SolarImmersion

travellerboy

Has anyone installed a SolarImmersion PV Surplus Energy Manager on their home solar system ? Any comment would be appreciate as I wish to purchase one in the coming weeks.- Thanks

tunnel

You might want to take a look on here https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4152489


A whole lengthy thread about all types of solar pv devices

samtoby

We have an Immersun I think its called

theboylard

Had my SolarImmersion fitted on Tuesday

Got mine a fair bit cheaper than you can direct, seems to be doing the job so far?!

They only have a year guarantee though, which is what makes them the cheapest proportional diverter - excluding kits etc!

travellerboy

theboylard wrote: »

Got mine a fair bit cheaper than you can direct, seems to be doing the job so far?!

Yes they are available from a trader on ebay with 1 year repair / replace guarantee costing £200 including VAT and delivery.

theboylard

Cheaper than that

willemm1

Having a 4 kWh PV Panel system I became interested in the technology being touted to divert exported power to heat water for free. It's a great idea but it's being exploited by makers and installers wildly exaggerating savings and pay back times.

Intelligent pv switches come in a great variety of prices, configurations and methods of power capture. VAT is another vague area where it may or may not be exempt depending on who installs the device.

One supplier offers £475 installed, £295 uninstalled indicating £180 installation cost, yet other makes claim 1 hour or less. One user said his electrician charged just £30, others said theirs took between 20 minutes and 1 hour.

Another forum gives lengthy exchanges between highly skilled DIY makers of own kits, precisely detailing how the devices do a clever job diverting unused export to immersion heaters. This also claimed that component cost is quite low at around £30 for quality components including mounting box.

Note that many immersion heaters made before 2004 may have thermostats without a safety cutout. Diverters must connect via a safety cutout to avoid scalding or worse, so a new thermostat may be needed.

Makers and installers are claiming up to £300 savings pa with return on investment between 1 and 3 years. This is grossly misleading, a simple calculation shows this amounts to saving 1,875 kWh pa immersion use at a typical electric rate of 16p.

I am an oil/electric user, live alone and use immersion heated water for showers, and a kettle for washing up. Washing machine is cold-fill so no gain there. I have a plug-in power monitor (cost £10) so know exactly how much each appliance uses. My immersion use for showers plus washing-up wouldn't exceed 100 kWh pa so a pv immersion diverter device could at most save me £16 pa. Obviously larger households should save more, but nothing like some claims being made. If ROI is important, in my case 30 years for £475 installed – it's a no-no!

The moral is, calculate your immersion usage savings carefully, and check each maker's device details such as wireless connectivity. Bear in mind the max warranty so far is 3 years, some just 1 year. If faulty within warranty, replacement is "return to base" so user has to pay an electrician to uninstall and reinstall! Buyers (and potential buyers) beware!

mickyduck

willemm1 wrote: »

Having a 4 kWh PV Panel system I became interested in the technology being touted to divert exported power to heat water for free. It's a great idea but it's being exploited by makers and installers wildly exaggerating savings and pay back times.

Intelligent pv switches come in a great variety of prices, configurations and methods of power capture. VAT is another vague area where it may or may not be exempt depending on who installs the device.

One supplier offers £475 installed, £295 uninstalled indicating £180 installation cost, yet other makes claim 1 hour or less. One user said his electrician charged just £30, others said theirs took between 20 minutes and 1 hour.

Another forum gives lengthy exchanges between highly skilled DIY makers of own kits, precisely detailing how the devices do a clever job diverting unused export to immersion heaters. This also claimed that component cost is quite low at around £30 for quality components including mounting box.

Note that many immersion heaters made before 2004 may have thermostats without a safety cutout. Diverters must connect via a safety cutout to avoid scalding or worse, so a new thermostat may be needed.

Makers and installers are claiming up to £300 savings pa with return on investment between 1 and 3 years. This is grossly misleading, a simple calculation shows this amounts to saving 1,875 kWh pa immersion use at a typical electric rate of 16p.

I am an oil/electric user, live alone and use immersion heated water for showers, and a kettle for washing up. Washing machine is cold-fill so no gain there. I have a plug-in power monitor (cost £10) so know exactly how much each appliance uses. My immersion use for showers plus washing-up wouldn't exceed 100 kWh pa so a pv immersion diverter device could at most save me £16 pa. Obviously larger households should save more, but nothing like some claims being made. If ROI is important, in my case 30 years for £475 installed – it's a no-no!

