Why I've bought an Eddi solar diverter to heat our hot water
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- čas přidán 8. 09. 2024
- We installed our solar panels back on January 2019, 8 months ago and at the time I was unconvinced the £400 cost if an Eddi was worth the benefit of bit turning your immersion on and off manually.
I though I could use that £400 to save towards a storage battery.
I was wrong. it is worth it, to me at least. turning the immersion on manually is a pain and the grid usage to heat my hot water is annoying. Forget the cost savings which for us , a 2 person family saves less than £100 per year on grid electric savings. I'm not counting the oil saving not using our oil boiler as I've saved that already by using the immersion heater.
Installation was easy. The electrician who hadn't seen one before was mightily impressed. Much better than an iboost he says.
Once connected , I did the pairing and setup which was very easy. As the Eddi is located close to the Zappi I didn't need additional CTs or the Harvi devise. Our Zappi has a CT monitoring the house supply for import and export and another CT monitoring our solar array. by setting the Zappi as master and Eddi as slave, the Eddi gets to see the Zappi CT data over its own communication channel, not WiFi. It just works.
I updated the time on the Eddi , set the icons up and downloaded the latest firmware and that was it. It now seems to be working perfectly.
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Email: konaelectric.uk@gmail.com
Twitter: @EVPuzzle
Just had the Eddi installed and really impressed. Much better hot water on a sunny day even in November.
I’ve had the eddi since last August, added to the zappi and harvi. Brilliant once it was programmed correctly, my installers didn’t programme it correctly and it took five months for me to realise I wasn’t getting hot water from it, doh! Superb now, all hot water comes from solar excess. Brilliant
I have a solar i boost. A nice simple product. I. Have had it from 2013 and saved me a fortune. I fitted mine and the product was under £300.
I’m really pleased you opted for an Eddi, I promise you won’t regret it. My system has been up and running for 11 months now and it has provided all but a couple of days of hot water. As you know we get early morning sun, “east facing panels” and even when production is just 1 kw and less the hot water heats up.
Next it’s a battery, from my short experience with the powerwall there’s nowt that beats it. We use about 1/2 of the total 13.5 kwhs each day that leaves the rest to cover a poor days solar, so far that has meant we have used almost zero from the grid. Happy days
Had a Eddi fitted last week, I'm very pleased with it, I don't own a EV so it's great that my excess is now heating my water rather than getting uploaded for a poor return 🙄
We have the eddi which was installed on 23rd July 2019. To date it has saved 43kW by heating our water from excess solar. Previously we used gas to heat our hot water.
I knew it was a good bit of kit but it's actually better than I expected. Hopefully I'll have more hot water than normal and only use solar energy
Assuming you mean 43kWh, with gas at about 5p / kWh, you've saved £2 (over 2 months?)
@@neilcase So 400 months(~33 years) to pay for the Eddie alone, thats if you or any part of the installation still exist?
@@huudielbo728 Probably not quite as bad as that. As was pointed out, gas being indirect heating will have somewhat less than 100% efficiency, so maybe only 25 years :-). These units are vastly over priced for what's in them. I made a diy one for about £15 in parts ... though not with any sort of remote operation or data statistics. I mean you can buy a brand new 4KW solar inverter for that sort of money.
Any update on this John?
I had a Solar I Boost installed with my Solar back in 2015, after 2 years it melted (lots of smoke) and Marlec wouln't replace it as it was out of warranty. With rising energy bills I have just installed a MyEnergi Eddi (which has a three year guarentee) and I must say is very quiet (the Solar i boost was noisy), you just don't know the Eddi is on. The Eddi also works well with my Zappi charger, the Zappi has priority for charging and the Eddi second however due to lockdown I'm not charging the car much these days so all my spare electricity is going into the hot water tank.
Eddi is a quality but of kit
Nigel.., Power is power however you use it. Assuming your tank is 100% insulated you can bung in enough energy to raise it to your desired temperature in one big bit (Kw) or multiple small bits (W). It will overall take the same energy. Bit like filling a glass using a spoon or tap. As long as you can charge the car too I’m sure it’ll work great.
You're right, I know you're right, I've always known but... Luke warm plus luke warm = ?
I guess I need to see the evidence over a week as to how many kWh it takes to reach temperature. Without the data I'm a non believer lol
6kwhs so far and were not up to temperature yet. If it goes over 8 I'll be concerned 🤔🌞
The EV Puzzle a typical 200 litre water tank needs around 10kwh to heat completely from cold (15c) to 60c. But once it’s up to temp you’re not using as much to maintain it.
