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Posted

I'm planning to install a system with a 4KW/h battery, 5KW Deye inverter and 3KWp solar. The batteries are primarily there to cope with load shedding, not necessarily to keep me from using Eskom power. (It's a summer home therefore only some solar cells)
I will have excess power and I thought about dumping it into hot water. 

Plan: Two 150l geysers. The first geyser runs as an essential load with the regular heating element (3KW) and temperature set to 40°C (backup). The second geyser is connected to the smartload circuit and temperature is set to 90°C with a smaller heating element. Each heating element is also connected to a contactor and whenever active it also starts the circulation pump. In order to accidentally not hurt ourselves I'll use a thermostatic mixing valve to limit the output temp to 50°C.
2 times 150l and 50°C temperature difference equals 17KW of energy storage. 

Am I missing something? Does is make sense?
 

Posted

I have a single 150L Kwikot geyser which I heat to 80°C with excess solar.  Works very well as an energy dump.

I contacted Kwikot and chatted to an engineer about high temperature operation.  He said that they usually don't operate above 70°C, but everything is rated higher.  The sacrificial anode gets used up quicker at higher temperatures though.

The lowest rated component is the emergency relief valve, which should open at around 92°C - this is a single use valve, so it is supposed be replaced if it ever opens. As a result, I use an absolute maximum of 85°C target temperature, but generally keep it on 80°C for best compromise between longevity and storage.

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