The moral is, calculate your immersion usage savings carefully, and check each maker's device details such as wireless connectivity. Bear in mind the max warranty so far is 3 years, some just 1 year. If faulty within warranty, replacement is "return to base" so user has to pay an electrician to uninstall and reinstall! Buyers (and potential buyers) beware!

I agree with all of the above but bought mine because I liked the idea of not exporting most of my generation. I am a single home owner / occupant who works routine hours coupled with a commute into central London. ROI will be poor as all I am actually saving is running my 10.5 Kw electric shower twice a day. ROI is not good anywhere at the moment so as I said I "like" the idea so I have one installed.

lisyloo

who works routine hours

Personally I can't see how it pays off especially if you need to shower at certain times of the day (presumably if you work you can 't wait until it's sunny to have a shower !!).
The issue I have is that if you want a shower in the morning then you need your normal (gas?) boiler on to guarantee your shower.
You have a shower, then rely on remaining solar to heat the water.
It uses a few kws then stops because the water is now done.

You can never leave the water cold because you need the shower for work.
I've been monitoring the use on my solar iboost and I really can't see how these pay back, unless you are the sort of person who is retired and can wait until a sunny day to have a shower ??????

Perhaps I'm missing something but if you need a guarnatee of hot water then the savings are limited and the payback for the unit is many many years.
Am I missing something?

BTW - my solar PV is working great, some days 24 KWh, however I need my gas boiler on in the morning when it's dark to have a shower before work, so the solar PV going into the immersion is limited.

Can anyone explain to me how this trade-off works between saving energy but risking having no hot water and going to work smelly and sweaty ???

willemm1

The two responses from mickyduck and lisyloo show just how complicated the whole matter is due to its subjective nature - how, when and why people use their hot water, let alone effects of the vagaries of weather, time of year and size or pv array.

My post was really meant for those considering getting a diverter and perhaps falling for the hype of how much they can save without knowing much about the workings of these devices.

They are very sophisticated but still have limitations. Even a £300 spend (say £250 device and £50 install), is serious money unless you've plenty to throw around.

Some devices have cut-in thresholds such as 200 watts meaning that anything below that such as on cloudy days, sunset, sunrise etc won't get used.

I was also getting at suppliers exaggerating savings. I think they need to justify their cases a lot more with hard facts and figures so that would-be purchasers can better figure out for themselves if it meets their expectations.

Personally, I switch my immersion on when I need it, usually for 20-30 minutes via a 3 kW heater. For those needing/wanting constant hot water they could fit a timer for a daily setting to suit them.

It's all down to personal likes, but being "informed" by suppliers that they save me money gets up my nose! I can't wait 30 years to start saving money and if it packs up after warranty I'm back to square one and out of pocket.

mickyduck

lisyloo wrote: »

Personally I can't see how it pays off especially if you need to shower at certain times of the day (presumably if you work you can 't wait until it's sunny to have a shower !!).
The issue I have is that if you want a shower in the morning then you need your normal (gas?) boiler on to guarantee your shower.
You have a shower, then rely on remaining solar to heat the water.
It uses a few kws then stops because the water is now done.

You can never leave the water cold because you need the shower for work.
I've been monitoring the use on my solar iboost and I really can't see how these pay back, unless you are the sort of person who is retired and can wait until a sunny day to have a shower ??????

Perhaps I'm missing something but if you need a guarnatee of hot water then the savings are limited and the payback for the unit is many many years.
Am I missing something?

BTW - my solar PV is working great, some days 24 KWh, however I need my gas boiler on in the morning when it's dark to have a shower before work, so the solar PV going into the immersion is limited.

Can anyone explain to me how this trade-off works between saving energy but risking having no hot water and going to work smelly and sweaty ???

Hi I did not say that it pays for itself and stated that ROI is not good. I did say I live on my own... I have a hot water tank that has provided me with hot water heated from my solar array on all but a few days (see other posts by me) since install. It heats up when the sun shines..simple. I only use the water for showering and have the thermostat set high. I NEVER use a complete tank of water for two showers a day. If there has been no sun for a few days the water does get used and there are obviously some losses even though I have a jacketed tank. I don't ever go to work smelly as I have an electric shower that I use if there is no hot water. In summary since the install I have had to use other sources of heating my hot water about half a dozen times.. possibly less.