"Andy" wrote in message
...

"Nigel" wrote in message ...
Hi,

Does any one know of a site where you can roughly work out how mush money
you will save with solar panels. We are thinking of getting them put we
need to work how much we will save and how many years it would take to
get the money back.

Thanks

Nigel

The consensus seems to be ( dons tin helmet ) that these things will never
pay for themselves if installed professionally.

The question isn't specific about what is meant by 'solar panels'. It could
mean pv, which isn't economical in Britain, if solar water heating panels is
meant it IS economical.

Solar water heating panels wouldn't pay on your figures but they don't have
to cost anything like that - ours didn't.

One might as well take the umpteen thousand and put it in the bank at 5%.
I've seen costs of £13,000 mentioned!

That's ridiculous.

That'd return
£650/year at 5% not including the effects of compounding. Try and squeeze
£650/year out of a solar panel(s), and you lose your capital as well.

Even installation costs of half that could still not recoup the outlay.

Ours was a sixth of that price. I think you've been watching television :-)

....

I would say the only way to get a decent return is if you DIY the lot,
with a good situation i.e. a south facing roof.

a) this IS a DIY group, installation isn't difficult.

b) of course a south facing aspect with no shading is the best, it wouldn't
be suitable to use any other site.

I'm VERY enthusiastic about our system, it's been working since January and
we've hardly used the boiler at all in that time. The meter reading was
queried because it was so low. Today isn't warm and it's been raining but we
have a large cylinder full of water at 40.7 C - a very useful temperature.
Even when the sun doesn't shine there's a noticeable heat gain. When the sun
shines even though the air temperature is low the water is heated.

It's sensible to organise water use to take advantage of the heating, for
instance by washing clothes at night rather than in the morning, when there
will have been a small drop in temperature.

Mary