"Considering a turbine" sounds a good topic title.
Feel free to create it!

If you have access to a small amount of running water, you can generate a surprising amount of electricity from it.

You do not need to create a dam or weir for the size of turbine you're likely to require.
That means the wildlife isn't disturbed too much, and you're better able to apply for an extraction licence.

Unlike a wind-turbine, a hydro source benefits from a steady flow.
Water also has far greater mass than air.
Put those two points together, and you'll realise that the same size PMG (Permanent Magnet Generator) will produce substantially more in a water-course than on top of a tower.

A 1kW PMG as a wind turbine might give you an average 150w (3.6kWh) per day over the year.
A 1kW PMG in water can yield 24kWh each day whilst water flows.

That's more than you're likely to require for the house including the GSHP (provided it's been commissioned to run continuously, and not start/stop).

Consider using a turbulent-vortex style. And visit Vortex Hydro if you want to see the latest innovative approach for a ready-built unit.

Personally, if I was in your location, I'd do a DIY-build.

Start with a visit to the local pub.
You're looking for enthusiastic amateur engineers who are probably into model railways.
Someone who has a pillar-drill and small lathe in the garage will do.

This Forum will allow you to skip over a lot of the early research.
There are several (semi-retired) engineers here who will quickly advise on what approach is most likely to succeed.

Hello everyone. I've recently found this forum and thought I would detail my setup as I've spent a lot of time on it over the years.

My house was new build in 2013, with mainly underfloor heating, and radiators on the top floor. It came with a Viessmann ASHP and a Viessmann gas boiler. The ASHP supplies the UFH and radiators via a buffer cylinder. The gas boiler supplies the hot water and the towel rails and can also provide additional heating for the UFH and radiators at times of high demand, via a low loss header. The system is weather compensated and the ASHP can also be run in reverse to provide cooling in conjunction with two Systemair Villavent MVHR units (which also do heat recovery in the winter of course).

Since moving in in 2014, I had trouble with the ASHP as although the unit seemed to be working correctly, no heat was getting to the UFH or radiators. I therefore kept it switched off and was running the heating entirely from the gas boiler. Multiple visits from plumbers and Viessmann failed to identify the problem.

I finally managed to fix the problem at the beginning of 2021: the valve that switched between the ASHP and the boiler for the heating had been wired incorrectly. I also changed the system setup based on the recommendations in the Viessmann manuals. The result has been that my electricity usage in the winter has almost doubled and gas usage is a third of what it was. The house is warmer and more consistently heated as a result.

I have also figured out how to interface the heat pump and boiler with my home automation system and am able to monitor the many sensor values, change parameters and control the system remotely now.

I suppose my takeaway from all this is that the Viessmann system is very complicated and takes a lot of time to understand exactly how it works and how the different components work together, but once it has been set up correctly, it works well and seems to be pretty reliable.

hi all, i have been using pylontech and victron inverter / mppt etc for about  2and a half years and have just received my seplos mason 280 kit

the inverter is a multiplus 48/5000 ( started off with a pheonix 24/3000) , only been on the  journey with batteries and solar for about 2 and a half years, started off with a 24volt setup with lifep04 batteries in 2s2p powering my home office and the all important kettle, then moved to 3 * pylontech us3000c, now starting the build on the mason kit. Not looking to power the whole house, but the kitchen and home office is a start

Welcome @jeepster

So you seem to have started out at the Rolls Royce end of the market with Victron kit,
to which you then add the tried & trusted Ford Escort system of Pylontech batteries.

Having experienced the expensive approach, you're now more convinced that the initial dabble with 2s2p LiFePO4 (4 x 12v) batteries was the better route forward,
which has led you to buy a Seplos kit-car 😎 

I'll give it less than 12-months before you have a further re-think.
As you increasingly engage with others on this Forum, you'll most likely

• change or add to the Victron equipment by installing a hybrid off-grid inverter
• add a further Seplos Mason box, or possibly even ignore the enclosure and put raw LiFePO4 cells on a shelf with a BMS unit
• choose a Time-of-Use tariff from Octopus
• re-consider your self-imposed limits on powering just the kitchen & study
• become the neighbourhood 'expert' on how to shield your home from volatile energy prices

Let's have a go at helping you along that path, shall we?! 🙂 

Have a look at the topics which already exist in the Energy Storage section of this site.
You can either join in with any of those, or simply start your own topic if that better fits with what you'd like to achieve.

Four things I'd like to request, if I may:

1. give us enough background info to keep us focused on the advice we offer, such as telling us how much solar PV you have and who is your electricity Distribution Network Operator (DNO)
2. include photos and diagrams (hand-drawn and photographed with a Smartphone is adequate!)
3. keep explanations simple (free of technical jargon) because others are then better able to follow in your footsteps over the coming months.
4. tell as many friends, family, work-colleagues and neighbours as you can. There is a growing demand from the wider population to learn more of the strategy you're embarking on. We need to carry along as many of those as possible, even if they never actually post anything here.

I will chip-in whenever there's a need to mention Regulations/Licences or Safety-Matters.

@transparent You say “

• become the neighbourhood 'expert' on how to shield your home from volatile energy prices

Well, along these lines I have just written a short article for our local residents’ newsletter and a 3,500 word expanded version for their website on my green journey over the last 2 years. I’ve offered to show and tell anyone who is interested in insulating their home, fitting solar / battery and heat pump plus DHW system. I’m no expert but hope my enthusiasm may rub off on some people! ;-))) Regards, Toodles.

