Heating & Powering Your Home On Renewable Energy. Wood Burning & Solar Panels.
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- Опубліковано 18 січ 2021
- In this video I talk about heating your home with Renewable Energy / Technology. Specifically talking about Solar panels and wood burning. We have three wood burners at the farm, one is a solid fuel Rayburn and the other is a normal wood burning stove.
We heat our whole farm here mainly on wood. Our wood burning stove's heat up the hot water and central heating system. Our system can easily provide us with all the hot water we need and it keeps the radiators warm. While the solar panels provide us with roughly 50% of our electricity needs.
Hope this video helps you with your heating plans and will give you some ideas on how to heat and power your house with green heat and electricity. Its not free heating or electric but its as close as you can get without being off grid.
If you want to see how the Rayburn works you can watch the video here
• How to operate a wood ...
If you would like to find out more about me you can visit my website on
www.gwenyngruffydd.co.uk
Or find me on Social media @GwenynGruffydd - Домашні улюбленці та дикі тварини
Impressed! Yes, it's definitely possible. I live completely off the grid and rely on solar and firewood for my energy and have been for about 6 years now. I have been lucky to avoid the fuel prices increasing. You're welcome over to have a look any time if you were curious. Have you ever considered battery backup and going off grid?
Yes, would love a battery system but I think we use to much in the day to store any. We’re supposed to be fitting a eco boost to the water system soon too. Hopefully that will heat the water in the summer to a good temperature
Of course it is.
Very informative, thanks. Also love your knitted bee hat 🐝 😃
Thank you 😊 🐝
Thanks, Im thinking now to just do the Rayburn not the rads, I contacted the place in Hereford where you got yours, the guy was utterly obnoxious which was weird cos he just lost a sale. Awful chap. So I will try somewhere else. It's a shame about the rads but I don't think I have access to enough wood and I am thinking of putting vents in the ceiling for the heat to rise instead and take the carpet out upstairs. I don't like the lpg it's such a rip off but it does work, honestly I want an earthship really lol.. 😂 cheers. I am also playing around with thermal mass which is the best idea ever IMO.
Looks great and it works you knew what you wanted and the plumbers delivered but it would have taken some thinking out how to do it Well done
Thank you
Amazing Video! I love the fact you are using so many sources to heat the hot water tank. Using thermostats at 3 different levels is an ingenious idea. Water needs an enormous amount of energy to raise the temperature by 1 degree. Only releasing that energy into the radiators when the temperature is optimum is bang on! Using surplus electricity in the daytime is very clever. It is probably the best way to transfer electrical energy to another form which is useful. Far more efficient than charging a battery I believe. The only recommendation I have is using evacuated tubes for heating water. I installed them over 10 years ago. They were expensive but cut my oil bill by 1/2. they have payed for themselves by now. Great knowledge shared there Gruff. Good Physics knowledge!
Diolch Joni!! After reading your comment I’m even more impressed with the system!!
I knew all those physics lessons in school would pay off someday. I must have had a good teacher!! 😉😁
@@gwenyngruffydd great video we used to have a parkray that heated the radiators and water and it was great until the council replaced it with air source heating which uses alot of electricity and it uses alot to heat the water aswell we have a wood burner but it just heats the room and really is a waste as we use the fire more than the heating especially now the electricity is going up in price
We’re really glad we have wood with the current prices too.
This is so helpful. Just what I needed. Thank you so much xx
Glad you found it useful 😊
Great stuff: you're a very good communicator and very easy to listen to. Love your systems...we're inspired.
Thank you 😊
Very useful video, we are on a farm with just oil central heating at the moment and iam looking into the alternatives! Looked at air source, but turned that down and iam looking at wood boilers next! Currently burn wood in the living room on an open fire so looking to put a biggish log burner in instead with a back boiler and upgrade the rest of the heating system and just leave the old oil boiler as a back up! Very useful video thank you!
Thanks James. We looked at airsource too. Turns out it wasn’t suitable for us.
I have always felt that true wealth is measured in the amount of well seasoned firewood you have under roof. On a side note I have looked into getting solar panels on my roof but find that the installation is still terribly expensive and will therefore take absolute ages to earn itself back. Maybe the government will be looking at setting up favourable grants now that we are heading for the electric car era, making the whole thing more financially feasible.
that's a great way of measuring wealth!!😄😂
Thats the problem with most of the solar pannels....people are out working in the day so dont get the benefit from it and batteries are extremely expensive so makes it unviable.
Hopefully with government incentive and better technology the price will come down.
At university, my building surveying tutor with a lot of time served. He observed that solar panels broke down before they paid for themselves. So unless they've improved, I'd recommend thorough research to avoid being fleeced. Best of luck.
You are an amazingly inspirational man, i really love your videos. Good luck to you and your family for 2021.
