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• The power of your solar panel system – there's no point buying a higher capacity battery if your system will never generate enough electricity to charge it
• How often you think you will need to charge your battery
• Your budget
• Whether you care about having the latest technology and a recognisable brand name

Can You Replace A Gas Boiler With An Electric Boiler?

In the UK, there are about 22 million households that are heated with the use of a gas boiler. However, do not assume that they’re the best type of boiler to install. The fact is, if your house isn’t connected to the main gas supply, the best option is for you to install an electric boiler rather than a gas boiler. So is it possible to replace a gas boiler with an electric boiler? The simple answer is yes. Both heating system options work in varying ways and also with a different impact on the environment.

The gas boiler is able to generate heat with the help of a gas burner. A heat exchanger is linked to the burner and heats the water available in its chamber. The hot water is then supplied to the heating circuit.

However, the thing is that natural gas can actually be more affordable when compared to using electricity to operate your boiler, but they have a negative impact on the environment. This is because gas boilers make use of an odourless, colourless and poisonous gas - carbon monoxide.

Meanwhile electric boilers are powered by electrical energy, hence, no carbon monoxide leak risks. Instead of using gas to heat up water, electric boilers distribute energy to heating elements which, in turn, heats up the water. So thinking about what’s best for the environment, you’d go for electric boilers. However, they’re more costly and are not as efficient as oil boilers.

If you reside in a smaller house that’s not connected to the main gas supply, then you might want to consider installing an electric boiler. However, if you live in a larger house, an electric boiler may not be the best option as they’re mostly designed to generate little quantity of hot water.

How Does Electric Central Heating Work?

An electric central heating works to provide a number of benefits for you. These benefits include the following:

lSpace Heating

• The storage heaters work during the night to store electricity which would be used to heat up the heat retaining bricks. This, in turn, will release this energy throughout the day to warm up the room.

• There are also electric radiators which works to deliver on-demand heat and as a result, economy tariffs are totally avoided. It will generate heat by itself rather than storing it and with the controls, you can easily determine the amount of heat to be released when you require it.

• There is the wet electric system options as well which comes with water filled radiators. This operates in a similar way to normal radiators, however, it makes use of electricity to heat up the water.

lWater Heating

• An electric boiler operates in a very similar manner to other boiler types, just that it makes use of electricity as its fuel. Here, the water is warmed by a heating element and the water is later moved to several radiator throughout the house by a pump. These electric boiler types earns you tariff savings as you’ll be able to heat water at night.

• Heat pumps geothermal or air source, redistributes heat instead of creating it. Heat pumps are powered by electricity and it works by absorbing heat either from the air or ground which it then channels it through a pump. This can then be incorporated in heating either water or a room.

• A dedicated immersion heater is another water heating option. Here, the heating element is positioned inside a hot water cylinder. In a similar fashion to a kettle, the element heats the nearby water. Immersion heater can act either as a backup or your main heating element.

The OLEV Grant, also known as Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme (EVHS) can reduce the cost of your home charger by up to £350. If you're eligible, you'll be able to claim it when you buy an EV charger.

Tesla’s top-of-the-range battery storage system is still one of the most expensive on the market. It has a huge 13.5kWh usable capacity and can even keep you up and running during a power cut. But how long does a Tesla Powerwall battery last? And does this mean it’s worth investing in one?

The Tesla Powerwall 2.0 comes with a 10-year warranty. But Tesla says that it should last way beyond this – at least 5 years longer. The standard warranty says that it should work at 70% capacity for the full 10 years – so if it loses more than 30% of its storage capacity within that time, it should still be covered.

While the Tesla Powerwall does last a long time, it has a large capacity that most average households won’t require, and it’s a costly option. After installation, the Powerwall 2.0 will set you back between £6,500 and £9,000, so ideally you want it to last past its 10-year warranty.

Before you splash out, consider the size of the solar panel system you want to install or you already have. Will it generate enough electricity to make it worth storing in the Powerwall? If not, are you expecting to upgrade your solar panels to a larger system in the future? If you are, then it might be worth investing in a Powerwall. It might also be better to wait until you come to upgrade your solar panels – the solar battery price trend is going the same way as solar panels, so they will probably continue to decrease in price as more people adopt the technology.

