold leaving you stranded.

One thing to consider is that for a house like yours, Octopus will spec a Daikin Altherma 3 heatpump based on R32 refrigerant, which in colder weather will need to use the immersion element to assist with getting your hot water up to temp. If you go with British Gas as an installer, you can choose to have a Vaillant Arotherm Plus system installed, which is better than a Daikin in every way, including being based on R290 refrigerant which allows it run much hotter, eliminating the use of the expensive immersion element.

@small

They use ‘better’ (more expensive) equipment

Do they? I don't think they do. The gubbins are all commodity plumbing parts, regardless of who installs them. They're taught to be much more fastidious with regards to fitting pipe insulation etc, but that stuff doesn't make as much difference as you're lead to believe. What you're really paying for is the installer's training, robust quality control by the Heat Geek mothership, and the well-specified and installed system that's borne of those things... as well as the 'CoP guarantee'.