Sunderland terraced house
Products used
- Greenstar system boiler
- Greenskies solar panels
Lifestyle
The T family live in a terraced house, built in 1900, with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms in Sunderland. The family are conscientious and keen to do their bit to help the environment which lead them to look at ways to reduce their reliance on non-renewable energy sources.
Energy usage
The majority of the home's hot water is now supplied by the Greenskies solar water heating system and, during winter months, when there are less daylight hours, the boiler kicks in to ensure a steady supply of hot water.
Mrs T said: "We are really delighted with the results - when the system was first installed, we had a full tank of hot water instantly. There is a really handy panel which tells us what the temperature of the water in the tank is - we now know that if it's 43 degrees or more, we have enough for a hot bath as well as the washing up etc.
"In the winter months, we are finding that the solar panels are heating the tank to between 20 and 30 degrees so we turn the boiler on for 30 minutes to an hour each day to top that up and ensure that we have a continuous supply of hot water."
** a free shower equates to: A standard 5 minute shower at 6 litres per minute at 40°C. So with the 10°C incoming water raised to 40°C.
*** a free bath equates to: 90 litres of water heated from 10°C coming into the house up to 43°C.