Solar power for shed

[Stormtrooper]

Hi everyone,

I live in the UK and keep aquariums in my shed.

It’s quite a small shed, about 2.5m wide, 2m deep. I’ve insulated it myself.

With the current energy prices it’s getting quite expensive to run so looking for cheaper options.

I was wondering what solar set up I’d need to run the following

6-8 28w led lights (these are on roughly 8 hours a day.

35w air pump (runs 24/7)

Heating is the biggest expense in the winter. I currently hear all tanks separately but looking into getting an infrared heater and heat the room rather than tanks separately. (I know infrared heat objects rather than the air).

Would need to research what model I’d get but these vary from 350w - 700w. They have thermostats so switch off at the disused temperature but I imagine would be running quite a lot of hours during the winter.

Looking forward to your comments and advice.

Thanks

 

[Geoff1946]

I would consider oil filled radiators for their effectiveness, reliability and safety. They are available with built in timer and thermostat. Alternatively tubular heaters could be positioned below your tanks to give best transfer of heat to the tanks.

 

[Stormtrooper]

Thanks for your reply. I do occasionally use an oil filled radiator but was under the impression they are fairly expensive to run.

I was considering the tubular heaters but I’m unsure on their efficiency and what temp they can get to, I’ll do some research.

Do you not think it’s worth a small solar set up?

Cheers

 

[Richard-the-Ninth]

To decide is a "solar set up" worth it for you, you need to answer several questions.

What will your consumption be
Which way does your roof face
How big is the roof
What is your budget

If it helps, I considered something similar, and the above questions were where I started.

Your consumption is the total amount of watts required to operate everything you have/will have

The roof should ideally be south facing and 35 degrees tilt.

The roof must be big enough to afix the solar panels to, without overhang, to prevent wind from lifting them up.

It really does depend on your consumption, to save (me) time of searching for individual components, I looked up a "kit" Click here (It's only a starting point) Also bear in mind you will probably need more batteries, and more panels (Not a lot of sunshine in winter)
For my "project" it would have been very interesting to do, but way too expensive, if I win the lottery (jackpot) I will go ahead just for the fun of it.

 

[Stormtrooper]

To decide is a "solar set up" worth it for you, you need to answer several questions.

What will your consumption be
Which way does your roof face
How big is the roof
What is your budget

If it helps, I considered something similar, and the above questions were where I started.

Your consumption is the total amount of watts required to operate everything you have/will have

The roof should ideally be south facing and 35 degrees tilt.

The roof must be big enough to afix the solar panels to, without overhang, to prevent wind from lifting them up.

It really does depend on your consumption, to save (me) time of searching for individual components, I looked up a "kit" Click here (It's only a starting point) Also bear in mind you will probably need more batteries, and more panels (Not a lot of sunshine in winter)
For my "project" it would have been very interesting to do, but way too expensive, if I win the lottery (jackpot) I will go ahead just for the fun of it.

Thanks for your reply.

The consumption would be relatively low

following

6-8 28w led lights (these are on roughly 8 hours a day.

35w air pump (runs 24/7)

Infrared heater 350w - 700w depending what model.

The roof is big enough to fit some solar panels I’ve seen.

One side of the shed roof faces south east and slopes.

 

[Badger]

We have a solar panel system east west facing and this is what a general day is for us generation wise just for info for you to see data

 

[Badger]

 

[Stormtrooper]

Thanks badger,

I’m trying to work out what everything means

Looking at the kits Richard put a link too I think the 1kw per day kit should be enough to run a few led lights, air pump and heater (either infrared or oil radiator)….or am I well off?

 

[Badger]

Is your shed connected to your house on the same supply through the metering or is it a separate supply that isn't anything to do with your house if your all on the same supply. Shed and house together then any excess generated not used in the shed would be used by your home before going back to the grid and a 1 kW system won't always generate 1 kW it'll actually generate less depending on how cloudy it is and also any tree shading you have across those panels also is it a single inverter on a string system or is it a enphase micro inverter

 

[Stormtrooper]

Same supply I believe.

There’s no trees blocking it but as with anywhere here it’s often cloudy. I’m in the south east which generally is the best weather in the country.

I’ve actually found some solar lights I think will be powerful enough, so I just need to run the air pump and heater separately. Air pump doesn’t use a lot or power, the main thing is the heating.

 

[Murdoch]

OP you need to bear in mind that the PV production in the winter will be minimal

 

[Badger]

It would possibly be wise to look into battery storage was decent weather will export any to battery instead of wasting to grid

 

[Stormtrooper]

Yeah I was thinking of going the battery route

 

[johnb2713]

The consumption would be relatively low

following

6-8 28w led lights (these are on roughly 8 hours a day.

