Planet Savers blog

We have a wood burning stove in the house so, with good insulation, the right double glazing and curtains, I hope this will provide most of our room heating requirements.

Hot water, though, is another issue. We have a roof with an uninterrupted south westerly view which just cries out for a solar panel.

I’ve been looking around and discovered that many of the systems require an electric pump. This seems to defeat the object to me. My object being a certain level of self sufficiency and as low a carbon footprint as possible.

Solartwin seem to be saying all the right things on this score, so I shall be following up on this one.

Before that, however, I have to solve a conundrum. A solar panel infers the need to store hot water, which means I can’t get rid of the hot water tank currently taking up too much room in my bathroom. A condensing boiler would have got around this but I am convinced of solar powered hot water.

The bathroom would currently show up as bright red on an imaging photo on account of having very little wall lining and much of the external brickwork being openly displayed along with the floor boards and plumbing. Yes, it’s a tad leaky on the heating front.

Before I can install the solar panel I need to sell my flat to raise the funds, but I can’t sell the flat until I move out of it. And it seems daft to move in to the cottage without getting the bathroom finished. So… I think I need to move the hot water tank before I can move on…

…at least, I think that’s where I am!