solor panels

[simonk]

One of my pet hates the incorrect use of the description 'Solar Panels'. All these things appearing on roofs all over the country are photovoltaic panels which convert the light into electricity which is put back into the national grid, and the household is given a credit against there bill.
They will NEVER payback.....they will have broken long before the payback period.

Solar panels are tubes which are filled with special liquid which heats up your hot water and are used extensively on the continent where its Sunny, and no use here.

These companies offering the Photovoltaic panels are conning everybody along with the Government.

And while I'm on a roll, the companies offering to insulate your house on the cheap by applying for a grant on your behalf..... its all paid for by the Government who are getting the money from the Energy companies....hence the increase in Energy costs. We are all paying for our own Grants !!!!!!!!

Aren't I a miserable git ;-)

your not exactly right here.
There is 2 common types of solar technology.
Thermal - which produces heat - and generally heats hot water, and PV which produces electricity.
PV is what is currently all the rage because of the Feed in Tariffs (FITs).

Insulation grants come from the major utility providers. Any with over 50,000 customers have been set a target (Carbon Emission Reduction Target -CERT). Failure to hit the target set means they are liable for huge fines (up to 10% of turnover I think).
So they fund insulation measures and get a credit for carbon saved. They do use a proportion of their revenue to fund this - which does come from the customer.
If its done properly, it works well

 

[denislawsbackheel]

It must be viable,. Everyone, and I mean everyone, heats their water through PV panels in Greece.

 

[Max_Headroom]

One of my pet hates the incorrect use of the description 'Solar Panels'.........................

Aren't I a miserable git ;-)

Yes but you are ok i am a fellow miserable git.

I have often wondered (as they are popping up here also) what happens if something goes wrong with your roof, will you have to get the company back to remove the panels then get the roof fixed then call the company back to reinstall the panels, if the answer is yes this could be very expensive.

 

[Lancet Fluke]

One of my pet hates the incorrect use of the description 'Solar Panels'.........................

Aren't I a miserable git ;-)

Yes but you are ok i am a fellow miserable git.

I have often wondered (as they are popping up here also) what happens if something goes wrong with your roof, will you have to get the company back to remove the panels then get the roof fixed then call the company back to reinstall the panels, if the answer is yes this could be very expensive.

Assuming you have to get scaffolding put up etc to have the roof fixed, I don't imagine it would cost too much to get the firm to take the panels off and put them back on again. If it was only a small bit of the roof needing repaired then they would probably only have to remove and replace one or two of the panels which wouldn't take them long at all and if a really large amount of the roof needing repairing then you're going to have a massive bill on your hands anyway and I would imagine the removal and replacement of the panels would be a tinyl fraction of that bill. The initial fitting took them all day as they took slates off, drilled into the beams in the loft etc but I think taking them off now would be a really quick job. The firm that did ours did say some firms aren't fitting the panels properly though and it is causing roofs to leak so important to get a reputable firm.

 

[shadygiz]

One of my pet hates the incorrect use of the description 'Solar Panels'.........................

Aren't I a miserable git ;-)

Yes but you are ok i am a fellow miserable git.

I have often wondered (as they are popping up here also) what happens if something goes wrong with your roof, will you have to get the company back to remove the panels then get the roof fixed then call the company back to reinstall the panels, if the answer is yes this could be very expensive.

Assuming you have to get scaffolding put up etc to have the roof fixed, I don't imagine it would cost too much to get the firm to take the panels off and put them back on again. If it was only a small bit of the roof needing repaired then they would probably only have to remove and replace one or two of the panels which wouldn't take them long at all and if a really large amount of the roof needing repairing then you're going to have a massive bill on your hands anyway and I would imagine the removal and replacement of the panels would be a tinyl fraction of that bill. The initial fitting took them all day as they took slates off, drilled into the beams in the loft etc but I think taking them off now would be a really quick job. The firm that did ours did say some firms aren't fitting the panels properly though and it is causing roofs to leak so important to get a reputable firm.

even though it only takes a few hours to remove the panels, you will probably end up with a fee for the full day as they cant send the guys elsewhere for a few hours.

same goes when they come to refit the panels after the roof works

 

[Warwickhunt]

chp generators are the way to go....they burn fuel to produce electricity...the heat generated warms the property and the electric is fed back into the grid.

even air to air & ground source heat pump boilers are starting to grow on a domestic scale

i am currently working on a new design for a flagship sainsburys next to the thames....thames water have given permission for sainsburys to bore into the thames. pipe coils are dropped into the bore holes to reject heat into the ground and also extract heat from the ground. You'd be suprised how efficient our planets soil is at trapping heat. We can get around 10-15 degrees of heat out of a bore hole, even if the external temperature is below zero degrees.