You should also check out your hot water tank information sticker, it should say how many kWh is lost over 24 hours. Typically you will be looking at around 1.5kwh standing heat loss for a modern tank every 24hours. This could be worse if the pipes to and from the tank aren’t properly insulated.
Remember your tank should be kept between 60-65c to prevent bacteria growth.
Insulation only slows the loss, a small input will still be lost.
My Immersun diverter just died today after 10 years of service. I'm on the hunt for new device.
Hope you get one soon.
@@EVPuzzle Thanks.
Well worth it especially with zappi
I can see it being cost effective if you have oil, over the last 3 months using my i-boost which I have had about 5 years my gas bill for used gas was £7 guessing a saving of about £40 .Also is £400 including fitting as I-boost is a 5 min diy job
It's £390 to buy plus fitting. It is DIY really but it's easy to make a beginner's mistake so I've asked an expert to wire it. Peace of mind.
Electrician already onsite so hasn't really cost me. Took him about 10 minutes.
If over a week I average 4-5kwhs into hot water a day I'll be happy, especially if I see the 1-2 kWh grid reduction too
Have an I-boost which works in the same way standalone , zappi , solar , ev and the Eddie heaven , now you need a heat pump instead of oil ( not sure about it at present) . Ps thought the noise was in my house k can imagine your frustration but work needs done
Panels going on the roof. Essential stuff
If the use case fits, staying within an ecosystem does have added benefits.
No one is mentioning the possibility of exporting to the grid !!. I can't believe no one else has this issue ... I have 8 panels (2.7kW peak "in reality", given the panels winter tilt angle) and in summer produce a daily compounding excess of electricity, which with a hot water diverter (as against the inverter itself) being in control of "export", will export to the grid. My water tank can easily be back up to temperature in the first couple of hours of "full sun", then with no where for the excess to go, (say, something like: 3 hours @ 1.7kW average = 5kWh less, say 1.5kWh consumed by the house over the same period) = 3.5 kW with nowhere else to go, but back to the grid. To use a hot water diverter in summer without the danger of export I have to use an air con to "dump" / "waste" the energy the hot water diverter can't divert !!!
I bought a second IBoost (second hand so not too expensive) and connected it to power a string of electric convector heaters totalling just under 3 kW. When the water tank is hot, I use this to provide some background heating to help reduce my gas bill.
The main caveat is that I have to take care to only run of these diverters at the same time. With both on, they sometimes 'fight' each other leading to power being taken from the grid for a few seconds when the available spare power suddenly drops (e.g. cloud moves in front of the sun). The other is that you need 'dumb' heaters since electronic timers and thermostats don't play nicely with the distorted waveform the IBoost produced when throttling the power. So far I've save 5,500 kWh since I installed it in 2016, so has easily paid for itself.
wow the eddi has jumped in price in a few years!!
So has everything it seems
A great option to heat water is a heat pump water heater. In the winter, it should save you about 1-kW for every kilowatt consumed.
In addition, in the most efficient mode it should be able to draw less than 0.5-kWh until it heats up the water.
So long as it's variable in its power consumption to optimise solar use I'd be happy
The EV Puzzle this is a pretty comprehensive list of available, efficient hot water boilers:
www.topten.eu/private/products/electric_water_heaters
It includes the expected COP for each model.
When I was a lad we had a bath once a week, wether we needed it or not. If we did the same these days it would represent saving of 86% of energy used in heating hot water. If that is too extreme then maybe having hot water every other day for a not too shabby 49% saving. Charge you car one day and your hot water tank the next.😉
Good idea. Washing too much removes all the natural goodness anyway 👍. Not sure I could pile the washing up for a couple of days though😉
@@EVPuzzle It was only slightly tongue in cheek but modern lifestyle just encourages waste and we do not even think about it. If you ever had to carry the water you and your family use every day - that makes you thankful you have piped water (yes I have done it) and realise how much we truly waste. In other words we slap ourselves on the back if we improve ‘efficiency’ by 10% but it is for nought if we waste the more efficient production.
I agree . It's a habit...waste. Stuff is too easy
I'm not grid connected, but I built an energy diverter to heat water off excess energy at power point that is not needed to charge batteries etc. It is quite amazing how much energy off grid people waste. 100% of my hot water needs are provided from a system I did not have to enlarge. I even have a dishwasher with heated dry. That heating element is also from raw panel power. It does have to be operated mid day to insure there is excess power available. Energy management is in its infancy and needs a lot of education. Solar is the only thing I know where people don't care how poorly it works as long as it works at all.
