It has been five months since our air source heat pump has been installed so we felt it’s a good time to review the performance and efficiency of Global Energy System’s Caernarfon 18kW Eco Air Source Heat Pump (ASHP).
Off the grid: Solar PV and inverter review
It’s been four months since our panels went up, and it’s a fitting time to review their performance and do a solar PV and inverter review of our system. We get technical and specific about the efficiency of our new solar panels.
Being in the UK, people are sometimes skeptical about the effectiveness and performance of solar energy, so we wanted to give an unbiased report, based on real life experiences, illustrating power output on overcast, rainy and sunny days.
Trimming the hedge, strimming the field and cutting the lawn
We’ve been busy draft proofing the house ahead of winter so we’ve fallen behind with some of our gardening tasks, so it’s time catch up. We’ve taken out the hedge trimmer, strimmer and lawn mowers and get ready for a full day’s work.
Picking our own wild blackberries
We headed down to the bottom of field yesterday and filled three punnets with wild blackberries. It wasn’t easy, as you’ll see in the video, but it was deeply satisfying, and the wild blackberries are really, really delicious. They certain taste as good as they look.
Hydroelectricity at Palé Hall
We had afternoon tea at Palé Hall in Wales recently and when we walked around the property we made an interesting discovery; this hotel is powered by its own hydroelectric plant. But what makes the story even more fascinating is this plant was installed in 1920.
SolarEdge app is a powerful tool for monitoring energy usage
When we had our solar PV panels and SolarEdge inverter installed, I thought that the SolarEdge app would simply tell you how much energy we’ve generated (which it does), but it also provides realtime data on self consumption and export, and the app has become a hugely important tool in helping us to understand and evaluate our home energy usage.
Antique and vintage tools
We trekked to the International Antiques Fair of Wales at the Royal Welsh Showground in Builth Wells today. The fair is huge, spanning over multiple exhibition halls. The one thing that stood out for me was the vast amount of vintage and antique tools that were on sale.
Reasons we’re not installing a smart metre
We’ve considered installing a smart metre from the time we moved into our house, but due to our remote location our providers couldn’t arrange for this, which in hindsight is a good thing and I don’t think we’ll install a smart metre until such time that the UK passes a law to do so. Here’s why.