Solar diverters

PipaC

Hi
We recently has a small solar array fitted. It's only 2.44kw and I was wondering whether it would be worth getting a diverted fitted to hpsend the excess t heat the hot water.
We have a hot water cylinder without an immersion element but our plumber said he can fit one for around £100.
I suppose I'm worried that our solar array is too small to heat our water. Today the excess was around 2.1kw at times. Would this be enough to power an immersion element?
Thanks

Benight

PipaC wrote: »

Hi
We recently has a small solar array fitted. It's only 2.44kw and I was wondering whether it would be worth getting a diverted fitted to hpsend the excess t heat the hot water.
We have a hot water cylinder without an immersion element but our plumber said he can fit one for around £100.
I suppose I'm worried that our solar array is too small to heat our water. Today the excess was around 2.1kw at times. Would this be enough to power an immersion element?
Thanks

Most if not all immersion heaters are rated at 3kW

Mister_G

PipaC wrote: »

Hi
We recently has a small solar array fitted. It's only 2.44kw and I was wondering whether it would be worth getting a diverted fitted to hpsend the excess t heat the hot water.
We have a hot water cylinder without an immersion element but our plumber said he can fit one for around £100.
I suppose I'm worried that our solar array is too small to heat our water. Today the excess was around 2.1kw at times. Would this be enough to power an immersion element?
Thanks

You will need to do some sums to see if it is worth fitting a diverter to a 2kW array. The diverter will cost about £250 (well my SolarImmersion was 5 years ago). We have a 3kW array but I could not say for sure just how much gets diverted into the immersion heater.

It doesn't matter if your immersion heater is 3kW rated, as the diverter will divert whatever excess power is being generated into it.

tim_p

Diverters don’t really care about immersion rating, they just feed it what they have to give. You’ll probably struggle to get your money back though especially as you’re having to buy the immersion as well as the diverter. I use one and don’t use gas to heat the hot water between something like Mar and Sept / Oct. You can probably do some maths around how much you’ll save per year but it’ll take a few years to pay back the 350-400 it’ll cost to install. Also assumes you’ve got suitable wiring to wherever the tank is located too.

ajbell

I get a tank of hot water pretty much every day between February and November, I have a 4kw array and an iboost diverter which typically sends around 1500 kwh a year to the tank which is about £225 of electricity per year.

Cardew

ajbell wrote: »

I get a tank of hot water pretty much every day between February and November, I have a 4kw array and an iboost diverter which typically sends around 1500 kwh a year to the tank which is about £225 of electricity per year.

That might be a saving of £225 on electricity if you only use an immersion heater to heat your Hot Water tank with peak time electricity..


However the the vast majority heat their Hot Water tank with gas/oil/LPG or Economy 7 electricity. If you have gas CH the diverted 1,500kWh would save £50 to £60. With E7 around £100.

ajbell

You think 1500 kwh of gas would have the same effect?
How many people heat water off peak, how many use oil or LPG?
Also factor in that I get paid for generating the power even if I use all of it so
Why not get paid for it and divert it to the hot water tank otherwise it would just go back to the grid.
Think about it, I get paid 20p a kwh to heat my water.

Cardew

ajbell wrote: »

You think 1500 kwh of gas would have the same effect?
How many people heat water off peak, how many use oil or LPG?
Also factor in that I get paid for generating the power even if I use all of it so
Why not get paid for it and divert it to the hot water tank otherwise it would just go back to the grid.
Think about it, I get paid 20p a kwh to heat my water.

You don't get paid 20pkWh to heat your water unless you have no other means of heating Hot Water other than peak rate electricity - and then 20p/kWh is a stupid rate.


Yes a kWh produced by a gas boiler has exactly the same effect as a kWh of diverted electricity.




If you get paid FIT(Feed in Tariff) that is paid simply to generate electricity regardless of it being used in your property or exported.


Obvious diverting 1,500kWh to your hot water tank is a saving. However that saving is only the cost of the 1,500kWh gas/oil/LPG/E7 that won't be used.



Almost all houses use gas/oil/LPG/E7/solid fuel for Central Heating and Hot Water and virtually non use peak electricity.

markin

Even at £50 a year after 6-8 years thats £50 in your pocket for as long as it lasts, hopefully at least 15 years, Gas and Elec is always going up in price. I do think £50 is a bit low though.

It only takes 20min to heat the tank so you will still export most of it.

I know this all about money on MSE but its also cleaner than using Gas, If anyone cares about that.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bsj37_HDyg