Solar Water - Anyone have it??

vickyb242

Hi,

Hope everyone had a nice weekend.

After spending my Sunday at the Grand Design Live show at the NEC, me and my OH have been quiet tempted to explore the Solar Water option that was advertised everywhere.

We thought it could be quiet a useful option for us as we are installing UFH, originally with a combi boiler but i understand that solar water uses an immersion tank and i have no idea how they work also very worried that i would have to wait for the water to heat up for a shower. Both of us are very impatient, hence why we have always had a combi boiler.

As i don't really know much about it and all i got yesterday was the "Sales Talk" i was wondering if any of you could give me some advice or reviews if anyone is using it, also if it has made an impact on your energy bills? The intial layout for the package i am interested in is £2k, does anyone know if Grants are offered for things like these?

Sorry for all the questions so early!

V

Kaz2904

Don't know any answers I'm afraid but it is something I've been interested in for a while, along with the heat exchange systems which you bury in the garden to keep warm in winter and cool in summer.
Be interested to hear any answers from someone who does have it though.

penrhyn

For an explanation of how solar water heating systems work try this link.

http://www.solartwin.com/

Click on the how does it work icon.

If you are thinking of installing a system for ecological reasons fine.
If you are concerned with moneysaving, forget it, the pay back period is either very long or non existent.

BTW was the £2K for a DIY system?

ormus

http://www.lowcarbonbuildings.org.uk/home/
try here for grants upto 2.5k for energy saving technology. (via approved installers).

my brother has a DIY installation. made from old radiator panels. he uses a double cylinder system as a heat exchanger. hes measured the heated water at 40c. pretty good for free!
he made it all himself.

ormus

btw
my brother found out that whilst there was grants for solar panels (electric PV) there was none for solar heating panels.
seems like another strange/stupid government decision.

ic

ormus wrote: »

http://www.lowcarbonbuildings.org.uk/home/
try here for grants upto 2.5k for energy saving technology. (via approved installers).

my brother has a DIY installation. made from old radiator panels. he uses a double cylinder system as a heat exchanger. hes measured the heated water at 40c. pretty good for free!
he made it all himself.

I thought hot water had to be stored at 60 - 65oC or above in order to prevent bacteria growth?

liitleblackcat

We had solar water heating installed 6 months ago. It cost us £3,100 (after the grant of £400 from low carbon buildings http://www.lowcarbonbuildings.org.uk/how/householders/.

We already had a hot water tank which was suitable for solar power, which would have cost another £300 if we had had to have the tank replaced. We have a mains pressure hot water system (no storage tank in the loft. We also have all our lights using compact fluorescent bulbs and 270mm of insultation in the loft (you need to have these before getting the £400 grant), and cavity wall insultation.

On the few days this year when it has been very sunny, the tank gets to 70degC, but if we use a lot of hot water or it isn't very sunny, we top up the temperature in the top half of the tank to 60degC with the CH boiler.

If you have £3k to spare and have already done everything else, go for it. Fuel prices are always going to go up in the long term. Please ask me anything else if you want to know the practicalities.

BTW, you can't get the grant for a DIY system, and it was complicated enough for me to want it professionally fitted, which only took a day.

Leothecat

https://www.kingspan-renewables.com

ormus

http://www.greendragonenergy.co.uk/pdf/Solar_Hot_Water_Simplified.pdf
some background reading on various designs/methods.

beware that payback on a commercial installed system will take 10/20 yrs.
DIY gets you virtually instant payback.

ormus

ic wrote: »

I thought hot water had to be stored at 60 - 65oC or above in order to prevent bacteria growth?

building regs say a max 46c temp is required at the outlet taps.
(note this temp is too hot to bathe with).

Devon_Hippo

penrhyn wrote: »

For an explanation of how solar water heating systems work try this link.

http://www.solartwin.com/

Click on the how does it work icon.

If you are thinking of installing a system for ecological reasons fine.
If you are concerned with moneysaving, forget it, the pay back period is either very long or non existent.

BTW was the £2K for a DIY system?

Vicky, I have the sort of solar system that may suit you and can give you a bit of insight. Also, the reason I just quoted the above post is that the solartwin is actually quite an unusual system compared to most - it is pretty unique in fact, so not necessirly a good example.

Anyway - Solar works by converting solar energy via collectors (either tubes or flat panels) into heated water, so you ALWAYS need a tank of water that gets heated - rule #1!

Typically, you would then use that water and maybe heat it up further in the cooler months to make it hot enough to use. And if one person has a nice big hot bath, then the next person in the queue has to wait for the water to reheat - rule #2 - NOT !!!!

What I have is a hot water tank that the solar system heats up, BUT I then route that hot water to a Combi Boiler that ups it - if need be - to a hotter temp and delivers it to the bath or shower just like your normal Combi system. I chose this setup as I do not like waiting for a tank to heat up OR paying to heat up a tank of water I may not even need (if the sun does it for free and it starts to cool down, so what )

I have simplified my setup in the explaination, but just wanted to reassure you that what you want is possible - and is quite popular on the continent.

On my old hot water setup, used to cost £1 a day to heat the water and gave us 1 & 1/2 showers a day. On my solar/combi system, It is costing about 75p a WEEK for my hot water and with the combi I never run out of hot water