Browse Forums Heating, Cooling & Insulation Re: underfloor heating powered by solar panels 3Sep 02, 2012 11:05 am cheers paul we're in sw wa and a 3kw system produces an average of 12kwh/day in winter say 8kwh....is this reasonable? so if the floor is heating for 8 hrs a day at approx 1kwh a 3kw pv system should cover the running costs am i on the right track.... i'll call in at a solar place this week and ask them....but they'll probably just tell me what i want to hear shoots Re: underfloor heating powered by solar panels 4Sep 04, 2012 12:29 pm Are these electric systems designed to deal with large-ish heat fluctuations? I mean, if you only heat the floor in the middle of the day, it'll cool down quite markedly overnight; the normal "recommended" mode of usage generally has you turning the system on for a couple of months & the temperature of the slab/screed doesn't change all that much (the heating turns itself on & off fairly regularly but the slab's temp doesn't change that much) ... is it OK to use it in such an on-for-8-hours then off-for-16-hours way? Re: underfloor heating powered by solar panels 5Sep 05, 2012 12:22 am good point..i'm not sure.... i was thinking i could heat up the floor through the day and it would act like a heatsink through the night........ anyone know if this would be the case? shoots Re: underfloor heating powered by solar panels 6Sep 05, 2012 3:11 pm Normally its better to put power into the grid during the day rather than use it to heat the floor, and then use grid power during the night at off-peak rates. EDIT This only applies to existing systems with premium feed in tariffs. With the low feed in tariffs( for instance latest Victorian Gov't of 8c/kwHr) you are better using the power during the day. The Harder You Try - the Luckier You Get ! Web site http://www.anewhouse.com.au Informative, Amusing, and Opinionated Blog - Over 600 posts on all aspects of building a new house. Re: underfloor heating powered by solar panels 7Sep 11, 2012 11:11 am hi all the more i look into this the worse my idea seems.... we would be on the 8c feed in tariff so i was hoping to use the power through the day instead of feeding into the grid... i had a quote back saying i'd need a 8.4kw heating system for my floor.. so when i 1st switch it on i assume it would use 8.4kw of power until the floor got to the correct temperature and then switch on and off to maintain it....i'm never going to generate that kind of power with pv panels in the winter so i think the idea has no merit and although the panels would subsidise the running costs they wouldnt help much... i'll have to think of a plan 'B' shoots underfloor heating powered by solar panels 8Sep 13, 2012 6:58 am If you want underfloor heating then I would suggest you look at hydronic heating in the slab. This can either use off-peak electricity to heat the water or a gas boiler. Re: underfloor heating powered by solar panels 10Dec 30, 2012 12:36 pm I'd not throw the idea away so soon, keep in mind the efficiency of the panels keeps improving, and once you have the underfloor heating in place you can choose how you power it, I like the idea of having some Solar infrastructure in place no matter how you go...seeing as the grid always appears to be getting more expensive. you could always just lay down large carpets in the winter, that and generally work towards improving how well insulated your house is, there has been talk of quite a few places so well sealed that just a few people in them keeps the place warm. Slooowwwwly getting a Manhatten 35 in Middleton Grange Re: underfloor heating powered by solar panels 11Feb 20, 2013 8:32 pm It would probably be cheaper to use solar hot water panels and use these to heat the slab. In summer the hot water can be directed to the domestic hot water. What do you think? Demolition August 2009, Construction Started September 2009, Completed December 2010 Re: underfloor heating powered by solar panels 13Feb 24, 2013 12:18 pm Just normal solar hot water panels are fine. (Evacuated tubes are not as good as flat solar hot water panels.) Demolition August 2009, Construction Started September 2009, Completed December 2010 Re: underfloor heating powered by solar panels 14Feb 24, 2013 12:30 pm Casa2 Just normal solar hot water panels are fine. (Evacuated tubes are not as good as flat solar hot water panels.) can you link me to proof of this? Slooowwwwly getting a Manhatten 35 in Middleton Grange Re: underfloor heating powered by solar panels 15Feb 24, 2013 9:47 pm The proof is on page 36 of the book "Solar Water Heating" by Bob Ramlow and Benjamin Nusz. There is a graph that shows that only when the collector inlet temperatre is less than 75 C above ambient, flat panels are more effecient. This would only happen for sub zero Celcius environments. They also state "We have found that for most residential water and space heating conditions, flat plate collectors will outperform evacuated tubes." Evacuated tubes may be better for very cold climates, such as Canada and North America, but for Sydney/Melbourne etc, flat panels are more efficient in both heating per square meter and even more so for heating per dollar spent. They also last longer. Evacuated tube manufactures have been using creative accounting. They are not more efficient. You can take a look at a good selective coating flat panel and an evacuated tube data sheet and do the comparison yourself. Demolition August 2009, Construction Started September 2009, Completed December 2010 Re: underfloor heating powered by solar panels 16Feb 24, 2013 10:39 pm Went to the SRCC website (http://www.solar-rating.org) and compared an Apricus AP-30C evacuated tube panel to a Solahart flat panel. There are different climates and application so I took Water Heating- Warm Climate, since compared to the US, Australia would be considered a warm climate. Also took the average values for High and Medium solar radiation. The flat panel gave heating of 3.0 kWhr / m2 The evacuated tube gave heating of 2.4 kWhr / m2 Flat panels, more efficient in terms of heating for a given area, heating for a given capital cost and last longer. Certainly the way to go unless you live in a very cold climate such as Canada. Demolition August 2009, Construction Started September 2009, Completed December 2010 1 10136 Hello - we were hoping to apply laminate click lock panels to our concrete ceiling, but not too sure how to go about attaching the panels to the concrete. Any idea what… 0 1684 0 10945 |