Brief

After 30 years of living with storage heaters and the frustration caused by an unexpected warm day overheating the house or a cold day arriving after the heating had been turned off, a system was devised to heat a radiator circuit electrically. State of the art heating controls made the environment comfortable and economic and reduced electrical consumption. After four years however the cost of electricity had risen to equal the quarterly charge formerly experienced with the storage heaters and the knowledge that the storage heaters would have been hugely more expensive was not a consolation. A way had to be found to reduce electrical consumption even further.

Process

While the property had an existing thermostore, the customer had concerns surrounding the rising cost of electricity and so it was decided that the thermostore would be changed to a 350 litre one with a solar coil to take advantage of a south-facing roof and to increase the storage capacity. This made it possible to supply both domestic hot water at mains pressure and central heating with energy harvested from the sun.

Outcome

As a result, more than 4,500 kwH were harvested in the first three months of installation, saving the customer between £200-£300 in electricity costs. Even during the winter months, a blue-sky day can produce a whole cylinder of hot water. Since the set-up was installed in May 2010, no adjustments have been necessary, making this system virtually fit and forget.