Wondering if you ever did any research on the Mixergy Tanks, I've only just come across them, what do you think ? Thanks
I really like them. If I keep a tank I think I'll go for one
Great stuff, I also installed such a device but very basic ~£100. Fit and forget. Reason, I wanted payback before it was out of warranty as water heating costs are minimal. Main reason was to minimise ASHP useage/wear during spring, summer, autumn. Also have an EV but use free charge points :)
Which one is that ?
Hells that drilling noise 3:17
Have you considered a 'Solaramp' heat battery for your heating system?
Not yet mostly because I'm short of solar power when I need the heat
Good morning , a bit off topic . Do you know if the new bluelink app for the ioniq can be used on the existing Kona EV. If you don't know , do you have any contacts at Hyundai you could ask as my local dealership isn't that well up on EV'S
It appears that the new Ioniq comes with 5 years smart connectivity free of charge
Many thanks
Alan
New 2020 Kona will have Bluelink... apparently
It would be awesome if you were able to do a re-review of your Myenergie products after the few years of ownership you've had. Any good or bad things that have come to light?
I might just do that. Thanks
I tend to update as I go so those following the journey and my monthly energy updates get to hear about any and all issues along the way.
Generally they've been excellent. App has been annoying at times but has settled down now
@@EVPuzzle awesome. I've been following your channel for a while and remember the original videos of the MyEnergie sweet or products you had installed. I was kinda thinking there would be a new Zappi version or new Harvey/Eddie which had better reliability or new features or just a smaller/better design but they seem to have stagnated. Could be either a good or bad thing. I believe support from MyEnergie was really good initially with regular software updates, wondering if this has now changed or if it's still good. A lot of good companies are quietly bought out by other companies and while they may have been good to start with, they are soon run into the ground. No idea about MyEnergie but would be good to know more as I am thinking about these products for mysefl now.
Hi, I installed a solar iboost to heat the water tank however I still export a lot of energy back into the grid. I've a 6.71kW solar system times solar producing 4.5kW and more, my immersion heater uses 2.99kW rest going in the grid. How can I stop the rest of the energy? is there anything else which I can use and stop wasting in the grid?
Only you know what other things you use energy fur I'm affraid .
The usual is hot water, heating , batteries and EV.
I often run out of things to power you can only do so much washing and cooking
@Nigel, Did you experience the Harvi reporting 0.2kw export when there was none, Myenergi said there is a software bug that they are urgently trying to fix. anoying as it equates to nearly 5 kw a day that fiction
No but maybe because I don't use a Harvi
Is it worth me sticking with my gas combi boiler or should I get a modern immersion heater and use my excess solar. We have a 4 bedroom 2 bathroom large semi detached house. We will be installing 4kWh of solar soon with battery storage. We also have a pod point 7kw charger in the house for our 2 cars.
Gas in dull winter immersion March- October
I thought you must’ve bought it, as the box was on your windowsill with the Zappi box in your vlog about why you had cancelled your MG ZS EV order ☺️
Yes , it's good to give some hints as to what going on like what was the drilling all about..?
The EV Puzzle Hmmm, extra solar panels 🤔😁
I am looking at getting one of these but I can’t see how they can lead to any savings? My off-peak go tariff is 7.5p kWh. My gas is 7p kWh. So if I was to heat my hot water cylinder up at 00:30-04:30 it would cost me extra to do so. Likewise, if I divert my excess solar to an Eddi, I will save 7p kWh gas but as I am on the a SEG tariff I will not be getting the 4p kWh for exporting the excess solar. So I am really only saving 3p kWh. At £500 supplied and fitted that is a lot of 3p’s to see a return. It might have worked great with FIT payments but not now, Or am I missing something?
You don't get 1kwh heat from 1kwh gas plus it's gas which we need to stop using. It's literally funding a war and increasing prices
Thank you for your response. I fully understand the environmental benefits of the Eddi. I just don’t understand how they can lead to savings (unless you are using oil boilers like yourself), which is what they are also marketed at doing. You say ‘You don't get 1kwh heat from 1kwh gas’ could you elaborate please?
@@jameslarwood5276 James with electric elements all the energy goes into the element in the water.
With gas there's pipes, the burning of the gas, the emmissions , the pump etc. It all leads to energy loss .
Solar heating makes sense as it's free energy , it's also practical as it's heated continuously whereas gas tends to be on a timer.
I tested gas Vs cheap rate Electric years ago and found electric much cheaper. If in doubt try it. December use only the immersion overnight. January use gas and compare the difference.
Do you still leave the oil boiler running as usual? If so is it not switching on because the water has already reached it’s temperature via the Eddi?
