This_isKat

Thanks for pointing this out! I'm with Discovery Insure, I will find out

I think this might be a problem for me and my household, it will take months on learning to remember this. Sounds like you brought a machine gun to a fist fight😉 Out of interest, what is the size of your geyser? Unfortunately, I can't do much on the routine front. My wife has to go into the office so she takes a shower in the morning and our small children need to be prepared for pre-school in the morning so our helper gives them a quick bath. I work from home so I'm flexible and can take a shower later in the morning. Either one or both of us go to the gym in the evenings at least 3 times a week - so we have evening showers after gym. Most of my hot water usage happens early the morning and late at night. During winter months my monthly usage on the geyser alone is between 850 KWh to 950 KWh. There are months where I feel I would be off-the-grid if it wasn't for the geyser The solar geyser option (with an additional geyser to store enough water for evening and morning showers) looked appealing but I have a feeling that the winter months will be terrible. How many KWh does it take to heat up your water in the morning? Roughly, how many KWh does your heat pump draw on a monthly basis?

Thank you all for the feedback! I must admit that the positive feedback on the heat pumps has really thrown a spanner in the works. I had initially ruled out a heat pump based on some of the reviews that I have read (and watched on Youtube). For every one good experience with a heat pump, I came across around 3 to 4 bad/not-so-great experiences. In addition, I got the sense that the margin for error with a heat pump is much bigger than it is for a solar geyser - eg heat pump units don't last as long as they do, bad installers (I saw a photo on one of the forum topics where the ceiling was gushing water from a terrible installation/problem with an ITS pump), some units aren't as efficient as they claim to be (so you don't really see the cost saving) and I understand that the unit needs to be maintained frequently (at least once a year) - I am hopeless when it comes to being handy and I will outsource everything to a service provider, which makes me susceptible to being ripped off. I have some questions for those with heat pumps: which brand is the most reliable and good? I received a private message from the Powerforum Store strongly recommending this heat pump https://powerforum-store.co.za/collections/accessories/products/200-elite-magneto-thermo-tank - does anyone have experience with it? how do I identify a good installer (who knows what they're doing)? Any recommendations for installers who are able to install in the Fourways/Sandton area? is maintenance really necessary? If yes, how frequently must the unit be maintained? Any idea (ballpark figure) of how much this would cost? would a 150 litre geyser be sufficient for the heat pump and what size pump do I need? A 150 litre geyser is currently sufficient for my households needs but just wondering if I need a second geyser are the Eskom savings really as high as they claim to be? Or would you say the root of the savings is complementing the heat pump with a solar set up - a heat pump uses less energy than an element, can work through an inverter with solar set up and has access to excess power? In other words, if the heat pump was fully on the grid, the saving wouldn't be as high? - I hope I am making sense finally, will an 8kw inverter be sufficient to run the heat pump or would l need to run the heat pump through non-essential?

Thanks for the feedback! Out of interest, do you also use the geyser in the morning and with regards to insulation, I assume you have a geyser blanket? I currently have a 4kw element - it's probably a good idea to replace it with a 2kw element. I suspect my current 150 litre geyser may not be enough for my needs given the night and morning showers. Here's a screenshot of the items that the supplier included in his quote:

Hi All About a year and a half ago I installed an 8kw Sunsynk inverter, 2 x 5.5kwh Hubble batteries and 12 x 545w solar panels. My 150 litre geyser is on non-essential however it gets powered through solar when there's excess solar power. Due to my geyser and household shower habits, I am stilling giving Eskom a lot of my money and the main cause of this is that, in my household, showers are taken early in the morning and at night - unfortunately, I don't think I will be able to change these habits. I have been looking at either getting a heat pump or converting my current geyser to solar using evacuated tubes. After much research on heat pumps, I think the safer (and idiot proof) route, from a maintenance point of view, is the evacuated tubes. A few of the suppliers gave me a long list of all the issues with heat pumps - some made sense, some didn't. One of the suppliers that I reached out to mentioned that the size of my geyser is too small to store enough hot water for night showers and morning showers and he recommended that I get a second 150 litre and both geyers will be connected to 30 evacuated tubes. His quote (which also includes the second geyser) is more or less around what a heat pump would cost. According to him, the water will be heated during the day from the sun and there should be enough hot water for night and morning showers. This makes sense to me - but I would appreciate any views (good or bad) on the above so that I can make a somewhat informed decision? Thanks!

I used Sakisa Energy and Technology. Here's a link to their website - https://sakisa.co.za/. You can also check out their YouTube channel for videos of some of their previous installations (including mine).

Thanks @Bobster. for the valuable information. I will explore further. I have made some slight changes to my routine and I have noticed a small difference - which is better than nothing.

I paid around R176,000. So far so good, I am happy with the system.

