KDR

Hi. Is your system using heat pipes inside?

Hi all. I just had a solar geyser retrofit installed for a 150 litre geyser (15 evacuator tubes, geyserwise max timer, 12V DC pump with 12 backup battery and 10W solar panel for pump). Installation done on Wed 14 Sep 2022. Cost me just under R15000. Apollo tubes were provided. Too soon to measure its efficiency in reducing my electricity consumption but I can say the system is ineffective for mornings especially if you require your water temperature to be more than 50 degrees. A typical household needs hot water mainly in the morning, say from 5am - 6am. That means the geyser should have been heating water from at least by 3am. But we know that around that time, there is no sunlight, therefore you'll have to use the grid. It is the same thing in the afternoon when people come back from work. That is between 6pm - 8pm. At around 4pm, the geyser temperature reaches its maximum around 55 degrees (this is measured on a day where the temperature is 27 degrees outside). You may have to draw from the grid if you want the water to be >50 degrees. Therefore this system is more useful in the evenings but not so useful at the critical part of the day, that is, in the mornings. So, I see the efficiency of this system to be far better in summer months than winter months. There is a flaw in the geyserwise timer that I picked up today. I have the timer to come on at 5:30am and go off at 7:30am. I had loadshedding from 6am to 8am this morning. But the timer indicated the “element was in use” (element indicator on the display was on). This is misleading.