No I don't have the boiler on at all , been off mostly for about 2 yrs now
And I take it your heating is kept going by simply using the circulating pump only, as the water in the tank is already up to temperature? Thanks for your quick response
No there's no pump on that I'm aware of , only heating side of the boiler has a pump.
Eddi heats hot water in the cylinder for taks and showers , not radiators
I see, slightly different setup to me. My boiler purely heats the water, my circulating pump is in the airing cupboard. I’m hoping that by heating the water via the Eddi, I would be able to heat the radiators using the circulating pump .
I understand. I could Do the same if I wired Immersions into the radiators so the Eddi heats the hot water in the radiators
Can you avail of cheaper night time electricity and if so did you consider that vs an Eddi. How can you keep the water hot enough for late evening and next morning use. Also the daytime is peak PV generation to charge the car, so how much can you divert to the hot water. Why the Eddi and are there any differences between them
Can I ask how your saving money on oil. Does your oil not still heat the radiators. Or are you saying now the oil only has one job and that is just heat the radiators as the eddi is heating the water in your tank.
Literally got 4Kwh array in today with eddi and I know I save money on hot water, but I didn't know I could save on oil.
Exactly yes, Eddi does hot water unless we need a boost due to lack of solar. We then have the choice to boost using the oil boiler or boost on the Eddi using electricity.
Without the Eddi we'd be using oil from our oil boiler to heat hot water
Fantastic, glad I got it then, thanks. How do you find the Kona electric?, considering that to be my next purchase.
I've swapped to a mini now. Kona was awesome. Its one if the EV range, battery Regen etc. 12v battery is a bit weak though so need battery booster as contingency
Hi all,
I've got 1000 watt panels set. I am looking to get one of those kit to heat my hot water. But I will have only about 200-500 Watts excess energy. Would the water be really warm with that surplus?
Let me know with your experience to see if it's worth buying.
I'm looking to buy Solic 200 as it says 0 export threshold
It's keep your water at temp but you'll need 3 to 6kwh to top up a small tank of water to it'll take all day
@@EVPuzzle thank you for your reply.
I've got 180L Range Tribune 10 years old 3kWh tank. So you're saying it won't be 60C with 6 hours of 300 Watts surplus roughly.
Currently I'm having to use my System boiler on for 40 mins in the morning and 30 mins in the afternoon.
What's your suggestion ?
Is it worth buying?
6 X 0.3 is 1.8kwh
Using your surplus is always better than wasting it off course
Hi there
I have been quote fro an install of 9 x Qcells 335 Wp Modules .Solaredge 3 k Inverter , with Myeddi Smart water heater,
it is to replace a 15 year old solar thermal system
i am being quoted just under 5k for this which includes removal of old system.
There is a parts only warranty on equipment
Do you think this a is a good spec? our roof will only accommodate 3 kw
what general warranty should i expect?
is it good value for money?
many thanks
My guess is
£1450 pv
£400 Eddi
£900 Inverter
£350 scaffolding
£3,100 parts
That's quite an expensive day's labour for two blokes but par for the course with some installers.
Theres some odds and sods to add in too of course including disposal of your old stuff.
Your roof could be awkward of course or maybe these are recessed panels.
Personally, 3k of solar and Eddi should be under £4k these days
@@EVPuzzle thts very much for you advice, in terms of perforamce would it be adequate for 3 person semi D?
Adequate... Anything is better than nothing but if you've left some space on the roof you should fill it, you'll want as much power as you can get. 3kw makes a big difference but 5kw obviously gives you more. More flexibility, more fully solar powered etc.
I started with 3.6kw and loved it
@@EVPuzzle Thanks, you mentioned in your July update about their not being much difference between Solar edge and Solis, these are the two inverters i have been quoted for, one also has optimiser, the price difference is 600, no shade on the roof, due south, what do
you think
No shade, no solaredge if it was me
why Eddi over iboost is at 8m40!
Data, control, integration with Zappi, relays, schedules, Api, CT inputs.... + Myenergi
What size and type hot water cylinder do you have?
180 ltr 10 yr old traditional style tank . Nothing special but modern insulation
What is a CT???
Basically a magnet and a wire that clips around a power cable and can determine the flow of electricity from the magnetic field around it. When connected to an intelligent device it can make decisions based on how much you're exporting, how much solar you're generating etc.
Current Transformer.
The price of oil is about to shoot up.
Will they fit amy solar system Nigel very informative video again cheers
Yes it's independent of your solar array so any panels, any inverter
waffle get to the point of how you install the dam thing