About £35. See redrok.com. Payback is quite practical with such a
tracker.

That's a good website. Although making it windproof would be fun.
Maybe a mylar lined parabolic mirror directing extra sun into the
house would be worthwhile. Directing extra light into the bathroom
which is on the north side of the hosue would be good.


There are a lot of different technologies, a lot of different designs
with each one, and a lot of differnet takes on them all. I definnitely
wouldn't assume active solar heat is no-go - tho most systems are.


Lets have a think. Oil heating costs about 1.4 pence / kwh.

If my 8sqm freestanding DIY collector cost me 200 quid, it would have
to produce a total of 14284 kw to pay me back. If it averages 1kw from
autumn through to spring, an average of 7 hours a day, call it 250
days... that's 1750 kwh a year. That's 8 years!! Oh well, I'd just
have to be thinking of the greenhouse gasses saved.

As an aside - remember my solar coil for the pool? I was forced to do
as you suggested and divide it into seperate circuits because the
bearings in my pump are starting to go, it sounds very noisy now. I
bought 6 T-pieces and made it into 4 seperate circuits and now the
water gushes out the other end instead of trickling. I shall replace
the pump with a less powerful one - a 1/4 horsepower one to save
leccy.

I've also bought some polythene, 36sqm for 15 quid, trouble is it's
not as clear as I hoped and I may not use it, hmmm.

Cheers

Nick