Johandup

It is cheap to install surge protection inside a db. The value of home contents justify this protection. In my town I suspect most of the earthing copper wire in the minisubs (which are never locked anymore) is stolen so the earth leakage system is suspect of you depend on this. Santam has just notified us that they are no longer covering “surge damage due to loadshedding” because of high claims.

This is a manual process that involves a lot of work and safety procedures.

Bought from the powerforum store and he delivery of 15 panels was painless. Ensure you have space for a big lorry for parking and offloading.

Transformers have tappings that can be adjusted to compensate for losses as well as overloading. So in a perfect world it would be set for 230v because there is no overloading etc. But in our world all transformers are overloaded and the startup voltages would be above 230v to compensate for this - so as the transformers start up the volts are above 230v untill the demand stabilises. Watch the sparks on online videos to see how hazardous switching on transfromers is - well designed systems use remote switching. I trip my db main breaker when the power goes off - but I’m retired and at home most of the time.

How big is the breaker and how old is it? Sometimes it is worth it to replace it to ensure it is not the problem. A mcb can trip on overload as well as a short.

Big difference between the Highveld and the Cape seasons. But this is the way to run my system. I am totally shocked by the replacement costs of a new 150l geyser. And to think I discarded it when I bought the Paloma 😂 I use solar to heat the kitchen 150l geyser. The 2kw element increase the temperature by 14 deg C per hour. A geyser is a nice way to use excess solar power.

@hoohloc thanks for the reply. I’m looking at the way forward now.

Capital layout. I have a solar panel inverter setup where I get power for free.

Nope - not necessary.

Geysers must have pressure control valves. Mandatory and very expensive If you are going off municipal feed why do you have a connection? My system is similiar to yours but I have changed the municipal feed to fill my tanks when my system is down - which has happened with lightning strikes. If I need to use “paid for water” I monitor it. The opening inside a control valve is ridiculously small so it willl always restrict flow. You always need a non-return valve close to the street to prevent the geysers from emptying into the street. Oh, and to prevent your pump from assisting with low municipal water pressures 😂 My dab pumps into the household pipes with no restrictions in the pipe lines. Google on how to adjust the dab water pressure - it is quite a clever pump system. At 4.5 bar the long hairs are very happy with the shower volume. The kwhr consumption of these pumps is very low. My system has been in use for 6 years and it is really issue free. I have a 2.2kw Franklin borehole pump which is fed from my 8kw Sunsynk inverter with ease. But I manage it to make sure I don’t drain my batteries. I do a lot of garden irrigation when it is dry or hot.

The price of lpg forces me into this direction. Can anyone please share their experiences with this combination. My concern is feeding high temperature water into a Paloma that regulates the water temps.

There are many ways a pipeline can loose pressure. Leaking geysers must top the list - their pressure reducers can drip a lot. I have a big Dab system supplying pressure at 4.2 bar - any pressure control system will reduce the waterflow and you will lose the advantage of an inverter dab system. I recommend that you remove this (I had the same and removed it). You can increase the pressure a lot to id leaks quicker

If it came with a 3 pin plug you can install a normal plug outlet. I’ve done it this way. Test the plug to ensure it trips the rcd. Do you refer to a booster pump?

For geyser control the Geyserwise system is tops. Especially as it is soon available with a wifi board.

I bought one to control a pump with. It was too far from my house and unreliable Ewelink connection.

I downsized my geyser element from 3kw to 2kw recently. My system was struggling to feed a constant 3000w to the geyser. Since then the following observations: Much easier to get 2000w together to heat the geyser. The temperature increase is 7 degrees C per hour per kw element when heating i.e. 14 degrees C increase in an hour for a 150l geyser. With a geyserwise installed it is easy to manage the system. When nothing else is using power I would just start the geyser and note the temperature increase.

Lots on this topic in the forum: Sustainable Landscaping If you are fortunate (like me) to have good water it is a blessing. I had one access into my yard and thats where the water (20kl hr) was. There are many ways to clean water to make it potable. Once Eskom goes the water supply will follow …

So true as it is the same for me. As I get older I get a lot more intolerable for guvament errors. The convenience of having solar power and borehole water means a lot to me. Saving for me is in the same ballpark.

No stock toaday

Ok, so it will be on the market in November. Nothing available now.

This is funny. They have it but its nowhere to be found??

Guys, I date from the bc (before computers 😂) generation so be patient please. Why do you convert the Sonoffs to Tasmota? And then you use Node-red? Some explanation to put all of this into perspective wil be appreciated. I have Sonoffs and they work ok’ish. The only nuisance for me is when Ewelink needs login. And the consumption stats for the power monitoring is not so hot and up to date historical.

@Sonoff Africa What is the “Loadshedder”? Never heard the term but very curious.

Hi @Brian_SA I will never buy a switch which has 63a on the front but says in the print not to exceed 5000w. The only issue with Geyserwise is that it is not possible to manage it via the internet. Its ability to stop start at 4 different times per day at set temperatures is very good. To manage it via its panel is very easy n

I bought my panels from the powerforum store and compared current with last purchased price. You only want to buy from reputable stores - there are many fly-by-night operators on the web. Beware of them. A quick search will bring up many issues relating to this.