AlexanderR

Hi It's not often you get to design a system from scratch without having to rework an existing system. I would love to get some ideas on what you guys think is best so that when I get quotes, I can check the installer knows what they're doing! I would love some experienced opinions on a new house build. Notes About the Layout I've denoted the 4 bathrooms in blue numbers 1 - 4. I've denoted concrete roof areas in red (rest is thatch) I've denoted North using a yellow arrow. It's hot most of the year where this house is. The initial plan was to use an inverter, but due to the limitations of 40A and the limit this places on the inverter, it makes sense to reduce the load where possible. A Few Questions How many solar geysers would you recommend, given the layout of the bathrooms? (2, 3) What size solar geysers would you recommend? (Bathrooms 3 & 4 only have shower) Do you need a 200L geyser storage for the solar geyser? Do you have any suppliers/brands you'd recommend? Could it be done in phases based on the budget? I.e. if they put in normal geysers (to reduce costs at the start) and later want to upgrade to solar, then how would you do this? I'd appreciate any insights!

Thanks. This does sound great. 1) Can you recommend any decent solar geysers? 2) Can it be done in phases? I.e. let's say in Winter it doesn't get warm enough, then you can add in the heatpumps? 3) If the bathrooms are on 3 different sides of the house, how would you do solar geysers? - would you have 3 solar geysers or would you have 2 and pipe it around?

I've done a lot more reading of people's opinions! 1) Since we live here year round and it's warm, would you recommend a solar geyser? 2) Any particular brands/companies? 3) If the 3 bathrooms are on 3 different sides of the house, how would you do solar geysers? - would you have 3 solar geysers or would you have 2 and pipe it around?

This is the quote of the week! I've never thought of it like this: The only issue is the bath now! 🙂

Thanks for this! It's great to have some real world data to backup what everyone is saying! I appreciate you taking the time to contribute this!

@GreenFields - thanks for the details! Yes, we are limited by the 40A grid. I still need to see what inverter size we can run with that limitation. 1. I think you're right about the heatpump and the inverter size limitation. We do want to run multiple aircons in the evening to cool the house down (4 in total 12 BTU each). Then we'd like to run one in the lounge in the afternoon (24 BTU), so need to plan for this.

Any recommendations for a solar geyser? To answer your question, we stay there permanently. Thanks for taking the time to share your insights.

Are you sure? From what I understand they're running at 1.2 kws or so. I haven't heard about the peak? Thanks for your detailed response. I think it's worth reconsidering the heatpump and rather putting in more panels. That said if it's only 2x 1.3kw for the heat pump, that's. Lot less than the 6kw for 2 geysers and the size inverter you need!

So I'm back to square one, even with a PV installation.... Gas Geyser - or heat pump? What would you guys go for?

Thanks! Do you have any links to any energy efficient ones to consider?

Hi We want to plan the aircons and the solar together. We live in a hot climate near Kruger. It's nearly 30 deg and sunny on most winter days, summer is hotter. House Layout So we have a house layout that looks like the attached image. Small Squares 16m2 Large Left Squares 36m2 Main Rectangle: 65m2 (lots of glass as well) Aircon Usage Times Bedrooms we'd run at night. (smaller squares on right and larger squares on left) Living Area - only run during the day (large rectangle in middle) A Few Quick Questions Would you recommend 1 aircon per room? Or would you recommend a multi zone system? https://acdirect.co.za/product-category/air-conditioner-multi-split/three-zone/ What is the best setup for solar?

I will respond and research all suggestions in detail! A massive thanks to everyone who's taken time to help out. I really appreciate it. Not sure if it's important, but the estate only has a 40amp power grid.

Thanks for the tip. We'd need a 32 or 36 BTU. Any ideas for this range? Any other ranges to look at apart from the LG Dual Inverter? Would you go for a larger 32 BUT or 2 x 18 BTUs? Can we have one powerful outside unit and have it power multiple rooms inside? Do you know of anything like this https://samsungair.co.za/product/samsung-free-joint-multi-airconditioner/

