You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
Bit of a dry question, but I hope I can glean some info from you guys.
My modest house is space heated by a 5kw woodburner without a backboiler. Having the stove as the sole method of producing hot water doesn't work as I'd need a backup water heating system for our month of summer.
Obviously I have electricity but I have no gas supply. The house is in the Highlands of Scotland.
I am thinking of a new bathroom and possibly a new method of generating hot water for the kitchen and bathroom taps. Or should I just stick with an electric immersion heater for hot tap water and an electric shower as I have now? What are my options, willing to invest and improve the green credentials of my house.
Thanks.
You can get heater elements that plumb into the pipe just prior to the tap which heats the water as required. (A bit like an electric shower) That would serve your purpose without having to create a large system of heat capture and storage.
Search for under sink water heaters.
Electric on economy 7 would be the cheapest, anything that requires investment such as solar or heat pumps would require a long payback to be effective.
I would be tempted to dump the heat into a buffer, that would enable you to put other inputs into it at a future date.
Thanks for the replys.
I hope to be in the house 25 years plus so I am relaxed about the investment required, and the environment is as important as monetary cost.
Can you buy some bitcoin mining rigs, and have them dump all their heat into the hot water tank?
At the current $7k btc price, you'll be earning money every time you take a hot shower!
Solar pv on the roof, with a immersion controller that diverts energy into the hot water tank before selling to the grid. I’m looking into this currently, don’t have all details yet.
Why not a back boiler?
My folks had a complex system using a back boiler and solar water heating. so in winter water was heated by the back boiler giving a tank full of hot water, in summer by the solar panels topped up by an immersion heater
Complex system using a couple of tanks and diverter valves but it meant that the electric heater only needed to lift the temp of the water a small amount
TJ, makes much sense. I’ve stayed in holiday cottages which have a back boiler that heats a standard water tank AND an immersion heater that heats the same tank electrically when the stove is not in use. It’s common enough that in rural areas plumbers should be familiar with it.
The other obvious option would be an oil fired boiler, no immersion heater or electric shower.