Water Heating & Pumping

I am a big proponent of Geyserwise. But I have two issues where I am staying now: it is a rental property with a concrete roof. This makes installing Geyserwise problematic. There is an old geyser control box where I could fit a WiFi temperature controller (Sonoff geyser controller). However, getting WiFi on the roof will be a bit of a mission. I have a Sonoff ZigBee bridge that could communicate onto the roof. I have a ZigBee R3 that can switch the geyser's relay. I just need to buy a temperature sensor with a probe and a remote display. Then I should have all the functionality of a Geyserwise and more...right?

Hey all, So in November 2024 I made the decision to move our water heating requirements to Gas. I used a company called https://gbgas.co.za/ as a friend of mine used them to do his a few months prior to me. From the get go the interaction with these guys was awesome, and refreshing. A real pleasure to deal with them pre-sales and after-sales their response and helpfulness never changed. (No I am not sponsored by them for writing this post 😆) So we are a household of 3, with 6 x hot water taps in the house to cater for. Two of us shower in the mornings and one baths in the evening. The quote I got included everything: plumbing work Dewhot 20L Fan Forced a cage for the…

Really enjoy reading all the feedback on this forum, very educational and nice that it is specific to SA conditions. I have many years of construction experience on larger commercial projects. Doing some smaller jobs at the moment and installed a few solar water heating systems, all purchased from TheSunPays.co.za. Their standard kit has no controller, only a 'dumb' 12v solar powered circulation pump. Of course it makes sense to at least install a timer relay on the geyser element to ensure you get a reasonable amount of solar energy harvested during the day. A timer is uncomplicated, much cheaper than a differential temperature controller and can be serviced by your…

I've been doing some research regarding geysers and other hot water options. I saw something of interest on the Kwikot website: https://www.kwikot.com/product-category/solar-pv-water-heating/sol-pve-system/ I then tried to search for who designed and manufactures these and I found this: https://poweroptimal.com/elon-range-2/ The idea of using a DC element in a geyser is a good one, as DC is a more efficient tech. I would like some feedback from people who have this installed as a solution? Any experience or ideas would be welcome! Thanks!

Hi all Our evac 15 tube solar collector has been working well for years(not so good in winter), but I have the problem in the sense that the 12v dc pump connected to small 12v solar panel keeps on circulating until late afternoon(or while partly cloudy) when there is not enough sun to heat up the tubes, but enough sun to keep the pump going. I am worried that I may loose some of the heat accumulated during the day due to losses, although pipes are insulated. What would be the best way to stop the pump when sun is not sufficient to heat the tubes? Install thermostat/thermal switch in the manifold to control the pump? I have a retrofit geyser, i.e. tubes on roof, geyser…

Hi All Some advice/explanation to my experience please.. So about 6 weeks ago, i had a 20L gas geyser installed at my home to replace my electric geyser.. Works great, but the gas consumption is confusing me. After installation i attached a 9kg cylinder to it, and it lasted me just over 4 days (usage based on weight is 2kg per day, with 4 adults in the home, and 2 showers per day each).After the 9kg was finished, i attached a 48kg cylinder to it, its now 35 days and counting since doing this and its still working. Based on the usage of 2kg's per day that i got of the 9kg, a 48kg cylinder should only last approx 24 days. P.S. nothing has changed in our…

Hi Members, warm greetings. I have explored solar panels and the mppt controller option to help generate electricity but the cost does not seem feasible and it is not really DIY friendly. I am therfore exploring the Flat Plate Collector option. I want to DIY as much as possible. I dont really want to move the geyser to the roof even though I have a Kwikot Dual High Pressure which is suitable since that would involve lots of plumbing and I won't be able to DIY ( it needs to make financial sense so any option over R10 000 wont be feasible ) . Our bill is only around R1200 a month so this project is more about just doing something for fun and as long as I make up the cost af…

Hi. I have a totai 12L gas Geyser. For a while only the hot water tap in the kitchen was igniting the geyser. The shower and tap in the bathroom was not. Now the kitchen tap is also not igniting the geyser when turned on. The only way we were able to get it on was to turn the water in the shower on first then go outside and turn the water knob to from Min to max then once the geyser ignites turn the water switch towards minimum again to get the temperature right. Anyone have any ideas what could be the problem here?

