1 hour ago, Muttley said:

2 more batteries added to the mix:

(Thanks to @Steve87)

Next job is a heat pump for 2 of our geysers - the poor 8kW Sunsynk is not handling the daily load.

This plus the lower PV generation during winter means that with the 2 x extra batteries and producing +- 40-45kWh per day, we're way short!

 

Just find out which heat pumps have a inverter start motor. I run my 4.7kW ITS from a small 2.4kW Axpert if I have to. 

3 minutes ago, Scorp007 said:

Just find out which heat pumps have a inverter start motor. I run my 4.7kW ITS from a small 2.4kW Axpert if I have to. 

Thanks for this info, really appreciate it!

Currently looking at the 6.3 Super from ITS...

Edited July 9, 20242 yr by Muttley
typo

1 hour ago, Muttley said:

Thanks for this info, really appreciate it!

Currently looking at the 6.3 Super from ITS...

Not sure about a large units but normally one would have the geysers within 4m from the pump. 

Bit of an update on our system... Almost went the route of getting a heat pump (+- 40K) to help reduce the morning geyser load but then I got a brainwave 🤓

Decided to try do a bit of energy blending in the morning to reduce the grid usage for the 1 Geyser which runs from 08:00.

With the help of Claude.ai, I managed to implement a *free* and fairly simple Home Assistant automation to achieve this. I'm currently using about 1kW from Eksdom during the day in total (we drink lots of coffee here in the AM) but could probably reduce this if I increased the battery discharge rate in the automation...

• Automation runs from 05:00 to 10:00 (this can be changed if need be)
• Sets the battery SOC rate to 60%
• Adjusts the battery discharge rate to 50A
• After the automation runs, it sets back our current system profile (scene) to the current winter profile so charging etc can happen as per normal.

Anyway, here's the automation if anyone is interested in trying something similar:

alias: Morning Load Supplementation for Winter
description: >-
  Manages battery settings from 05:00 to 10:00 and enables winter profile at
  10:00
trigger:
  - platform: time
    at: "05:00:00"
  - platform: time
    at: "10:00:00"
action:
  - choose:
      - conditions:
          - condition: time
            after: "05:00:00"
            before: "10:00:00"
        sequence:
          - service: number.set_value
            target:
              entity_id: number.set_soc_timezone1
            data:
              value: 60
          - service: number.set_value
            target:
              entity_id: number.battery_max_discharge_current
            data:
              value: 50
      - conditions:
          - condition: time
            after: "09:59:59"
            before: "10:00:01"
        sequence:
          - service: scene.turn_on
            target:
              entity_id: scene.winter_default_power_profile
            data: {}
mode: single

 

I'm no expert but happy to elaborate if I can...

 

Edited August 16, 20241 yr by Muttley
Added image

If you can get a second geyser and put it in series with the morning used one.  Then you only heat that geyser with solar power on a timer or home assistant. Your main geyser gets supplied with hot water from the second geyser.

A second geyser is a lot cheaper than a heat pump.

Is it really necessary to bath? A shower uses a lot less water and elec, especially if you use a low flow shower rose. My next house will not have a bath in.

Personally I feel that a shower cleans me better than a bath, because my dirty water is running down the drain and I'm not laying in it. And I don't have to clean the bath after use. LoL

To reduce your water pump running time, after hrs, on your toilet system. What about this system I'm using: 

 

Edited September 21, 20241 yr by Vaal

2 hours ago, Vaal said:

If you can get a second geyser and put it in series with the morning used one.  Then you only heat that geyser with solar power on a timer or home assistant. Your main geyser gets supplied with hot water from the second geyser.

A second geyser is a lot cheaper than a heat pump.

Is it really necessary to bath? A shower uses a lot less water and elec, especially if you use a low flow shower rose. My next house will not have a bath in.

Personally I feel that a shower cleans me better than a bath, because my dirty water is running down the drain and I'm not laying in it. And I don't have to clean the bath after use. LoL

The 2nd geyser is series is what I implemented in my house, still gives enough warmish water for morning showers, providing family of 4 takes "normal" night time showers! 7.2kW HP heats them both up daily 11 - 2. 

Edited September 21, 20241 yr by Sidewinder