Heat rejection from the internal fridges in the store is diverted to serve areas of the store that require heat....the leftover redundant heat is rejected back into the ground. On cooler days in winter, heat is taken from the ground and fed into the store to keep the heating costs down

Not beeen involved with ground source heating myself,but the company i work for have installed a few of these systems.
I think in general,for domestic or farm purposes,its not as lucrative as PV.

They've been around a while they have, they're called heat loops.
I was boring holes and dropping them down 100 metres+ over 4 years ago.
Pressurise them to 7 bar before installing them and then re-pressurise them a couple of days later.
You need a few mind you, for one office/headquarters, i think it was 50 or so we bored.

You also have to add thermal grout when you back fill the hole.

 

[shadygiz]

chp generators are the way to go....they burn fuel to produce electricity...the heat generated warms the property and the electric is fed back into the grid.

even air to air & ground source heat pump boilers are starting to grow on a domestic scale

i am currently working on a new design for a flagship sainsburys next to the thames....thames water have given permission for sainsburys to bore into the thames. pipe coils are dropped into the bore holes to reject heat into the ground and also extract heat from the ground. You'd be suprised how efficient our planets soil is at trapping heat. We can get around 10-15 degrees of heat out of a bore hole, even if the external temperature is below zero degrees.

Heat rejection from the internal fridges in the store is diverted to serve areas of the store that require heat....the leftover redundant heat is rejected back into the ground. On cooler days in winter, heat is taken from the ground and fed into the store to keep the heating costs down

Not beeen involved with ground source heating myself,but the company i work for have installed a few of these systems.
I think in general,for domestic or farm purposes,its not as lucrative as PV.

They've been around a while they have, they're called heat loops.
I was boring holes and dropping them down 100 metres+ over 4 years ago.
Pressurise them to 7 bar before installing them and then re-pressurise them a couple of days later.
You need a few mind you, for one office/headquarters, i think it was 50 or so we bored.

You also have to add thermal grout when you back fill the hole.

we use pipe in pipe technology mate, 2 different temp fluids to allow heat rejection to work best....bore holes have been around for years though, back to the days of romans.

i have a mate who started a renewable energy company about 8 years ago, the first few years he was banging his head on a brick wall trying to get people to listen to his ideas.

he has a huge piece of land at the back of his house that he bought and run under soil heating & cooling loops on the land about 6 years ago. These serve under floor heating & cooling to his AC system for his house.

 

[Lancet Fluke]

Yes but you are ok i am a fellow miserable git.

I have often wondered (as they are popping up here also) what happens if something goes wrong with your roof, will you have to get the company back to remove the panels then get the roof fixed then call the company back to reinstall the panels, if the answer is yes this could be very expensive.

Assuming you have to get scaffolding put up etc to have the roof fixed, I don't imagine it would cost too much to get the firm to take the panels off and put them back on again. If it was only a small bit of the roof needing repaired then they would probably only have to remove and replace one or two of the panels which wouldn't take them long at all and if a really large amount of the roof needing repairing then you're going to have a massive bill on your hands anyway and I would imagine the removal and replacement of the panels would be a tinyl fraction of that bill. The initial fitting took them all day as they took slates off, drilled into the beams in the loft etc but I think taking them off now would be a really quick job. The firm that did ours did say some firms aren't fitting the panels properly though and it is causing roofs to leak so important to get a reputable firm.

even though it only takes a few hours to remove the panels, you will probably end up with a fee for the full day as they cant send the guys elsewhere for a few hours.

same goes when they come to refit the panels after the roof works

Maybe, maybe not. Depends on the firm, I suppose. If the scaffolding was already up, I reckon they could take a panel off really quickly. They are a good, local firm with a good reputation, I'd be surprised if they charged me for a full day's labour to be honest. Christ, I thought I was a pessimist, it's nice to see that total strangers are being pessimistic on my behalf!

 

[Max_Headroom]

Christ, I thought I was a pessimist, it's nice to see that total strangers are being pessimistic on my behalf!

You are welcome. :-D

 

[Warwickhunt]

Not beeen involved with ground source heating myself,but the company i work for have installed a few of these systems.
I think in general,for domestic or farm purposes,its not as lucrative as PV.

They've been around a while they have, they're called heat loops.
I was boring holes and dropping them down 100 metres+ over 4 years ago.
Pressurise them to 7 bar before installing them and then re-pressurise them a couple of days later.
You need a few mind you, for one office/headquarters, i think it was 50 or so we bored.

You also have to add thermal grout when you back fill the hole.

we use pipe in pipe technology mate, 2 different temp fluids to allow heat rejection to work best....bore holes have been around for years though, back to the days of romans.

i have a mate who started a renewable energy company about 8 years ago, the first few years he was banging his head on a brick wall trying to get people to listen to his ideas.

he has a huge piece of land at the back of his house that he bought and run under soil heating & cooling loops on the land about 6 years ago. These serve under floor heating & cooling to his AC system for his house.

Heat loops are pipe and fluid.

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