March 16, 20224 yr Hi guys came across this forum and found it really interesting and informative. I am looking forward to learning as much as possible. I have bought an old house in 2016 and while it was not falling apart needed a lot of upgrading. Spent the last few years renovating bathrooms kitchens etc. as I saved money. I changed the stove to gas with elec oven and now want to start my journey to reduce my reliance on eskom. I would like to install a retrofit vacuum tube panel to my existing geyser as my next step and then start with a solar system that can be built on in steps as funds allow. My average consumption is about 14Kwh a day. I think this could be reduced with the solar geyser. I would be happy to reduce my electricity bill initially but move to a total off grid setup removing the need for eskom . Any suggestions on a basic setup that can help with load shedding for now but I can add panels n batteries as time goes by would be appreciated.
March 16, 20224 yr I would skip the solar geyser and use that funds for more solar panels and maybe more batteries. I would recommend a 5kw Sunsynk and one or preferably 2 Pylontech US3000C along with about 4-5kw solar(so like 12-14 455w panels or 10-12 540w panels). This should get you about 80-90 % or more in savings on your bill.
March 16, 20224 yr I agree with Nexus rather spend the 24k on another battery if you have enough panels, replace your element on the geyser with a smaller one, and get your geyser to run on a timer during the day. I am saving close to R1500 a month with my setup.
March 17, 20224 yr Author Thanks a lot for the suggestion Nexuss. Sounds like a perfect setup for my needs. I was going to do a retrofit solar collector to my existing geyser as it is quite new so the cost will only be around 12k instead of 25k for a complete geyser. Just out of curiosity how much of your electricity needs does your current setup cover?
March 17, 20224 yr 4 minutes ago, Vin said: Thanks a lot for the suggestion Nexuss. Sounds like a perfect setup for my needs. I was going to do a retrofit solar collector to my existing geyser as it is quite new so the cost will only be around 12k instead of 25k for a complete geyser. Just out of curiosity how much of your electricity needs does your current setup cover? No problem glad to help, my usage is quite a bit more than yours but here is some data from last month and the year so far,your grid usage will be a lot less or almost nothing most of the summer.
March 17, 20224 yr 22 minutes ago, Vin said: Thanks. Do you get those stats from your Sunsynk inverter? No its from the Solarman app, If you buy a 5kw Sunsynk ask them if it comes with the new updated dongle as its much better from what i understand..
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