Are you part of an OVO Smart Home trial? Request to join our private trialist group!

I am already on the V2G trial and signed up and at survey stage for the zero carbon heating trial.

Best of luck for that zero carbon heating trial, @ArundaleP  Let’s chat about it today in our call! 

Keep me updated and once you have your installation day and the kit fitted (don’t forget to take photos on the day), you’ll get access to our Smart Home Trial area, here. 

V2G trialists won’t be included into this area. They had their own private area back when their trial launched, which we combined with our public EV section, here. 

@Tim_OVO wrote:

Keep me updated and once you have your installation day and the kit fitted (don’t forget to take photos on the day), you’ll get access to our Smart Home Trial area

Sorry, I’m unsure what you intend...

Are you suggesting that @ArundaleP will only get access to the Treehouse once he has the kit installed?

Of all the Trials, it is the Home Heat one which needs customers invited to the Treehouse at the earliest possible moment. There are so many possibilities to discuss about which technologies will sit alongside the [color=#f07861]Heat pump[/color] and what building modifications are best.

I’m with you there @Transparent. There are so many possibilities and it would be great to get other members feedback and discuss proposed installation before it actually gets installed.

So @Tim_OVO please clarify this.

As a self-builder I have been installing these sorts of technologies in my house for 15+ years. I know what works… and, more importantly, what doesn’t!

There are obviously certain items which must be installed professionally at the same time as the Heat pump, but there are related devices which can be added by the home-owner at a later date provided those possibilities are left open.

@Jequinlan and I have already discussed the number of heat-inputs which could be allowed for with the choice of thermal store. Eg if there’s a spare coil, then this could later be used for inputs from a wood-chip burner or solar-heating panel. But customers may not consider the reasons for having an extra coil (or two immersion-heater ports) unless we mull over the possibilities now.

It even affects Building Regs. Did you know that a thermal store fitted to mainly provide heat for rooms is exempt from the clauses in Approved Document L1a? But if it’s installed mainly to provide hot water used for washing, then it needs a certificated installer and a Building Regs application.  That can prove expensive and cause delays.

@Transparent it is with great regret i need to announce i am no longer on heating trial! 

Apparently my standard build, 3 bedroom semi council built 1970s house is too expensive to retrofit with what is needed and exceeds trial costs. An interesting lesson for the trial itself! 

I am gutted, but super keen lessons are learned on how to remove gas given this is a typical house!

We need to discuss this situation with @Tim_OVO. There will be some people who are invited into the Smart Home Treehouse who are not themselves trialing the products. Instead they wish to contribute to the discussions and be involved in solving problems which arise.

If you want to implement these technologies @Jequinlan, but to do so yourself (as I have) then the Treehouse group could still benefit from you being present. It obviously depends on whether you wish to get stuck in to the issues, and only you know that.

I have colleagues in Devon who have been taking part in Trials to retro-fit 1970’s “council houses” to extremely high energy efficiency levels. So I’m well aware of what is theoretically possible. You can have a look at this refurbishment program on these pages of Devon County Council.

Personally, I wouldn’t approach the problem in the way that they have. The Zebcat process is really aimed at Housing Associations who have to address energy efficiency in hundreds of houses with similar design. But we can still learn from what they have found to be effective, and adapt that to our own homes on a DIY basis.

Yes, I am, interested still!

Hi all, and a happy Monday morning to everyone out there,

It’s such a shame to hear that you’re not able to progress to the installation phase, @Jequinlan - we were counting on you as a community insider on the trial. We’ll need to assume the reasoning by Retrofit was sound.

Trialist and non trialist access to our ‘Smart Home Trials’ treehouse area needs to be managed carefully. Only members that have had their installation will count as active trialists. As we can see, that’s the best way of knowing eligibility. 

We will also admit community members who own the ‘Top Volunteer’ badge to this area, as these members perform key roles for all community content. If you’re not an owner of the ‘Top Volunteer’ badge, and you're not part of one of the trials running in 2021, you will need to contact me directly in order to be considered for access. Sorry folks, that’s the nature of private areas. Sometimes some people aren’t allowed in….

@Tim_OVOwrote:

We will also admit community members who own the ‘Top Volunteer’ badge to this area

That means you have to dress as a Plan Zero Warrior and wear OVO-regulation green underpants on the outside of your leggings.

Or, on a more serious note, @Jequinlan - does your software knowledge provide a useful skill-set which would help in analysing how effective are these Home-heat and Battery-storage trials?

With Heat pumps in particular, the energy-in v. heat-out is a critical figure. This is quoted as a coefficient of performance (COP), and would normally be around 3 or 4. So for every 1kWh of electricity input, 3kWh or 4kWh of heat is imported to the house.

Some customers on the Trial will have no understanding of this at all at the outset. So they will be needing help to analyse what’s happening and then advice on how to get the COP higher.