ECO Energy improvements at Windsong, Worth Matravers
We bought our 1980s house seven years ago with 16 solar panels already installed. Since then, we have been in the process of replacing the early generation windows with current specification types. The attic insulation was already substantial as the roof space had been re-modelled for bedrooms only a few years ago.
There were two existing wood burning stoves, one of which was worn out so we removed it and blanked the chimney. The other has not been used by us, mainly because of the health and environmental concerns surrounding wood burning and the cost of logs.
A five-year old high efficiency oil fired boiler is installed which was the sole heating when we arrived but with the high cost of electricity and the additional power from the panels, we decided to fit an air to air heat pump at the cost of £1800 inclusive, basically a bi-directional air-conditioning unit of 6.5Kw capacity. These are very efficient and give almost a x3 multiplication of input power meaning we heat the living space, kitchen, lounge, bathroom and upstairs bedroom in the winter on 500w of power. The unit can be controlled remotely from a smartphone and provide a reading of the temperature inside and outside the house, very useful when we are away in winter.
This has made enormous savings on the oil boiler with current oil prices as we have the system running all day in winter. We can also get the benefit of cooling and dehumidification on the hottest days of Summer, but generally just open all the doors!
This summer we have added three further air-air heatpumps to the bedrooms and added the Sensibo timed controller system. We find this a useful addition without the complexity of a full Home automation system just for this one requirement.
Heat pump, oil boiler and internal fan unit
Our hot water immersion heater times its operation to maximum daytime solar output so the oil boiler is not used at all March to October and only 6-9am in Winter to warm the hot water and the farther corners of the house to prevent dampness in areas where the heat pump flow is minimal.
An electric car was purchased 6 years ago and with it a Zappi charge point. This allows us to run the car at no cost from March to September using the solar panels. We have now covered 25000 miles which includes a couple of longer trips (Manchester, Herefordshire Wales - 680 miles at a cost of £36 and 320 miles to Devon where the cost was minimal) and charged away only a handful of times as the car has a 230 mile range which covers almost all our trips without recharge. There are a number of charging modes including one that only charges when there is sufficient power coming from the panels. The power information for the whole house can be controlled, stored and viewed from a smartphone. We are now with Octopus on their ‘GO’ tariff so the car can be cheaply charged at night time off-peak rates. Their various deals are very good and include cheap electricity for times of peak Grid generation. They also have a storage battery tariff.
Myenergy Zappi has the capacity to measure the energy flow for the whole household electrical system and also provide information as to when to operate household appliances such as washing machines to avoid drawing from the grid and also provide statistics on household usage. It is possible to control charge mode from a mobile.
We had originally discounted the cost of a battery storage system as we receive FIT payments on surplus energy but with the rising cost of electricity and the future possibility of power cuts in our remote location, this is again up for consideration.
A vegetable garden provides us with fresh organic produce and we compost our vegetable waste and collect rainwater to irrigate it. We have a washing line which is a very effective replacement for a tumble drier. We also collect bathwater in mid-summer.
Our old conservatory was draughty, deteriorating and leaky so we replaced it with a better insulated one from Ultraframe. We are already managing to use the space earlier and later than the previous one and it is cooler mid-summer as well. We have also upgraded the door between it and the kitchen to further reduce heat loss in winter.
Open 17 October 11:00 and 2:00 by appointment. Please book your visit on https://events.humanitix.com/dorset-greener-homes.
If you can’t make it then, please email dorsetgreenerhomes@gmail.com to visit by appointment.