Finally: Solar hot water

Discussion in 'Designing, building, making and powering your life' started by hedwig, Aug 20, 2007.

  1. hedwig

    hedwig Junior Member

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    Finally we have tgot a solar hot water!
    It's running since a week and all the week we didn't have much sunshine.
    But I decided tio run the thing in the extreme way: The electric booster is out.
    Why: it will save us nearly 100% of electricity for hot water. With the little sunshine we've got there is still some lukewarm water - enough to shower (but not these wasteful 4minutes showers).
    For dishwashing sometimes I heat 1 or 2 litres in the electric water heater - far more economic than heating more than 200 l on the roof.
     
  2. Cosmic

    Cosmic Junior Member

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    What brand is the system?
     
  3. hedwig

    hedwig Junior Member

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    edwards
     
  4. Cosmic

    Cosmic Junior Member

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    I ask this because we just got a dux gas boosted solar system and we think it uses too much damn gas! We wanted to turn off the booster and have pure solar and asked the company who installed it but they said nooooo, it will stuff up the computer. Has your got some fancy computer controller? Did you ask about turning off the booster or you just did it?
    I don't understand how it saves power when everytime you use hot water the gas kicks in. I don't get what part the sun plays. It cost $5000 and we feel ripped off.
     
  5. hedwig

    hedwig Junior Member

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    no it has nothing fancy. HOwever they didn't install it were we firstly wanted because they said that tere is no space.
    They didn't even ask when they decided to change. and now it is not directly over the shower! Te insulation of the pipes they did only halfway.
    I am very upset aout the way australian trradespeople work. No sense of quality and they don not think of communication. They even didn't let me use their ladder to climb up to see what they're doing!

    But they worked not too bad we have other experiences. Did someone explain you that there is a fancy computer thing?
    I must say that we were a bit unconcious as well. The quote didn't mention many technical details. Our system runs without pump, which was important for us (the less fancy things the less problems)
     
  6. Cosmic

    Cosmic Junior Member

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    It's this one https://www.dux.com.au/products.php?name=D1FNP3W2AC
    It has a computer thing on the side. They have tried to explain it but I still don't understand why it uses so much gas. I just want to turn it off especially in summer but don't want to break it. Going to have to call dux I think and try and find out if it really is bad to turn the gas off. I mean, in Brisbane summers you don't need the gas on.
     
  7. gardenlen

    gardenlen Group for banned users

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    hedwig,

    not a lot of options as to where on the rook it gets located that is determined by the suns track and generally they are put on the north roof or north/east roof, amybe if they haven't installed it on the right part of the roof you should call them back and have them move it??

    generally they have either a gas or electric back up for these inclement days (when solar collect almost no heat), in some cases where it is electric they provide a switch so you can turn to over ride on, but guess now that could be computer controlled. a wind system would have been good of late hey??

    reckon of late your system will be running on electricity though?

    len
     
  8. hedwig

    hedwig Junior Member

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    no, The place is stil OK, but two metres farer that the first site. I am not used to this kind of working: I think if a companiy change things they have to talk with the one who pays.
    Our system is electric boosted. And there is a switch. (Maybe the switch box contains a computer??) they turned it on saying that we can turn out when wh're having sun. I turned it out immediately.
    And we didn't have sun until now, it rains since a week . But the water is still
    not cold, a bit less than lukewarm.
     
  9. Cosmic

    Cosmic Junior Member

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    Oh wow a swtich. That would be great.
     
  10. permasculptor

    permasculptor Junior Member

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    Is it possible/have you tried turning the gas off?
     
  11. gardenlen

    gardenlen Group for banned users

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    hedwig,

    i've heard it before from others anyone who installs sells solar devices seems to treat consumers with some sort of contempt, they feed consumers a whole lot of technical gobbldy goop and if you ask questions or want more info' they get bored with you, seems like if they say buy this that is what you should do as you the consumer don't know any different.

    that is why i have been trying to get first hand stories from people who ahve done it so others can read that and then go buy the best for their needs instead of relying on unreliable pushy sellers. we went through that and have heard others as well and don't go to them with a problem they don't want to know you, the whole industry has no integrity by the seems of it.

    one bloke told me, he had to protect his business and would tell me what i needed only when we where ready to pay up front.

    and prices are going up because of gov' rebates.

    len
     
  12. Cosmic

    Cosmic Junior Member

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    the guy was shocked that we wanted to turn off the gas. He couldn't understand why we would want to do that. Dur!! To use the sun. He said it will stuff the computer. I need some real information as I dont' want to break a $5000 system.
     
