Solar Hotwater system

feesh

If you're up for a bit of DIY this is a good way to bring the costs down: http://www.lowimpact.org/acatalog/complete_LILI_solar_hot_water_kit.html

They run courses too, which are very good, and get you £100 discount off the system.

matty2767

as an argument for the solar panels. and i dont have them myself, but if you consider that the current interest rates on savings are low at the moment and what return you would get on the 3.5k if you put it in the bank.

i reckon the 3.5k would work better for your in the form of solar heating than saved.

vaio

I think that is an argument against solar, interest rates have a negative effect on the savings.

Invest £3.5k at 2% interest, hot water bill stays at £100, interest comes to £70 so you need to pay an extra £30 to cover the hot water bill.

Invest £3.5k in solar heating, hot water bill drops to £50 (if you are lucky) but you don’t get any interest so you are £20 worse off.

It gets worse the higher interest rates go, worse still if you have to borrow the money and worse still still it you factor in the replacement costs, £3.5k over 20 years is another £175 per year

As others have said you’ll be lucky to cover your costs before it’s come to the end of it’s life.

In a previous life I did some academic work on solar space heating, strangely that actually works best in Scotland because the heating season is so long.