Posted by: @toodles

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@transparent You say “

• become the neighbourhood 'expert' on how to shield your home from volatile energy prices

Well, along these lines I have just written a short article for our local residents’ newsletter and a 3,500 word expanded version for their website on my green journey over the last 2 years. I’ve offered to show and tell anyone who is interested in insulating their home, fitting solar / battery and heat pump plus DHW system. I’m no expert but hope my enthusiasm may rub off on some people! ;-))) Regards, Toodles.

I think this is a good way to do our bit for the planet, everyone we persuade is another convert. I was planning to reach out on social media to anyone local who wants to know a bit more 🙂

On the topic of spreading the news, we're about to have an ASHP installed but I've never seen or touched one and thought I'd try my luck here in case there's someone near me in East Dulwich, London who might be willing to let me have a peek at one in operation (fingers tightly crossed)....

Hi,  I live in North East England and have had my Daikin ASHP for 3 years now. In that three years I've trawled the net for information/advice etc. What I've found is a lot of NO information and a lot more of misinformation. 

The installation guys, although good pipe fitters, were pretty much clueless. The energy company, E-On, try their very best to be helpful,  but again, clueless,  but in a corporate happy smiley way. I find it frustrating. 

I'm 60 years old so solar panels are a bit of a sore subject for me. I had a quote for £9k for panels, batteries and installation, but payback would take me well in my 70's. Had I been mid 30's, 40's, it would be a no brainer!

I've scrolled through a lot of threads on this site, although interesting,  a lot of them are just way too technically and mathematically involved for my little brain. I just want to heat my home as economically as possible, but is proving to be quite impossible. It doesn't help that electricity prices have skyrocketed since the installation. 

In a nutshell, I totally regret my decision for the ASHP, but I'm making the best at what I've got. It is what it is.

Posted by: @chillybot

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Hi,  I live in North East England and have had my Daikin ASHP for 3 years now. In that three years I've trawled the net for information/advice etc. What I've found is a lot of NO information and a lot more of misinformation. 

The installation guys, although good pipe fitters, were pretty much clueless. The energy company, E-On, try their very best to be helpful,  but again, clueless,  but in a corporate happy smiley way. I find it frustrating. 

I'm 60 years old so solar panels are a bit of a sore subject for me. I had a quote for £9k for panels, batteries and installation, but payback would take me well in my 70's. Had I been mid 30's, 40's, it would be a no brainer!

I've scrolled through a lot of threads on this site, although interesting,  a lot of them are just way too technically and mathematically involved for my little brain. I just want to heat my home as economically as possible, but is proving to be quite impossible. It doesn't help that electricity prices have skyrocketed since the installation. 

In a nutshell, I totally regret my decision for the ASHP, but I'm making the best at what I've got. It is what it is.

Hi Chillybot, welcome to the forum.

Don't despair, there are quite a number of very helpful people on the forum, who will hopefully guide you through what may be possible to improve your system.

So that the correct information can be provide, could you supply as much information about your heat pump and home as possible. Things like the size and type of home, heat loss calculations, whether you have radiators, Under Floor Heating (UFH) or a mixture of both. The level of insulation etc.

@chillybot - glad to see you here! 🙂 

There are likely to be a number of different strategies which could ease the energy costs you are facing.
When replying in this forum, we try to keep within the technical-range displayed in the questions raised.
So if you stick to non-technical explanations, then we're also likely to do so.

There are two main reasons why heat-pumps under-perform and thus consume large quantities of electricity

• the pipe insulation is improperly fitted or of inadequate specification
• the installer hasn't commissioned the system to use as little energy as possible

Both of these are statutory requirements for Part-L of the Building Regulations.

It's often easier to re-do the pipe insulation yourself, rather than attempt a complaint against the installer.
However, Building Regs approvals get issued by your Local Planning Authority (LPA), and such matters should be brought to the attention of your local Councillor.
They will likely be unaware of the systemic problem until you raise it.

Even if your heat-pump is consuming more electricity than it should do, the costs can be alleviated by installing a Storage Battery.
You can then switch Supplier to Octopus and chose one of their Time-of-Use (ToU) tariffs.
That enables the battery to be recharged from the grid at times of the day when electricity is cheapest.

You don't need to have solar-panels in order to benefit from a storage battery.

Posted by: @derek-m

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could you supply as much information about your heat pump and home as possible. Things like the size and type of home, heat loss calculations, whether you have radiators, Under Floor Heating (UFH) or a mixture of both. The level of insulation etc.

I would hope that your heat pump commissioning pack would have much of this information, especially the design flow temperature (which is critical to ensuring efficient heat pump operation). Oh, definitely pictures of the system, new pipe runs, fittings like valves and filters etc will help us assess the quality of work.

Also if you have monitoring data that would be most helpful (electricity consumed, SCOP achieved, flow temperatures, flow rate). Do you have a heat meter too, and/or the more advanced monitoring pack (that attracted an additional RHI incentive)?

Posted by: @transparent

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You don't need to have solar-panels in order to benefit from a storage battery.

+1 ... a 3.6kW hybrid inverter and a modest battery will help you to use off-peak electricity, if you can find a sparky willing to fit the inverter then DIY building the battery is certainly within the realms of a hobbyist.

Posted by: @chillybot

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In a nutshell, I totally regret my decision for the ASHP, but I'm making the best at what I've got. It is what it is.

I'm sorry to hear that you feel that way. Hopefully we on the forum will be able to help by identifying efficiencies to be made (simple configuration changes, lower cost upgrades like radiators, electrical tariffs) in addition to suggesting investing further.

Thanks for the welcome and responses. It's probably best to start a thread with the details and concerns of my system when I get a bit of time. Cheers!