  13. gardenlen

    gardenlen Group for banned users

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    cosmic,

    what capacity tank do they come with?

    and hedwig,

    what sort is yours? capacity price etc.,?

    tia

    len
     
  14. Alex M

    Alex M Junior Member

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    Cosmic, I can't imagine what the computer is all about. If the sun is heating the water, the thermostat in the tank should simply not turn on the heating flame, although the pilot light will always burn a small amount of gas. If the gas is doing all the work, your solar panel is just a useless appendage. You should be able to turn off the gas, if only to see if the panel actually works at all.

    One of best ways, in my opinion, to ensure that you have plenty of hot water at lowest cost is a solar/electric system connected to off peak 1, the cheapest electricity. If the solar panel has done its work during the day, the electric thermostat in the tank will not turn on at night. If there is not so much sun, or you use most of your hot water in the evening, the thermostat will turn on, using electricity to heat the water so you can have a hot morning shower.

    It shouldn't take long for solar panels to heat your water to a satisfactory level on a sunny day. If you don't want to pay money to heat your water, you turn the electric booster off, and structure your water usage around its availability. That is, you might find one morning that you have plenty of water heated by the previous day's sun, or that you have to wait for the day's sun to heat it for you.

    My ideal system uses a combination of a slow combustion cooking stove, off peak electricity, and solar panels. In cold weather, the stove heats the house and the hot water, while in warm weather, the solar panels do all the work. The off peak fills in the gaps.

    Hedwig, I'm sorry to hear you had such a negative experience with the installer of your system. Sadly, too many tradespeople have this "you'll get what you're given" attitude towards clients. Tell them, in writing, what bothered you, and don't recommend them to your friends. If they can't be bothered to explain the entire process to you, they're not doing their job.

    Cosmic, you have every right to expect the service you paid for. Tell them what you expected from the system, and demand that they explain the workings of the system to you. If you're still not satisfied, complain to the Building Services Authority https://203.63.40.65/Home/Consumers/Comp ... laints.htm
    or to Fair Trading https://www.fairtrading.qld.gov.au/OFT/O ... enDocument
     
  15. davo

    davo Junior Member

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    Hi guys.

    I bought a Solarhart solar hot water system secondhand and installed it on a remote property in Southern Queensland (near Tara) where there is no electricity or gas on the place.

    I found the Solarhart gave me hot showers with no problems. Summer the water was VERY hot indeed, but even on cloudy days and in winter it was warm enough for a quick shower.

    So no electricity OR gas, and it worked fine. I'm down in Sydney at the moment so I can't really say how the hot water is doing, but I don't see any reason for it to have stopped working unless a pipe is blocked or if the header tank runs out of water.

    It sounds to me like the tale you've been told about damaging the computer is a load of bull. But it's your $5,000.

    Cheers,
    Davo
     
  16. Cosmic

    Cosmic Junior Member

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    The panel works as on sunny days the water comes out damn hot and cloudy days it is not scalding. The gas turns on as a top up but it tops up every time you use it. I am not aware of it turning on unless we have used to water for a few minutes. It's a 170 litres system. It's a split system and you can hear the water pumping to the panel when it's sunny. The proplem is the gas turns on to keep the water at a constant temperature and endless showering but I want an option to have the hot run out when the solar heated water is used up.
    How do you turn off gas? There is a knob on a pipe, would you just turn that?
     
  17. Alex M

    Alex M Junior Member

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    There's a pump? WTF? Sounds like another triumph of overcomplication. I'll bet some half-witted engineer, educated beyond his intelligence, probably won an award for that one. No wonder there's a computer. It makes up for a simple failure of design. It probably monitors water temperature and sunlight and turns the pump on to send the water to the panel. Whoever is responsible for it should be shot. In a properly designed thermosyphon system, such as Davo's solarhart, the sun does all the work. That's the point of solar energy. Other energy sources are optional, and then only when then there's too little sun, or too much demand.
    I would, and if it buggers the "computer" just tell them you don't know what happened. Get the bastards to fix it under warranty - twice a week, until the warranty expires. At least you can make them work for their ill-gotten gains.

    A computer. Unbelievable.
     
  18. bovine_blue

    bovine_blue Junior Member

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    So does anybody know what a good system to buy would be? Specifically for the cold of Tasmania.
     
  19. gardenlen

    gardenlen Group for banned users

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    b_b,

    set up a wind generator with some batteries and power it that way, don't know what cosmic has though sounds complicated??

    thought the way solar systems worked was to use solar collectors to provide power to the heater and that the hat water tanks was much like an electric one in that the stored water gets heated and the water you need runs though pipes in that hot water.

    you can using an ordinary hot water system set up some plack hose on a north facing roof and with a smallish pump heat the water in the tank as the heater does, buit like solar systems it only works on sunny days, and of course only works in daylight hours.

    cosmic,

    what brand do you have? do you have their web site link??

    5 grand is a lot of money for hot water, especially if you aren't happy.

    hedwig,

    are you going to tell us about your system size cost whatever??

    tia
     
  20. Cosmic

    Cosmic Junior Member

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