Solar Hot Water

slapsticbob · Solar Hot Water

Hi Everyone,
Where is all the feedback.
I have been exploring (most ) of the systems available for last 6 Months.
Have come up with two.

I have indirect/vented system, by the way.

1. Solartwin
a, because its very easy to install.
b, does not need a new tank.
c, minimal plumbing required.
d, completely automatic.

2. Imagination Solar. Bit more expensive, but looks good.
a, This system does require a new Twin coil tank.which is
bigger than the one already installed.
b, More plumbing involved.
c, Fully automatic.

Have asked both company's for advice and could they put me in touch with someone already running either of these setups. nothing forthcoming.
So how best to made the decision?
Anyone out there help, have YOU installed Solar Hot water system in the past couple of years.
I know I am never going to get my money back. But having said that theres nothing like getting something for nothing on a hot summers day.
Plus when I sell my house I can get ALL of my money back, by including the system in my selling price.

Basically the decision lies with how does anyone compare feeding hot water directly into the top of the storage tank, as opposed to feeding it through a coil.
Come on you clever clogs out there, someone must have some ideas.
Razz

admin

Hi Slapstick,

Would love to give some advice here but can only speak about PV from personal experience. Cant believe these companies are not giving you some contacts, its crucial to be able to talk to those who have installed as its a scary prospect and a leap of faith spending all that hard earned cash.
Have you tried the solar trade association for some contacts?

http://www.greenenergy.org.uk/sta/

failing that I know some guy who has a solar thermal system I'll see if I can ask him to reply to your post.

Try this page for some other suppliers
http://www.alternative-energy.co.uk/Find_an_installer.htm

Eric Hawkins at Powertech Solar is a particularly helpful man ... he may help.

Hope you stick with it

Andy Hunt

Hi Slapstick!

I have a Zen Eaga flat plate solar hot water system - it cost me about £2500 but I got a Clear Skies grant (now Low Carbon Buildings Programme) of £400 towards it.

It works between April and September - just to give you an idea, I was away for the weekend last weekend, so the only heating in the cylinder was from the solar panel over the 3 days I was away. When I got back I had a full cylinder (and they are big, these dual coil cylinders!) of water at 50C. And there was snow on the ground outside! So I am pleased with mine.

I seem to remember that the Solar Twin system costs about the same as other systems which include a cylinder - the cylinder itself is worth about £800 or more, normally. The Solar Twin will work during a power cut as it has a small PV panel to power the pump, but to be honest, power cuts are least likely in the summer when the panel is working, and the amount of juice the pump in my system takes from the mains is so negligible it may as well not be there.

I think the Imagination Solar system is an evacuated tube system, if I remember correctly. They are supposed to be more efficient than the flat plate ones, but more expensive. The only problem with this is that in the 'marginal' months, in the autumn and the spring, when you would get the extra benefit from an evacuated tube system, you are likely to be using your boiler anyway to heat your home - which will also heat your water. So the benefits of the extra efficiencies may be irrelevant due to the way you use your heating system.

I'm dead happy with my Zen Eaga system. You can see the size of the panel on the roof at my home page:-

http://greencottage.burysolarclub.net

Hope this helps!

Andy Hunt

Lo · Re: Solar Hot Water

Guest

not only does solartwin not require a heat exchanger to run through they also have a pv pump which requires NO mains electricity making it 100% carbon free. the evaccuated tube systems also bottom fill their cylinders where as solartwin fills from the top down giving you instant hot water not having to wait for the tank to fill is a massive advantage as you draw the hot water from the top of the tank also if you would like to reffer to the DTI website you are also 25% more likely to have problems with evaccuated tube systems then a solartwin system once installed

LO

So Slapstick, what have you decided?

Have you telephoned Solartwin to ask for a customer reference?

The offices are open 9 am to 9 pm ..................no excuses now Smile

Richard

I'm sorry that SlapsticBob couldn't get any advice from Imagination Solar, since honest advice is something that we pride ourselves on. If he made an email enquiry recently, it's possible that we haven't got round to him yet because, like most of the industry, we are inundated with enquiries at the moment. If he would like to contact me, I will try to help him.

I hope that Bob has had a thorough look at our web site which is packed with useful information.

With regard to putting him in contact with a user of our system, there are practical difficulties to do with customer privacy. There is also the likelihood (perhaps I should have used a stronger word there) that respondents would be carefully selected by the vendor to give an enthusiastic report. Nevertheless, if Bob truly believes that this would be a useful exercise, I will try to find somebody (in fact I've already started)

Just to correct a few errors that have appeared in other replies:

1) Imagination Solar uses a flat plate system, not evacuated tubes.

2) The Imagination Solar pump and controller can be powered by either a pv panel or a small mains power supply, at the choice of the customer.

2) The Imagination Solar system is capable of producing temperatures in excess of 85 deg C. All of our controllers used to be set to limit the temperature to 80 deg C. However, most of our recent customers have chosen to have the controller set to limit the temperature to a lower figure; typically 65 deg C.

Richard
richard@imaginationsolar.com
0845 458 3168

Solar Hot Water

Re: Solar Hot Water