@GreenFields & @Scorp007 - thanks for the detailed response. I really appreciate you taking the time to help out. If you need any more info, let me know and I'll try get it. ______________________ Current Info 1) We currently use 1000 kw/h per month (1000 units) from Eskom. This is in the house we're renting. 2) We're not really running the main aircon. ______________________ New House Aircons Lounge Room Size: 12m long x 7m x 7m high (thatch) - I need to work out what size aircon to install here. 3 Rooms of 4x4 (Bedrooms) 1 Room 6 x 6 (Main Bedroom) That's what we'd like to cool. ______________________ New House Other 2 x ITS Heat Pumps Pool Pump Ceiling Fans - 4 Run Continuously to Circulate Air Gas Stove & Oven ______________________ GOAL: To first get the sun to power the lounge aircons, then as we get funds, expand to power the other aircons and then the whole house. Have a little battery so if there's load shedding at night, we can run our ceiling fans. That's Why I Was Thinking: Sunsynk 16kW Single Phase LV Hybrid Inverter - has capacity, if we want to run 3 or 4 aircons later at the same time. HUBBLE AM-2 5.5KWh 51 Volt Lithium (unless there's a much cheaper one you can recommend) Not Sure How Many & What Panels to Get to Run that Large Lounge Aircon ______________________ Questions 1. How many KW does a larger aircon normally use? It has an initial draw then a huge drop off with inverter type ones. We'd need a 32 or 36 BTU for the lounge: https://www.jet-air.co.za/download/aircon-products/q-plus-inverter.pdf (https://www.jet-air.co.za/midwall-aircon.html). 2. Do you know any energy efficient larger aircons? 3. Are there larger aircons that can be piped into multiple rooms? (Rather than having 3 wall mounted ones, we have one larger one that pipes into the rooms) ______________________

Would this be a good option for the inverter: https://powerforum-store.co.za/products/sunsynk-sun-16kw-single-phase-lv-hybrid-inverter

We will still use the grid, but would prefer at some point to reduce our usage and rather use more solar.

Would I need a 24v or 48v battery?

Hi I like near the Kruger and we get a lot of sun. It's also hot in summer at 45 deg! We're building a new house and I want to plan the aircons and solar carefully. I'd like to run solar panels to power my aircons during the day, and have a small battery for LED's and fans at night. Is there a way to do this without a large battery system? I.e. I want to configure to aircons to only run when it's sunny and hot! 1) Would you recommend a Sunsynk 8KVA to power the lounge aircon during the day? Later if we need, we could always add another 8KVA inverter if we want to power more aircons in the bedrooms. 2) Any particular aircon brands that are energy efficient I should look at? 3) I want to try have a small battery for some LED's and ceiling fans in loadshedding. I don't want a large battery bank to power aircons at night. What's the best setup for this? Thanks in advance! I really appreciate any insight and help. P.S. Far too many companies just want to sell their largest system and I want to not overspend on batteries we don't need. When it's hot and the sun is shining, I want it to power my aircon!

So you had PV and a solar geyser! Interesting. What do you mean think on a heatpump? Is this for the pool?

Thanks for this! These look amazing! I didn't even know about them! Will reach out and see if they can also replace parts if needed.

Thanks. That Bosch looks neat!

Hi I'm building a new house and would like to get someone's experience with roof fans and solar. We live near Kruger, and it's 30 Deg in Winter. In summer it's a lot hotter. Our fans run all the time. They're also great at keeping away mozzies. All the fans I've tried before start squeaking after about 2 years. I'm told the bearings wear out and they always need to replace the whole fan. A Few Quick Questions: 1. What energy efficient fan would you choose? 2. How many blades should it have? 3. Do you know any good ones that are quiet. 4. Do you know any good fans where you can just replace the bearings every few years if needed? I want to connect up a solar system and want to work out how to handle the wind movement in the house. If anyone has experience or knowledge on fans please chime in! Thanks in advance.

Do you have any recommendations for a gas/electric stove? Any SMEG or Samsung ones you know about?

Hi We're building a new house and I'm reviewing the geysers. Is a 150L or a 100L more energy efficient? 1) The larger uses more energy to warm up, and needs 'less re-heating'. 2) The smaller is faster to heat. Notes: 1) Not sure if a larger or smaller geyser looses more heat when not in use. 2) How much hot 65 Deg C 'geyser' water do you need on average for a shower? Does anyone know the ratio of hot water these use as I assume this will help work it out. I'm not so worried about the price difference as it's not very big.

Thanks! We're going to add solar for the house as well. 1) Would you go for a 100L or 150L geyser? Since it's so hot here, we often don't use that much hot water. 2) I want to avoid geysers using the battery. Is there a way to only have the inverter power up the geysers? (I want to keep the battery for at night with load shedding)