The WrightChoice Energy Storage device is a very simple and low cost device designed for retrofitting to a traditional hot water tank or installed in a new tank. A DIY install in minutes for under £100 which pay for itself twice a year because it allows you to use off peak and surplus energy in the national grid to heat and store domestic hot water for later use. The photo below shows the latest and simplest version of this patented product (July 2024).
A traditional hot water cylinder only heats the top 1/3rd of the water with an immersion heater leaving 2/3rd cold but with my device the entire tank can be used to store energy (12.5 KW/Hr of usable energy in a 210 litre tank). Gas power stations only run at peak demand so avoiding using energy at peak demand would eliminate the need for most gas power stations.
The benefits to society in eliminating the use of gas for domestic hot water heating is irrefutable and a overall national saving of 20% to 30% could be had. 5 million homes in the UK have existing hot water cylinders and most of these could be converted. Installing low cost heat stores in homes will negate the need to build new gas powered power stations.
The Department for Energy Security & Net Zero suggest that energy storage is the way forward. Heat Pumps use electricity at peak times and are next to useless at low outside temperatures.
•This is a new patented device that retrofits to any simple tank to create a low-cost and efficient heat store
•The device stores energy at night using surplus off-peak cheap electricity to allow multiple showers and baths during the day without using extra electricity or gas.
•It stores energy on days when there is an abundance of wind or solar for later days later when there is no wind or sun.
•It replaces gas for heating water and has a great potential to also centrally heat homes saving you the standing charge.
•Unlike heat pumps it is as efficient on any cold night as it is on any night.
•It is very cheap, very effective, very easy to install, whisper quiet, and in 20% of UK homes it is a simple retrofit.
But what money can be saved by the customer?
Apart from helping ‘save’ the planet there are actually significant cost savings to be had with just the 24 hour timer we supply and in the future perhaps using a tariff such as Octopus Agile, even greater savings into the futrure.
There are so many tariffs and they vary accourding to your postcode so you would have to do your own calculation based of you postcode and supplier.
The average hot water energy consumption of UK homes is approximately 4 kWh per day (based on 2.4 occupants; approx. 80 litres of hot water at 55°C).
My own personal tariff is Octopus Go and I pay:-
7.14p per KW Hr 11.30 to 05.30
26.61p per KW Hr Peak Rate
The additional of using peak rate elevcricity cost is 19.47 p per KW = 77.18p per day = £284.26 a year in savings
PAY BACK IN 5 MONTHS
And in the summer you can turn your gas off altogether.
If you prefer complexity our closest competitor is Mixenergy but the pay back will be in 7 years.
