Excellent point. This is exactly what happened with our recent EPC. In fact, we were recommended to have solar water heating to improve it further...We have a solar diverter!!!
It is amazing and worrying how some professionals still have not caught up.
I was only ever asked about carbon footprints by one customer. It used to be on the quotes, not sure why I stopped putting those figures in, other than to perhaps save time doing quotes ( and nobody asked ).
As my install is DIY I bet they wouldn't allow me to gain anything from it. My smart meter shows when I'm exporting and presumably is able to tally it. Why can't I be paid despite not having had an MSC installation? It would increase the ROI and encourage others to do the same.
Because the MCS quango has made a nuisance for everyone to ' maintain standards '.
You're probably right. It always annoys me when the authorities are weak. If something makes sense for the majority it should just happen regardless of the objections from the few.
. I bet you'd be in a **** load of trouble if you were found to be causing damage!
What sort of damage could you be accused of doing? I cant honestly think of much that could go wrong and even then, the system should have adequate protection anyway.
trouble with DIYers is that they have strange ideas like 2.5mm FTE can carry 32Amps, and they don't appreciaye loft insualtion can derate cables. There is quite a serious fire potential from badly installed Solar and battery systems, so whilst it's not actually hard to install, getting correct information from t'internet can be hard.
before retraining as an electrican I had previously worked as a technician with an electro-mechanical background. It was only after retraining I appreciated things like rubber flex is not suitable as garage feed even if protected by a RCD - a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing
.The DNO said there could be problems with overvoltages causing problems for our neighbours if we exported over the limit they had modelled for our situation. Don't know how that would manifest itself or whether the rep was just trying to make sure we didn't go over the limit.
I was thinking more in terms of feeding back into the grid i.e. export.
This pops up and I think your correct a lot of diyers do not know or have appreciation for a lot of things like volt drop , length of cable runs type of wires used in differant applications. But it's not all diyers . I had a solar company install one of my systems and it was not done correct. But I was issued a lovely certificate to say it was safe. But anyway the list goes on. I my self just had my wrists slapped for taking my cover off my boiler. I had an electrical fault infact a thyristor had failed and all I wanted was the manufacture's readings so I could check it's values, but when I rang the boiler manufacture's they grilled me for just removing the cover. I did not touch anything gas just the electronics. Am I competent or not . Gas don't want anyone touching boilers unless they are trained , electrics in domestic the same. But what about working on your cars which everyone does. Should we now go down the route of not selling parts to the general public. A mechanic has spent years like gas and electricians getting qualified. I personally have seen some bad electrics not all done by a home owner a lot has been the electrician. I normally find a diyer who wants to say install a solar system and battery's will read up on it and normally are aware of issues. If we want to stop all these dangers then the goverment should put in law that only qualified electricians work on electrics, only qualified gas engineers work on gas and the same with mechanics and make it impossible to purchase parts or items for that trade. Outlaw it that will stop it. How many meter people are trained electricians, there not, but they have had training in changing a meter and handling cut out fuses,yet an electrician is not allowed to touch it. I have over the years witnessed 3 meter people not one followed the correct procedure to confirm dead. They did not even torque up the screws.
It does seem madness at times what you are and are not allowed to do. I can see some of the arguments but it sure isnt black and white in my view.
the grid siutation is an indicator of the lack of investment in it over decades, in Germany 5kW is the norm, no doubt because they have invested more in basic infrastruture.
there's bad tradespeople in all walks of life, and this in turn leads to people wanting to do works themselves. Personally, I think no one should be able to trade as anything unless they can demonstrate proper training. If you can't have confidence in employing tradespeople, then why wouldn't you DiY. As it currently stands a hairdresser can buy a van and write sparky on the side and sell his services as an electrician. Likewise, I could decide to be a hairdresser tomorrow - that would definetly end badly
