Welcome to South View. It was built in 1928 and there are a few challenges in turning it into a more sustainable house, but we are trying!
We had 16 Sanyo Solar Photovoltaic (PV) panels with a total capacity of 3.76KW installed 12 years ago, which have been extremely worthwhile.
We also have a Solar Thermal array (with 20 Barilla glass evacuated tubes) which helps with our hot water needs by directly heating our hot water tank via a closed loop system and a glycol/ water mix.
In January 2023 we installed an Eddi unit which automatically tops up our hot water when there is enough solar being produced from the panels, and a Zappi which intelligently charges our electric car when there is surplus solar electricity. These can be monitored and controlled from our mobile devices if necessary.
In addition to this, we fitted three Air- to -Air source heaters which has enabled us to heat our downstairs living space very economically, often using our solar PV supply. In doing this we have not had to take out our gas boiler (but haven’t used it for the last three months) or have major changes to our home.
The Air-to-Air source pumps do not involve the water system at all and are much more affordable than the Air to Water Source pumps which heat the radiators and water tank but uses the same technology which is extremely efficient.
We have a simple water diverter to send our bath water into a water butt which is especially useful in dry summers. We have 3 rainwater butts, one of which we save for our wildlife pond should it need topping up in dry weather.
The pond is the best thing we have ever done in the garden as we have had so much more wildlife since creating it in the first lockdown.
We garden organically and have an allotment in the village which is a No-Dig plot where possible. All weeds are composted including nasties like bindweed which is rotted in water first, to save their high nutrient content.
We have also started to interline our curtains to insulate our rooms further, but we still need to improve our attic insulation.
We enjoy the challenge of finding new ways to make our home more efficient; there’s always more we can do!
Email jibaker@btinternet.com to book a visit all year round.