building a house

[bigarsedkeeper]

Someone said to me recently that it might be cheaper to heat the hot water with immersion heater (Electric) in summer when no other oil is needed rather than put (now expensive) oil on for 30-40mins in morning and evening for hot water. I thought this sounded wrong but don't have the expertise to figure it out. Anyone any idea.

I came from a home where if you left the immersion heater on by accident you got a right big slap!

That will probably be the way to go. Keep as much oil as you can heading into the autumn/winter.

Put a solar panel on the roof, great job.

Has anyone here any experience of solar water heating tubes on the roof? Would be interested to know cost/payback on those. My house is pretty well insulated so the heat does not be on from April to about October usually. But between us the hot water requirements is probably four showers a dau on average. At the minute the water is all oil heated so I a thinking those tubes might be good for summer?

I put them on when I built my house 12 years ago. Similar to you I wouldn't have much heating on from May to September. My hot water and heating are separate though so I knock off the oil completely from now to usually mid September. Mostly during that time there's more than enough hot water to do everyone. I'd say a month either side of that you only need to boost the hot water for 10-15 minutes per day to keep the water hot for everyone's needs (family of 5). I think the rest of the year I have it on 20 minutes in the morning, then another 2 boosts of 10 minutes later on.

Cost wise I got them for a lot less than you'd pay today no doubt. I can't remember the exact price but it was around £2k and the plumber did it with the rest of the house.

[johnnycool]

Also interested in the solar but didn't have the money when building to provide for them

I wonder will there be grants coming back on renewables with the way the world is heading or did Cash for Ash finish this!!!!

I put on evacuated tubes, purely hot water back 14 odd years ago and think it's a great job for hot water over the summer and also with a bit of direct sunlight during the winter would lift the ambient temp in the tank to 30 odd degrees so the oil has to do less to get the heat up a bit.

[Ethan Tremblay]

Was considering solar's myself, has anyone any ideas about electric solar panels? Any use?

My thinking would be along the lines of yourselves, stick the immersion on for hot water during the summer and have the solar's take the bite out of that. 

Regarding the exuberant houses going up, how can they face the rates bills every year. 

[thebigfella]

Solar water not really worth the investment, PV may be more expensive but ROI much better. If you are using a heat pump, it can be hooked to battery for hot water anyway which is more efficient. If you have an electric car, the PV also can directly be used to charge it during the day.