If you mooch around the blog I am sure you'll find repeat mentions about both topics. Sitting here in the cottage reading of Adam and Adrians composting loo and having recently chatted '$hit' with our boaty neighbour Mandy my thoughts are to my waste products when on the boat.
Before the storm the other day I lifted the man hole cover in the back yard and emptied the contents of a heavy cassette I'd brought back from the boat. It was heavy and in chatting to Mandy she said one consideration for her for the move to the composting loo was just that the weight of the cassettes to the point she was only half filling them to make them more manageable. At the moment we go to the red light - side note, I did suggest to Rachel we adopt a process whereby whoever triggers the red light changes the cassette. In a rare excursion from equality of roles she told me that was a blue job !!
So the idea of building ( or buying) as composting loo for 2026 is on the cards. One job added to the list.
SKIP TO THE BOATY BIT BELOW IF NOT INTERESTED IN HEATING CALCULATIONS
Heating is a challenge here at the cottage - not an issue as we have multiple systems. Again side note and one really for me to detail for my future self consumption ..
We have recently cancelled out air source heat pump install. I liked the idea of a new system that was paid for in the main by the Government 350% efficient ( the SCOP - Seasonal coefficient of performance for our install was 3.5 - 1 kw of energy in 3.5 kw of heat out) Our oil boiler is 93% efficient or should be as it is a condensing boiler. However it is not as it does not condense as the return temp is about 50c - the circulation temp is set high as we have all cast iron radiators in the cottage.
So I did the calcs ( shout if if you disagree) 1 kw of electricity is 29p right now so with a SCOP of 3.5 1 kw of heat would be 29/3.5 = 8p
Oil contains 10.35 kw of energy per litre. So our 90 % efficient boiler produces 9.3 kw of heat per litre
A recent fill up cost us 66p inc 5% vat per litre
So it is costing us 7p per kw for oil
Of course if we could get cheaper electric the cost for the ASHP wins - we have solar and batteries but the tariff we are on would not work for us for cheaper electric during the day
I asked Chat GTP about the relative movements of UK heating oil and Electric pricing for the next 5 years..... the answer in the broadest of terms was electric will be going up year on year while oil will remain reasonably static. In a candid webinar Octopus's management also said electric would continue to rise in cost over the short to medium period.
We are saving about £1800 per year to heat our home have hot water and run the EV. The gains on an ASHP would be marginal - £300 per year was their estimate. I replaced the whole burner head on the boiler late last year - cost me £500... that is in effect the boiler replaced so should run for another 10 years which is their service life and the life almost to the month of the last one.
I will add another rad in the kitchen in the spring/summer and maybe add an immersion so we can turn off the oil boiler in the summer or warmer months.
Right - not sure where this is going but I have electric heating in the annex/dog house that works very well. We have two wood burners - the bigger one was lit today to warm the whole house and give the main boiler a rest...
BOAT RELATED CONTENT ...
I also recently installed a cheap Chinese diesel heater in the garage - it is running now to heat it up for me to go in a do some bits on the bikes. £80... it uses the same tech as the Eberspacher but at a fraction of the cost. I run it on heating oil not diesel. The garage is uninsulated so hard to warm up - I tried 2kw electric heaters but they were expensive and inefficient. I do use that in the home office that is well insulated and it get the temp up where by the far infrared panel takes over - I love the heat they give off.
I could see me fitting a diesel heater in the forcabin for quicker spring/autumn heat when the stove would be to much. Another job....
Gauges - I run a Home assistant instance on a PI5 mini computer I have sensors around the house and a Fire tablet in the lounge showing and controlling a lot of stuff...
Can you spot when the diesel heater went on ?
I am sure that would heat the boat up very quickly - just take a bit of power but that is where the Ecoflow would come in - or maybe that hybrid lithium battery set up should be installed?
Had a lovely walk today, took a footpath that takes us near the quarry over behind the two farms, made a nice change and was easier walking than on the roads.
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