Hi All, Just as an update, as of yesterday (27 June 2022), my system is fully up and running. Which is perfect timing given the threat of stage 6 loadshedding announced in the morning. I ended up going for: (i) 1 x Sunsynk 8KW inverter; (ii) 2 x Hubble 5.5 kWh batteries; and (iii) 12 x Jinko 545W panels. 6 panels are north facing and the other 6 panels are facing west. I followed the recommended advice and bought a meter to get a sense of my usage, the meter only worked on plugged electronics but based on the data, the usage from plugged electronics was not significant. My geyser and oven were definitely the biggest contributors towards my electricity usage. I ended up going for a different installer. His quote was considerable better than everyone else that I spoke to and met with (including the installers that I mentioned above). It took some time to get the installation started because I wanted to be comfortable (as a noob) that I have researched everything that I needed to - also there were stock shortages on the Hubble batteries. The installer put everything on essential except the geyser and oven. The geyser and oven are on non-essential but they get powered from excess solar during the day and at night they draw from the grid. The installer also included a geyser timer for free and I am now able to monitor usage from my geyser on an app (CBI). What's concerning is that the geyser was on from 4am until 6am and then again from 9am until 10am, and as at 11am, the geyser has already used 13kWh. My geyser is a 150 litre geyser but I suspect (and according to the app) that the element is a 4kw. Other than the issue with the geyser element (which I will sort out in the coming days by replacing the current element with a 2kw element), I am happy with the installation. Thank you all for your valuable insights - I really appreciate it!

Sure, I will keep you guys updated. Solar Supply (https://solarsupply.co.za/) provided me with the quote.

Thank you all - I really appreciate your contributions! I am dropping the solar geyser conversion. I got a revised quote which includes an 8KW Sunsynk, 2 x 5.12KW lithium battery and 10 x 545w Canadian / JA Solar Panels for around R149,000. For the sake of completeness, I will shop around for two comparative quotes. I will pull the trigger on the solar installation once I have better sense of what my usage looks like.

Hi All Thank you very much for your valuable contribution. Apologies if this is a noob question, @Quintrix how do I check “what is using [my] 1000 units and when” and “when - time of day -do [I] use most units”? Is this an expensive exercise? My assumption is that my geyser is the culprit because it’s always on 24/7. I will definitely get a timer for it as suggested in this thread. To answer some of the questions: · we use the oven approximately 3 to 5 times week and on the odd Sunday, we use it to braise for about 3 to 4 hours; · I don’t have an aircon but I’m planning on installing one. It seems like installer one’s solution is the preferred option however maybe I’m too gullible and I easily fall for sales pitches, I found installer two to be more knowledgeable. Both installers sell the equipment and do installations however the after-sale support from installer two seems great – they regularly monitor power production from previous installations and they can troubleshoot and provide support remotely by accessing your inverter. I reached out to installer two yesterday and I got a revised quote which includes: (i) Deye or Sunsynk 5KW inverter; (ii) 2 x 5.12KW lithium battery (Shoto); and (iii) 10 x 420W Half cell Modules Mono panel (I assume that these are CSUN) for R126,132. They also sent me a quote for converting my geyser to solar – it will cost me R24,477 and it includes 3 x 340W JA Solar Panel Monocrystalline Half Cell. Fortunately, I found this thread (https://powerforum.co.za/topic/11340-friendlytoasts-journey-to-off-grid-some-noob-questions-to-get-started/) a day ago and I like the advice on that thread (ie in my case – as opposed to looking at a separate solution for my geyser, spend the money on more panels and an 8KW Sunsynk). My budget is R140,000 (I can probably stretch it to R145,000) including installation. I would appreciate your views on whether the quote from installer two seem reasonable - I have attached a copy of the quote? Should I shop around some more? Do you have any recommendations? I will reach out to installer one again for a revised quote on the basis of: (i) a 8KW Sunsynk; (ii) twice the amount of batteries; and (iii) more or higher watt panels. Revised Quote (Installer Two).pdf

Hi All, I am a very clueless noob and I am looking at installing solar at my home. I requested a few quotes from installers around September 2021 and there were two quotes that looked good. I decided to hold off on the solar installation until this year so that I can better understand what I need. In terms of usage, I spend around R2,500 to R3,000 per month – I think this translates to around 900 to 1,000 units. My stove is gas. My over and geyser are powered by Eskom. The aim is to reduce my electricity bill through solar and have back up power when loadshedding starts again. I am not looking at being off-grid (I can’t afford it and it sounds admin intensive) but I want to reduce my reliance on Eskom by 70% to 80% and then have coverage for loadshedding. I know that my geyser (150 litres) probably contributes the most towards my monthly usage but the plan is to separately convert it to solar. One of the installers was concerned about the prepaid meter (Landis Gyr+) and that it will treat the solar generated electricity as Eskom electricity. I raised the same concern with another installer (installer two below) but he wasn’t particularly concerned about it (I think he has a way around this). To be honest, I am not sure if the items listed in the quotes that I have been provided (together with the geyser conversion) will be sufficient to reduce my reliance on Eskom by 70% – 80% and I would appreciate some thoughts and guidance on what would be optimal. Broadly speaking, the quotes (all in, including installation) that I received from the two installers were similar but here’s a breakdown of the inverter, battery, panels and price: Installer One Installer Two Inverter Deye or Sunsynk 5KW inverter Deye or Sunsynk 5KW inverter Battery 4.8KW lithium battery (brand wasn’t included in the quote) 5.12KW lithium battery (Shoto) Panels 12 x JA Solar 410W mono solar panels 8 x CSUN 400W half cell modules mono panels Price R88,835 (including VAT) R85,238 (including VAT) Should I go for a bigger inverter (ie Sunsynk 8KW) or is 5KW sufficient? On the batteries, should I go for 2 x 5KW? Are there any recommended affordable battery brands? Also, I am thinking that maybe I should get one or two more quotes, please let me know if there are any recommended installers who can do installations in the Fourways area?