If you’re planning to get an electric vehicle, the next thing that naturally comes to mind is getting a good charger with it. As a result, this is one of the most common questions asked when it comes to electric vehicles. We’ve put together this list of some great home ev chargers to help you make the best informed decision possible moving forward. Let’s take a look!

• Charge Point Wi-Fi Enabled Level 2 EV Charger. If what you need is a faster charge for your car due to the high frequency of usage of the electric vehicle, then this charger might just be the best option for you. It’s claimed to charge electric vehicle batteries six times faster than a standard 120 volt home system. What’s more? The mobile application will inform you about the amount of charge your battery has regardless of your location. This feature can be of great benefit especially when you’re trying to determine whether to put in an additional hour at work or heat straight home.
• Juice Box Pro 40 Level 2 EV Charger. This is a level 2 charger which features a web based charging control so as to allow you control the charging parts of your vehicle from anywhere, be it in the comfort of your home or office without having to go to the garage or parking lot.
• Siemens VersiCharge VC30GRYU. This is an easy-to-use plug and play installation that comes with a mounting bracket if you happen to own a NEMA 50 receptacle. It boasts a charging time that’s 4 times faster than level 1 electric vehicle chargers and possess a charge delay feature or 2, 4, 6 or 8 hours.

Whether solar panel batteries are worth it depends on how much you’re at home and how big your solar panel system is. If you’re at home most of the day and your solar panels only generate enough electricity for you to use while for that day, then a battery probably isn’t worth investing in. However, if you have a large system that generates more than you can use or you’re out most of the day, then solar panel batteries are definitely worth it.

A solar battery storage system works by storing the electricity that your solar panels generated until you need to use it. That’s why they’re great for people that are out all day – your solar panels generate electricity all day whilst the sun’s out, but no one’s home so you’re using minimal energy except for things like your fridge and any appliances on standby. Most of the electricity charges your solar panel battery. Then, when you get home, your battery will discharge, and you’ll use all the solar electricity that your panels generated during the day.

Solar batteries are also excellent for people with large solar panel systems that generate more than they use in the day. Any electricity that you don’t use during the day will charge the battery, so in the evening when the sun goes down, you’ll just use the excess electricity that’s stored in the battery.

To work out whether solar panel batteries are worth it for you, you’ll need to work out how much of your solar electricity you’re using already. If you’re at home and you’re able to run your appliances all while your solar panels are generating electricity, a battery might not be worth it. Also, if you’re receiving export payments from the Feed-in Tariff Scheme (FITs) or the Smart Export Guarantee (SEG), you might want to look at the rate you’re getting paid. If it’s a good rate, it might be more cost-effective to continue exporting unused electricity to the grid. Speak to an MCS-registered installer that will be able to help you work this out.

If you’re thinking about installing a solar system in your home or property, this is probably one of the things you’d like to know before making a purchase decision. Well, you’ve come to the right place! In this post, we’re going to give you a good insight into this to help you make the best informed decision possible moving forward. Let’s take a look!

First and foremost, it must be stated that providing a short and accurate answer to this question is nearly impossible as the amount of time a solar panel will last after dark is influenced by a number of factors. These factors include the size of your solar system, the battery size as well as your power usage. As you would have imagined, batteries are charged when there is excess energy that’s being produced by your solar system but it’s not being incorporated to power your home or property. More often than not, this occurs during the sunlight’s peak periods from about 10am to 2pm.

The time it’ll take for your battery to charge is influenced by the size of your solar system in Kilowatts, the size of your battery as well as the rate in which your system is being used. Your battery can be charged in a day or two, of course unless it’s an over-sized battery for your system.

When the sun sets and your solar panels can no longer directly run your appliances via electricity generation, the battery then kicks in. You will use about 1 to 2 kW’s of power if you’re watching TV, using the oven as well as lights internet etc. in other words, even a small solar panel battery will last all night. However, the same doesn’t apply if you’re having a party with running floodlights, three fridges and air conditioner as the battery will drain a lot faster.