Solar thermal expectations

Mattygroves2

I had a solar thermal system installed over the winter and am not sure it's performing to my expectation but that may be because I am expecting too much from it so thought I'd ask for other experiences.

Without the boiler being on at all it seems to have been heating the water up to about 33 degrees C the last two weeks. This is just about hot enough for a lukewarm shower but not as hot as I'd usually have (and definitely not hot enough for my OH).

Should it be doing better than that or will I always need a bit of boiler boost ?

zeupater

Mattygroves2 wrote: »

I had a solar thermal system installed over the winter and am not sure it's performing to my expectation but that may be because I am expecting too much from it so thought I'd ask for other experiences.

Without the boiler being on at all it seems to have been heating the water up to about 33 degrees C the last two weeks. This is just about hot enough for a lukewarm shower but not as hot as I'd usually have (and definitely not hot enough for my OH).

Should it be doing better than that or will I always need a bit of boiler boost ?

Hi

What's the spec of your system and how much hot water do you use ? ...

We wouldn't expect tank-bottom temperatures of 33C on any but the cloudiest winter days if no water has been drawn off ... apart from Winter months we normally have no need to use any other form of water heating. During the last two weeks a correctly sized unit should be supplying you with plenty of water at well over 60C ...

HTH
Z

Mattygroves2

Thanks for the response - as I thought it's not doing it's job properly.

It's two 12 tube evacuated tube collector units on a south facing non shaded roof and we don't use much water at all - enough for two showers and a bit for washing up plus wee probably run the dishwasher once a week.

zeupater

Hi

For comparative information, have just checked our controller .... The whole cylinder temperature is currently 67C and we've pumped 7kWh.t into it today, just passing 200kWh.t for the month to date, so an average of just over 9kWh.t/day from roughly SW orientated collectors which are likely twice the size of your system ... we've had visitors for a while and therefore used far more hot water than normal.

Does you controller provide information on cylinder & panel temperatures when running and meter the production ?

HTH
Z

Mattygroves2

I get temperature information (top and bottom of tank and roof panels) but not the production (or at least I've not found that). Call to installers tomorrow to try and get it sorted.