Thank you so much, that’s very kind 😊
The same to you too😊
Great video, it's like the carlsberg of heating systems you have there. Was thinking of doing something similar myself. Do you know the make model of your thermal store? And is there only flow and return piped to the stove and vented through the thermal store? 🤔
Thank you 😊 unfortunately that’s my extent of the knowledge about the heating system! Not sure about the brand the thermal store. Regarding the stove there is only 2 pipes going in to it so I assume in and out? I’m not a plumber lol
Great video! So inspirational. Do you know where you got your tank / what make it is? Also, is that your only tank - ie. handles hot water AND central heating? Thanks
Thank you 😊 unfortunately I have no idea. I did not do any of the work or ordering of materials
Great Demonstration Thankyou, doing something similar myself is rural Ireland. Question: you have 2 stoves there heating water. Normally one would have a separate coil in the cylinder for each source of heat. e.g a triple coil cylinder used for solar/wood/oil. In your case how do get around this and 2nd question. Is each source isolated from each other, as if using the oil does it send heat to the back boilers on the stoves as well. Obviously this would be a big waste. Interested in your thoughts and I have a good knowledge of plumbing and electrics in these matters. Tks in advance. Paul
Hi Paul, I’m no plumber but il try my best to answer.
I believe there is a separate coil for each of the heating sources.
I think (not entirely sure) that the back boiler tank does heat up slightly when the water is warm. It’s not connected to the radiator so doesn’t operate like a radiator. If that makes sense?
Hi in summer if the boiler gets to temp does it still circulate to the rads as you still need to heat up for hot water great system looking for cottage
Yes, once the boiler gets to hot it circulates the water to the rads.
Thanks for sharing. We’ve got a similar system that isn’t working too well. If I may, how much wood do you burn daily? What temperatures do you achieve in your rooms? And where in the tank does hot water come in from the wood burners and where does it go out towards the radiators? (We suspect we’ve got some connections backwards.)
Hi,
I can’t answer the technical questions as I don’t know. A plumbing company did the work.
We go through 1 or 2 wheel barrow loads of logs a day.
Hi, what model rayburn have you and how many rads? Can the rayburn handle it? Do you know what sort of kw output you get from your rayburn? Im wondering if a rayburn would heat a kitchen adjacent to my lounge if i put the rayburn in my inglenook in the lounge as flu etc already in place currently have 5kw log burner in lounge and heat won't travel to kitchen i have tried fans and all sorts now thinking of rayburn ty for video nice to hear welsh accent again after growing up in Brecon, in Shropshire now. Cheers.
Hi,
Not sure on exact model. It could be a nouvelle maybe? It’s an old reconditioned one.
The Rayburn itself will only heat the room it’s in just like any wood burner.
5kw wood burner is to small you need a much bigger one. Minimum 12kw. More towards the 15-20 if you can for a big house. Especially if it’s old with stone walls.
That’s where the back boiler comes into use. It distributes the heat to other rooms.
Hope this helps 😊
What voltage are your solar immersion elements. I'm thinking to go a similar route. Also what number of radiators does the Rayburn heat? Any idea of output wattage? (30kw??) Thanks for a really informative video.
No idea on the voltage but we have in the region of 20 radiators on the farm.
Interested in chatting im in nw
We have a rayburn and just had an airsource heat pump fitted hoping to running ashp ½ the year from solar and then rayburn other ½ / cold wet no solar side of the year
Great plan. We wanted ashp but the house and our heating system was not suitable
Hey! Great video. How many cubic meters of wood do you burn a year roughly? Tempted to install something similar! Diolch
Thank you,
That’s a good question. I don’t buy wood in so I have no idea on volume. If you look at my log store video I use that whole shed up every year.
Hello , the plumbing work looks like to a very high standard, would you be able to recommend the plumber who did the install work please .. ?
I can’t remember the company name it was 7 years ago.
But your right they did an amazing job
Some of the system looks unvented because the red thing looks like an expansion vessel, looks like some pipes go up the wall into the loft, does the system also include a f&e tank for the solid fuel part? Is the cylinder classed as a thermal store with mains pressure hot water? Nice set up you go there pal, thanks for showing us 👍
Thanks 😊 Unfortunately I don’t know the technical details about how the system works
Hey, thanks for the video. What size is your boiler? I'm going to install a rayburn too. Greetings from flanders!
That’s a good question, I don’t know is the answer sorry.
You’ll love the Rayburn 👌🏻
Sorry one more question: you said you have oil back up so can your rads be heated by either? I have LPG and Worcester boiler I was wondering if I could have both options in same system.
Yes rads can be heated by oil or from wood.
But the oil heats up the rads better.
