PV > House use = Water Heating

Posted on July 13, 2014 by Rory

There seems to be a new entrant to the market for setting it up so that if your house solar panels (PV) are generating more electricity than the house is using, this gets auto diverted to an immersion heater to heat up your water.

So you use the water tank as an energy battery of sorts.

In the UK, you get paid via the Feed-In Tarriff system if you export to the grid or not. Plus a rate for what you do export, but that is a lot less than the rate at which you buy electricity if you need to. So these systems are said to save around £300 a year.

http://www.immersun.co.uk/
£350 from http://www.biggreentechnology.com/green-energy/immersun-free-hot-water-from-solar-pv/immersun-free-hot-water-from-solar-pv.html?source=Froogle

Forum discussion about this at http://www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk/forum114/comments.php?DiscussionID=10577&page=1#Item_0
Powerdiverter.com, apparently £399 with “free UK delivery, wireless and easy to install.”

Garage progress

Posted on June 25, 2014 by Rory

With the most recent items first, there is now a garage door & the membranes are going on the garage roof for the slate paving and grass areas:

Get a bath “cast in iron from recycled brake discs” !

Posted on June 25, 2014 by Rory

http://www.thewatermonopoly.com/baths

I’ve already ordered the bath, but If I hadn’t I’d be looking at these. Stunning and recycled materials 🙂

Some photos from a distance

Posted on May 17, 2014 by Rory

The cladding is in around the main bedroom balcony are:

From behind you can see the sedum roof and a lot more of the building now that the site cabin is gone:

Rainbows from the beach:

Drilling has begun

Posted on May 17, 2014 by Rory

The ground source heat pump is going to extract low grade heat from the ground, and concentrate this into high grade heat in the form of hot water for taps, then under floor heating then the hot tub.

There will be 3 bore holes down which liquid is pumped to be warmed by the heat of the ground, up to a bit short of 100m down !

Lowering & driving the drilling rig down the rear stairs:

The drilling head:

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Drilling, with all the dust, which was a lot more than I expected.

Dust on the solar panels that are going to need a clean (or for it to rain so they self clean, apparently).

A growing pile of dust by the drilling rig. This later turned to slurry as the drill got to a depth where there was ground water.

The fire is in

Posted on May 17, 2014 by Rory

The fire is in & has been lit to see if it’s all OK and also to help with any last drying out of the inside. Being mostly timber frame construction this is a lot less than a concrete building requires.

The slate slab under the fire is the first bit of final floor to be in the house.

Even with doors being left open the house was rapidly super warm with the fire. I know it’s not a cold time of year, but it does show how a well insulated and sealed house is easy to heat up and then stays warm.

UFH pipes & sand, tiles & pipes

Posted on May 1, 2014 by Rory

The under floor heating (UFH) pipes are going in. Surrounded by sand for thermal mass and conductivity, they are then covered with boards onto which the finished floors will be put.

On the top the slate is being laid out on the passage way and front top deck area:

Down in the road, the road is having the pipe work in to connect it to the village sewage etc. system (the old house was a soak away that doesn’t meet current building etc. standards).

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The Scaffolding is down

Posted on May 1, 2014 by Rory

The cladding is all in place, so the scaffolding has come down.

The render will go on after the bore holes for the ground source has been drilled. Bore hole drilling chucks up a bunch of dust and mess.

You can now walk down the side of the building without any limbo dancing !

Finished ground level will be about the top of the block 2 above Graham’s left hand.

Above is down the east side.
Below is down the west side.

and from behind:

Sedum roof goes on

Posted on April 18, 2014 by Rory

The sedum “green roof” covering to most of the flat roofs means that:

There will be less rainwater run-off from the site. So less downhill drainage problems in the area.
The property enhances and increases local bio-diversity.
There is extra insulation to the building.
The sedum plants protect the flat roof membrane from UV, thereby extending it’s life.

On top of the “rubber” is a layer that lets the water drain:

Over this is soil:

and the sedum that arrived on pallets:

At the edges of the building is a strip of pebbles. Sedum too close to the edges can get “wind burnt” and a perimeter drainage layer is needed to channel water to the drain pipes.