Hi everyone hope someone could help me. Looking to have a gas geyser installed in my unit. Either a Rinnai or Paloma as the most reliable units. Looking to connect it in series from my current 150lt electric geyser to the gas geyser from an installation perspective as the 150lt geyser is just to small for the household. If anyone could help me with reasonable suppliers in JHB Midrand area. Some of the prices for installation of a 26lt geyser are over R40k which seems excessive. Appreciate the help. You could pm me directly if the forum doesn't allow sharing supplier names on the posts. Thanks alot for the help

Hi all! Hope the people in the know can help me out here... Sorry about the long post, but it is a lot of money and I don't want to have regrets. TL:DR - reliability, running cost and cost of long term ownership (won't be moving homes in 10+++ years). What would you choose between IHP Geyser and a new Electric Geyser with vacuum tube convert? I have been really convinced for a while I want a IHP Geyser, mostly my wife is allergic to anything on the house roof. She has now in the last week before I pulled the trigger changed her mind and approved the vacuum tubes (but not a full geyser on the roof). My VERY old 150l geyser finally burst (taking some belonings with it) …

Hi All, I asked this question a while ago on someone else's thread but even though I got some good advice, I did not get a definitive answer with which I feel comfortable enough to do the installation. I will try to embed some photos, but this is my plan. In the ceiling is a standard 150Lt 240V water heater with a 3Kw element. I have been given an 80Lt solar geyser with a flat plate collector, which I want to connect in series and hopefully rely on thermosyphon to keep both cylinders hot while using minimum grid input. If there is no alternative, I am happy to add a 12V solar circulation pump but would prefer not to. Is my diagram correct and what am I missing? Hope th…

Recently moved into a new house, where the water is bore -> jojo -> bigblues -> home. The biggest issue I noticed right away is limescale buildup on aerators, and the pools chlorinator. What is the best method of preventing this from happening? Everyone I have contacted that do filters and boreholes, have no experience with water softening. Things I have found thusfar Siliphos Filter Cartridge - Unsure how long they last and if constant changing would wear the filter? Water Softener FRP Vessel - New system, big cost, also unsure how long 10kg of salt would last. I am hoping someone with experience on this matter can shed some light

Hi All, Magneto thermals- geyser. The one unit keeps overfilling water, water runs out by the overflow point in the front side. ( Filling led light are on) I did remove the float sensor, clean it, and it work for about 2.5 days, then started again to overflow the whole time. Just need to confirm the float valve sensor is faulty. Thanks Mike, Gaborone.

Hi, the municipality in Pretoria changed my conventional electricity meter to a prepaid (Hexing) meter yesterday. I noticed later that the water was not hot, and when I checked the geyserwise monitor, it was blank - receiving no power. It is definitely connected to the swap because of the timing - it has been working and was working up until the swap. Any idea why this happened and how/ if I can rectify the situation before calling someone out? Many thanks in advance. Side note: It is a solar geyser controlled by Geyserwise. Furthermore, the geyser is the only item in the house that is not connected to solar, but only to Eskom power. (Not sure if this is relevant)

Hi so begining of this year i had the geyserwise max conversion done on my geyser. It worked like charm. It would heat up during the day to 55deg or above depending on the sun. in the evening we would fill up the bath tub and the temp would drop to about 43-44deg. This past thursday my element kicked the bucket and tripped my mains everytime it started up. Now after the plumbers changed out the element i have temp issues. It would still heat up to roughly 55deg during the day. But the problem comes now when filling up the bath tub, the temp drops down to low 20's like 23deg, after filling up to the same amount as always. What would cause this. Its a…

Hi everyone. I have recently purchased a home and am in the process of planning renovations. The house is old and the current geyser will have to go ( its a very old geyser). I am looking at getting an IHP geyser for the property. Has anyone installed one of the 200litre units from power4less? If so how are you finding it in terms of consumption and efficiency? We are a family of 4. I am intending on going with a solar and battery back up system and hoping that the IHP geyser can also be powered by the system.