Hi, that's absolutely tremendous! I'm from Poland and as you may know we are struggling with energy supplies nowadays. I would like to do the very similar system that you have. My question is: does your water tank (heat storage) contain internal pipe coming from your stove so that the heated water coming into tank does not mix with the water in the central heating system? I wonder if two heating sources: i.e. stove burning wood and electric heater plugged in directly to the boiler need some separation or they can heat up the very same water of the central heating system?
It’s the same in the U.K. too! Prices are going crazy!
Yes I believe the tank has pipes inside “coils” so that the water doesn’t mix.
The tank can be heated up from different sources at the same time.
What happens during a power cut - can you safely fire up the Aga or stove when the pumps and valves aren't working ?
Yes, but you just need to keep an eye on how hot the water gets. If it gets to hot, take a bath or run some hot water out of the system to stop it overheating.
Currently in a power cut now, Rayburn is on.
Crazy thing is wood burning stoves will be illegal very soon I use mine to heat the living room but rarely use the central heating as it's very effective
Crazy their thinking of doing that. I doubt it will be for rural homes. Maybe build up areas only.
Hi, great vid thanks, doing a similar set up myself. I noticed the pipe work to the side of your Rayburn is copper soldered. I believe soldering is great and very reliable, my question is that some people raise concerns over solder joints melting and one should use compression between the Rayburn boiler and the thermal store. I prefer solder as it feels more permanent but are there any regulations for this? Thanks Stu
Hi,
I’m not a plumber so can’t comment on the regs.
So far the solder hasn’t failed with me. System has been in for 6-7 years now
Hi, thanks for the reply. I jus t managed to ask a plumber friend and he said definitely use compression as if the Rayburn gets too hot it can melt the joints.
Thanks
@@gwenyngruffydd😊
Hi I am doing a similar system at my house do you have a plumbing diagram I can look at?
Sorry unfortunately I don’t have any plans.
@@gwenyngruffydd cool thanks google time
Hi back again, can I ask what plumber you used. I live in Pembs so hopefully still in there range
I have what is most likely a really stupid question, but I'll ask anyway 😁 do the sides of the cooker stove heat up a lot? I notice you have a gap either side of yours, would it be too hot to have beside a cupboard, would it be hot enough to cause damage to the wood?
That’s not a stupid question 😊
The sides actually stay quite cool. The front and the top gets hot. The sides must be well insulated.
Don’t take my word for it though just in case some models do go hot on the sides.
@@gwenyngruffydd thank you so much for taking the time to reply. Hoping to get ours in a few weeks so trying to figure out it's best position 😁
No problem 😊
i don't understand the need for three thermostats on the tank ? can someone explain for a noob ?
Good question. Probably because each thermostat is wired to a different pump
Wood ash is good for veg patch
Sure is!! 😄
Fossil fuel is exactly the same mate. It's just a much longer cycle.
Yes, much much much longer!!
With the pressure you have going around your system have you ever thought about slipping a mini turbine in?
I have….but I don’t know how good small ones are. And do they pay themselves back?
@@gwenyngruffydd I'm not sure at the moment mate, but I'm proper looking into it. My background is a mix of coal fired power stations, oil and gas pipelines and gas compressor stations. I don't see how it can't all come together and be scaled down.
The way costs are going it could well be the future. Everyone producing their own
Daft question, but can’t you just plant more trees to offset the coal?
I suppose you could. My farm is probably carbon neutral anyway if you were to calculate my energy use to the amount of land we have.
Hows the cattle getting on?
Coming on great thank you. Can’t wait for spring so they can get out of the shed!
Can you do another video on them please?
Will do 😊👍🏻
I myself have created the electric frankfurter.
What’s that?
Hi Gwenyn - noticed you said your back up stove isn't so effective and won't heat up the house the way your other one will. We make a pumped-air heat recovery unit to solve that problem. It's a heat exchange that fits in the bottom of the flue and pumps hot air into the room for as long as there is heat rising from the fire or the embers. It spreads heat much further for much longer than a normal burn and increases the effective output of the stove enormously. Please do take a look at our video at ua-cam.com/video/tknNKch8ED8/v-deo.html
Thanks will take a look 😊 👍🏻
@@gwenyngruffydd 👍
Also you don’t burn the entire tree, a lot of the tree is composted. only the good logs are all that really burnt
Well it depends how fussy you are. If your desperate for wood you’ll burn the sticks too! 😂
But no your right a lot of it will go back into the soil 😊
Yes but.... Your solar panels are mounted wrong. I can literally show you the reg 🤷. I am however using a few points you've got here
Hi, what makes you say that? They were fitted by a professional company.
@@gwenyngruffydd Not allowed to mount the fittings on the short edge of the panel, it prevents the panels for expanding when they get warm. I see it so often, no-one cares if I'm honest 🤣 .