The LED lights would be 1.8kWh per day

35w air pump (runs 24/7)

The air pump 900w per day

You dont mention tank heating or the number of them?

Infrared heater 350w - 700w depending what model.

Infra red heats the people not the air, it depends on what youre trying to achieve, comfortable temperature for you in there or keep the tanks warm. You really need to calculate heat loss etc in order to work out the heating energy requirements for both the shed area and the water in the tanks.

The roof is big enough to fit some solar panels I’ve seen.

Are you wanting to go completely solar or just use some solar to reduce the energy consumption?

One side of the shed roof faces south east and slopes.

Remember the spec of panels is when the panels are in perfect conditions, right angles etc, conditions which you never see in the real world. Heating is the main consumer of energy in your shed, you should carefully consider what you wish to achieve and then work backwards to the size of solar PV system needed to achieve that.
You go a different route, one that may be a better solution for you. Install a 10 kWh battery and inverter, go onto an off peak tariff such as Octopus GO, charge the batteries during off peak time and then supply your shed and house from that. Octopus GO has off peak at 9.5p and peak I think is 29.2p

 

[Stormtrooper]

Thanks for the reply John.

I’ve found solar powered lights so will just use them.

I just use 1 air pump, it runs multiple tanks, I think there’s around 10 at the moment.

In regards to the heating, in the winter I heat the room rather than the tanks individually. I’ve done this with one oil filled radiator but have seen people online using infrared heaters and they have got the water up to temp.

Heat loss is minimal, they have insulation around the back, bottom and sides and lids on the top. The shed’s insulated as well as I could have.

Ideally I’d like to go completely off grid with it, stop the mrs moaning at me when the electric bills come in.

Cheers

 

[binky]

Ideally I’d like to go completely off grid with it, stop the mrs moaning at me when the electric bills come in.

Why not put a full size solar system on the house and reduce all your leccy bill? Focussing just on the shed is limiting the total benefits you could achieve, albeit a small system on the shed is far more DiYable. I would not want to be fully reliant on a small system to keep your fish alive mid winter, so that points towards a grid tied system, so go whole-hog and get a system on the house

You could also consider battery only, have a read of the battery posts on here about the benefits of batteries and off peak charging

 

[johnb2713]

Thanks for the reply John.

I’ve found solar powered lights so will just use them.

I just use 1 air pump, it runs multiple tanks, I think there’s around 10 at the moment.

In regards to the heating, in the winter I heat the room rather than the tanks individually. I’ve done this with one oil filled radiator but have seen people online using infrared heaters and they have got the water up to temp.

Heat loss is minimal, they have insulation around the back, bottom and sides and lids on the top. The shed’s insulated as well as I could have.

Ideally I’d like to go completely off grid with it, stop the mrs moaning at me when the electric bills come in.

Cheers

All understood, use an air conditioning unit for electric heating, a cop of 3.5 (1 kw of electrical energy = 3.5 kW of heat plus it can cool on the hot days. Cost circa £500 ish and would be ideal in your situation i.e. it would circulate air, be electrically very efficient and save a fortune over time.

 

[Stormtrooper]

Why not put a full size solar system on the house and reduce all your leccy bill? Focussing just on the shed is limiting the total benefits you could achieve, albeit a small system on the shed is far more DiYable. I would not want to be fully reliant on a small system to keep your fish alive mid winter, so that points towards a grid tied system, so go whole-hog and get a system on the house

You could also consider battery only, have a read of the battery posts on here about the benefits of batteries and off peak charging

Would love a full solar system for the house, just whether or not I can find £10k.

Will look into battery only…do you have a link to some info?

Cheers

 

[Stormtrooper]

All understood, use an air conditioning unit for electric heating, a cop of 3.5 (1 kw of electrical energy = 3.5 kW of heat plus it can cool on the hot days. Cost circa £500 ish and would be ideal in your situation i.e. it would circulate air, be electrically very efficient and save a fortune over time.

Thanks do you have a link for an example?

 

[BorisJ]

Heating the whole shed will cost more than heating tanks individually. More losses equals more cost.

Thanks for your reply. I do occasionally use an oil filled radiator but was under the impression they are fairly expensive to run.

I was considering the tubular heaters but I’m unsure on their efficiency and what temp they can get to, I’ll do some research.

Do you not think it’s worth a small solar set up?

Cheers

All electrical resistive heaters are 100% efficient whether tubular, oil filled, or fan type.