Hi All, I currently have a ITS Solar heat pump ITS-4.7HDP which makes use of a heat sensor and control panel to control the on-off of the heat pump, whoever the panel is basically just a timer and is for all intent purposes, dumb. Has anyone either used the current heat sensor with a sonoff devices such as a TH16 to control the unit, or used the recommend heat sensor from sonoff such as Si7021, AM2301, DS18B20, DHT11 to control the heatpump with Home Assistant?

Hi guys, I need some guidance on how to maintain peace with the Minister of Hot Water in the household in winter. Current Setup; 200l above roof solar geyser with tubes and 4kw element controlled via geyserwise Basic Go-Solr system with 5kw inverter, 10kwh battery and 3.6kw solar plant In Summer, Battery bank is usually full by around 11am and geyserwise kicks in and takes water to max of 75 degrees. Enough for 2 evening showers. Geyser runs for about 30mins At around 4am to take water to about 55c but then it’s eating to batteries but it’s minimal. All in all, I’m able to run household with very little to no need for Eskom on most days. in Winter, the system struggles …

We have four [4] apollo geysers installed on different buildings on our property 2 x 100lt, 1 x 200lt, 1 x 300lt. We have replaced the 300lt for the 3rd time since 2018, the element band thermostat keeps burning out and then eventually the tank bursts. we replaced the current one in December 2025, we rewired it from a different building with a new geyser wise control box, thermostat and titanuim element, we replaced the element and thermostat on 21st January because it burnt out and was shocking at the taps, it worked well until yesterday 15th February, it started shocking at he taps again. the control box is set at 65degrees, but it always boils to 85/90degrees. please a…

Good Day, Not sure if this has been answered before. I have an existing 200l geyser, of which runs with an Heatpump. The geyser still has its element in and DB switch to turn on the element if I really need to, however very rarely do i do that. Would i be able to install a 200l Secondary Solar hight pressure Geyser to my existing setup, so that when the sun is out, the solar tubes will heat the secondary geyser and if not enough sunlight, the Heatpump can heat the primary 200l geyser. Basically i want to supplement my primary geyser with the solar geyser. Is this possible, and plumber's out there can help with this additional setup? Thank You

Hi, I have a Johntech 0.55 kw borehole pump. When it runs dry the voltage increases rather than decreases. This indicates an overload condition. I am using a M521 intelligent pump controller Can anybody please confirm that this is normal or is the pump faulty? Many Thanks

Wanted to get some of you clever peoples opinions. Is a geyser blanket worth its cost and if so what is the rough payback period on say a 150l Kwikot geyser, I have changed the element to a 2Kw. I have 2 150l geysers in the house, the one feeds the kitchen +_ 15m from the geyser, this also feeds my sons bathroom, this still has a 3kw element. The other 150l geyser feeds the main bathroom (shower only). All geysers are controlled via an Astute smart switches in the DB board. I do have solar (5kw SunSynk, 14.3Kwh of battery, soon to be 28.6Kwh), wanted to try and save as much power in order to charge my 2 batteries. So if a blanket would help the loses it might be something…

As opposed to unofficially confused and only finding out later that I'm confused. I set up rules in SmartLife to allow the guest geyser (2kW element) to run, but not whilst the main geyser (kwikot heatpump) is running. Can't have them both on at the same time. These are on separate circuits. Both circuits have a CBI Astute smart controller (ASC). For the main geyser the ASC just monitors. For the guest geyser the ASC also switches the geyser on and off. The heat pump has a built in control unit which I use for scheduling and for setting the temperature. The temperature is set to 57. The guest geyser has a conventional element. This is set by eye to 60 (half way between t…

Hello, can someone advise me on getting my geysers connected to some smart breakers... I have 2x traditional geysers, with 3kw elements. I want them on a timer to switch on only during the day since I have solar. I am ok with them switching on at the same time since my inverter is 12kw and I usually generate enough to have them both running. Should I get 2x 32amp smart breakers for this purpose, or can I get 1x 63amp breaker which can take both geysers? Any recommendation on smart breakers?

My heatpump ITS 4.5 HDP is not switching on during day times , it is showing the sun icon and the 3 timers have been set , it only switch on at night