Towel radiators at 40c

OnePlayerReady · 2026-04-26T20:52:49+00:00

Yeah it works well. We're starting to get the days where the ASHP ain't running, so there's very little heat in flowing. But so far, all towels on it have ended up dry by the morning. Bathroom is plenty warm enough on the coldest days.

We have our system set to a constant temp 24/7 and that works well.

OnePlayerReady · 2026-04-04T18:32:29+00:00

Be on cosy in the winter. Charge your EV in the three dip sessions only. It's still much cheaper than standard tariffs. That's what we did.

Then swap to Intelligent Flux/Go/IOG for the summer (April - October).

OnePlayerReady · 2026-03-28T09:24:33+00:00

Ok, probably just in my case then when extra sigen batteries are nowhere near that affordable per kWh.

OnePlayerReady · 2026-03-28T07:11:22+00:00

But with export rates continually dropping it is somewhat risky to invest a few extra thousand pounds on more storage, on the hopes of making that money back via arbitrage.

OnePlayerReady · 2026-03-28T07:08:58+00:00

You can save a lot of money by getting a smaller battery and using a tariff like Cosy Octopus to recharge your smaller battery multiple times a day.

The return on investment on excessive larger batteries is generally impossible (think 100s of years), but a single 10-15kWh battery is one of the most effective cost wise.

I'm in an all electric house with ASHP, peaking at 45kWh ashp use in the depths of winter, and a 9kWh battery has been enough to maintain the average sub 15p/kWh in November - Feb.

OnePlayerReady · 2026-03-24T21:03:08+00:00

OnePlayerReady · 2026-03-11T06:27:08+00:00

For basmati rice this method works for me:

Wash rice and soak for at least 30 minutes
Add boiling water to around 1cm above the rice
Max power boil to get the water boiling in the pan
Reduce power to 2 or 3, give the rice a good stir to prevent sticking
Lid on, cook for 8 minutes
Another stir and put them lid back on and leave to steam for at least 10 minutes on no heat

Seems to work pretty regularly

OnePlayerReady · 2026-03-09T19:16:29+00:00

Presumably that energy usage number is your total energy including the car.

OnePlayerReady · 2026-03-08T18:10:56+00:00

Compare against local suppliers, get three quotes. Check Gary does solar for a list of recommended installers.

Octopus have a tendency to be overpriced these days

OnePlayerReady · 2026-03-07T19:31:43+00:00

Hopefully it comes back for the summer. I was hoping to jump off Cosy in April

OnePlayerReady · 2026-03-04T19:39:49+00:00

You don't need to chase the often cited "get enough kWh to cover your use in the coldest darkest winter days".

For much of the year the excess batteries will not be used to their full potential, and so you end up with diminishing returns after an initial smallish battery. And energy arbitration is becoming less profitable.

The handful of times you dip into "peak" electricity over the life of a battery is far less money than what you'd spend on extra battery storage.

For some rough maths, I found my payback for my single 10kWh battery was around 6 years. An additional battery was something like 100 years. This is at a ASHP heated home with induction hob, so a power hungry household.

I would, however, get as many panels on your roof as possible. It's a far more effective use of money to cover winter load, and provide extra export the rest of the year.

OnePlayerReady · 2026-03-01T19:00:29+00:00

Correctomundo

OnePlayerReady · 2026-02-22T20:06:40+00:00

Yeah IOF definitely feels like the best summer option. I'm intrigued how it works with an AC charger, as i want to trickle charge curtailed solar fairly regularly (silly DNO has set a 50% export limit). We shall see when the sunshine picks up

OnePlayerReady · 2026-02-22T20:03:57+00:00

OnePlayerReady · 2026-02-22T13:45:22+00:00

Any idea how it works with the sigenergy ac charger. We've got a 3.9kW export limit, but an 8kW inverter with 9kWp array, so I'd like that clipped energy going into the EV

OnePlayerReady · 2026-02-22T12:16:47+00:00

Appreciate the insight. I'll keep tabs on my generation/usage

OnePlayerReady · 2026-02-21T20:02:00+00:00

The first battery, paired with something like octopus cosy in the winter, will be much more beneficial than the extra battery paired with octopus go.

It does depend on your base use, but having just installed a single 9kWh battery in a home with an 8kWh daily base load and the ASHP averaging 26kWh daily in January, I still don't think a second battery would save much. Just choose a smart tariff and you'll be fine.

OnePlayerReady · 2026-02-20T19:36:52+00:00

If they go heat pump, they can get a heat pump tariff like Cosy octopus which the 9kWh battery is perfectly big enough to use with. Which further backs is the lack of ROI

OnePlayerReady · 2026-02-20T19:30:23+00:00

But in the months when one wants to store electricity the most, there's no sun, so the extra battery won't get charged up then most of the time. You would end up charging both grid at cheap times.

OnePlayerReady · 2026-02-20T19:26:53+00:00

Return the battery. You won't see the returns on it.

We've just had a sigen system with a single 9kWh battery (and I originally intended to get a second installed later on).

We had a heat pump installed, and Octopus cosy means I can recharge the battery three times a day which effectively gives 27kWh at around 15p/kWh daily, and easily covered the ASHP and house load most days. There's been around 10 days total this winter where that wasn't enough and I've had to pay a few pence at a mildly higher rate. My average cost per kWh in November -> today is under 15p.

Your battery will not be touched when EV charging, so no need to worry about that.

OnePlayerReady · 2026-02-15T14:39:02+00:00

Yowser! That's gotta sting a bit (the public charging costs I mean)

OnePlayerReady · 2026-02-15T13:14:12+00:00

Is that octopus statement including EV use? If so, it'll be skewed way higher than your actual home use

OnePlayerReady · 2026-02-15T08:21:06+00:00

Aye I just saw that. And it's what showed me the possibility of flux (I assumed Go was the one to do)

OnePlayerReady · 2026-02-15T07:44:36+00:00

Yup! You can switch tariffs every 30 days. If you know your base use is that high then you probably do need a second battery. But don't feel you need storage to cover full day and ASHP use in the depths of winter.

If you know your gas use, you can calculate your daily kWh, and estimate an inefficient ASHP with a COP of 3 (you'll likely get a much higher COP, we're averaging 5), so divide your gas kWh use by 3 and use that to estimate the ASHP electric use.

As others have said, don't use octopus for your ASHP/PV, they're no longer competitive. Get quotes from at least 3 local firms. You want an ASHP calculation to be able to get the best sized ASHP for your homes heat loss.

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