Hi Guys,

 

Here is the latest pricing from Xstream for those of you that might be interested.

 

 

 

 

I must say when I did this 5 years back, the prices were much cheaper. Seems like as soon as Eskom started the rebate program, the pricing has gone through the roof

 

At the time I did the install, I did not know a lot about this, so there were loads of mistakes made.

At the time, there was an additional amount, about R3k, on the quote, for a frame.

The guy that did the quote, could not tell me what it was for.

Only years later I found out that this frame was to position the collector to face North and at the correct angle.

 

My system is a 200L geyser with only one flat panel collector. I see these days they reccomend 2 flat panels for 200L.

 

Initially it worked brilliant in summer, as I switched the power off from August till April every year.

In winter it was a bit of a struggle, due to the incorrect angle and facing East.

Two years back my electrical consumption started to skyrocket and I could not find the cause.

I installed a timer on the geyser, which helped a little, but not much.

I then got myself an eneryg monitor.

Eventually found the problem to be the thermostat on the geyser was faulty and never switched the element off

 

This year I build my own frame for the geyser and the flat panel to turn it facing North and at the correct angle.

Also put insulation on the exposed piping on the roof. This also seemed to help a lot.

 

Only other thing I would reccomend with a solar installation is a Geyserwise. With this device you can see what is happening and configure how you want the system to work.

 

For long overcast days and Eskom blackouts, I have also installed a gas heater in my 2nd bathroom shower. Works great!

 

Thanks Wetkit.

Also been looking into these.

Do you think one can live comfortably with just a solar geyser like the ones above?

My electrical geyser is the big culprit for our power bill.

In your experience do you feel it is possible to only make use of solar for water heating in a house of 2 people? 2 showers each day in total.

Keen to hear your thoughts.

E

in my opinion, yes for the summer months, but winter can be a little bit of a problem. i installed my own one last year but removed one of the evacuated tubes and fitted a 1800w element which does the trick on the winter days.I also installed a solar controller for the geyser - i chose not to use the geyser wise unit over this one as it controls automatically the filling of the tank, the temperature, and a few other things......

 

A solar water heating system is a method of using the heat from the sun to provide hot water for a home. The energy efficiency of the mechanisms that are used can almost completely reduce the need for electricity when generating heat in a plumbing system.

 

 

Macerator Pumps

 

@Mike, I am interested in your solar controller.

Could you perhaps give us some details on where you got it and how much it cost?

 

Thanks

Heya Guys

Does anyone know the heat loss per day in a extreme cylinder?

Taken if no cicultaing water.

Thanks Guys

E

My old one is rated 3.02kwh per day standing loss.

I see the latest 200L units is rated 2.06kwh per day standing loss.