Solar hot water

[wubbledoos]

Hi,

 

Has anyone had a solar hot water system fitted recently? Can you advise of the cost - or any recommendations for companies?

 

SolarHart reckons over $3k (with rebate taken off) for 300 litre system, plus fitting. Just wondering if this is around the average?

[Tamara (Homes Down Under)]

I had one installed by Edwards but that was a couple of years ago. The rebate was more then. they asked me at the time whether I had a concession card (didn't!) as the rebate was more for concession holders.

 

It's brilliant in summer but horrid in winter! I had one disconnected at another house and replaced by a gas instantaneous unit as the electrical backup in winter wasn't too cost effective. A mixture of gas and solar would be great...switch it over to gas in winter and solar in summer!

[snifter]

Ours was installed already when we bought our house so can't help there.

 

I do agree with Tamara though about it not always being great in winter. As soon as the sun shines its fab, so 9 months or the year or so its sorted. But the winter months can see it struggle to get enough sunlight and we boost ours overnight most nights. And sometimes have to boost it in the day if for some reason a lot of water gets used.

[wubbledoos]

Isn't the electrical booster on the solar system just the same as having a normal bog standard electric boiler?

 

So in winter is the same cost as having a non solar boiler but then in warmer months it's solar aka free?

[Tamara (Homes Down Under)]

Isn't the electrical booster on the solar system just the same as having a normal bog standard electric boiler?

 

So in winter is the same cost as having a non solar boiler but then in warmer months it's solar aka free?

 

The solar system has an electrical backup for cloudy days which as you say is a standard hot water heater.

There should be an off peak rate for periods after 11 at night but it will be peak electricity rates after that.

 

I also had a system that was already installed when I moved into the house...however, it was old and the tank ruptured. The new one was installed by Edwards.

 

A lot of it depends upon personal usage. There's loads of hot water during the day (if it's not cloudy) but if you shower / bath at night it will use peak electricity to heat up the water until 11, so that you have hot water the next morning. It has two settings...day and off night. Day setting will heat up the water whenever it gets cold and off night only after 11.

Great energy saving device for the sunny months but if I had the choice all over again I would have just put in a gas unit at a third of the purchase price and still economic to run all the time.

 

The system that I had disconnected wasn't the tank on the roof, it was inside the cavity with two solar panels feeding into the unit. Bills were massive (large bath!) and I had it disconnected and replaced with gas.

Who knows what the future brings though. The next trend will be solar systems with storage batteries so you are using your own stored power to heat the water when it's not sunny.