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tube collector with geyser wise max not working


Yogie

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Good evening all, I'm new here and was having an interesting conversation with a friend earlier. As we were talking about his new solar geyser system the penny dropped that mine might not be working, First off my solar system was bought new from a place run by what i can say is a crook - a guy called Marko shop is in Stormvoel. Anyway to cut a long story short the crappy installation i got from this guy had 101 problems from the start (confirmed by the solar contractors who have come to fix the mess several times).

This is what my invoice read like: Geyser 150l, Geyserwise Micro Controller single, Installation package with air release valve, piping, pipe isolation, 10w 12v solar panel, 12v circulation pump, 12v backup battery, This was the same for 2 geysers - a 150l (south facing)and a 200l (north facing).  

Since installation i have had several errors ranging from E1, E4 and E9. These units were installed and started being used in May 2015 and since then i have probably had solar guys come out 8 times in the 4 years. I have been assisted by Hendrik Nortje;JP Solar and Claude - Edwards Plumbers. My current problem  is that i am pulling power from element on the north facing tube collectors for an hour in the morning  - 5am - 6:00 am so that i can have hot water even now with the heatwave I've kept this on because i don't want to be stuck with no water in the morning. Secondly one of my tube collectors is south facing because of the complex rules at the time i was building i wasn't able to place both on the north facing side - the issue here is that this one will always need to pull from element early in the morning but I'm not sure if it heats up further when the sun does get to it. Basically i haven't heard water pumping for a long time and I'm worried that the pump function is faulty. I suspect with all these repairs someone might have by-passed the pump totally and made the system just draw from the element. Right now the solar differential is set at 7 degree for both geyserwise units, anti freeze at 5 degrees and collector temp is 28 on both while geyser temp is at 45 deg for the north facing unit and 38 deg for the south facing. I haven't seen the pump indicator on for months. When i left this morning at 7 am my north facing geyser temp was about 32 deg and when i got back at 7 pm it was 45 deg. PLS HELP IF YOU CAN !!! 

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12 hours ago, Yogie said:

PLS HELP IF YOU CAN

I found my non return valve was 15mm with a plastic inner that melted .Replaced that with brass inner valve(20mm) and the 12v brass pump(intermittent).Sediment is a killer for the pump.Check the battery.I would not stick a battery in the roof(high temp)either.

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On 2019/10/24 at 11:15 PM, Yogie said:

Good evening all, I'm new here and was having an interesting conversation with a friend earlier. As we were talking about his new solar geyser system the penny dropped that mine might not be working, First off my solar system was bought new from a place run by what i can say is a crook - a guy called Marko shop is in Stormvoel. Anyway to cut a long story short the crappy installation i got from this guy had 101 problems from the start (confirmed by the solar contractors who have come to fix the mess several times).

This is what my invoice read like: Geyser 150l, Geyserwise Micro Controller single, Installation package with air release valve, piping, pipe isolation, 10w 12v solar panel, 12v circulation pump, 12v backup battery, This was the same for 2 geysers - a 150l (south facing)and a 200l (north facing).  

Since installation i have had several errors ranging from E1, E4 and E9. These units were installed and started being used in May 2015 and since then i have probably had solar guys come out 8 times in the 4 years. I have been assisted by Hendrik Nortje;JP Solar and Claude - Edwards Plumbers. My current problem  is that i am pulling power from element on the north facing tube collectors for an hour in the morning  - 5am - 6:00 am so that i can have hot water even now with the heatwave I've kept this on because i don't want to be stuck with no water in the morning. Secondly one of my tube collectors is south facing because of the complex rules at the time i was building i wasn't able to place both on the north facing side - the issue here is that this one will always need to pull from element early in the morning but I'm not sure if it heats up further when the sun does get to it. Basically i haven't heard water pumping for a long time and I'm worried that the pump function is faulty. I suspect with all these repairs someone might have by-passed the pump totally and made the system just draw from the element. Right now the solar differential is set at 7 degree for both geyserwise units, anti freeze at 5 degrees and collector temp is 28 on both while geyser temp is at 45 deg for the north facing unit and 38 deg for the south facing. I haven't seen the pump indicator on for months. When i left this morning at 7 am my north facing geyser temp was about 32 deg and when i got back at 7 pm it was 45 deg. PLS HELP IF YOU CAN !!! 

Where are you located?

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On 2019/10/25 at 11:59 AM, flamegrilled said:

I found my non return valve was 15mm with a plastic inner that melted .Replaced that with brass inner valve(20mm) and the 12v brass pump(intermittent).Sediment is a killer for the pump.Check the battery.I would not stick a battery in the roof(high temp)either.

Thank you @flamegrilled, when i eventually have enough information i will try and get someone to come in and sort this out. At this point i need to get as much info from other people and reading then decide if its worth fixing it. 

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@flamegrilled @Richard Mackay

This solar instalation has been such a joke from day 1…. Let me just give a timeline of this drama!! 

27th of November 2014 - website enquiry to Solar company X. They claim they are in the process of being registered by SESSA. 

2 December 2014 - I call Gloria Mdleleni from SESSA and she confirmed that she was busy registering Solar Company X, I then believe its ok to pay them. I make payment of the entire amount of the quote, which is R 32 000. After paying I am suddenly informed that the solar system can only be installed close to completion of the house so that the tubes don’t rust. So now the crook can enjoy my money the whole of December until May 2015 when I finish construction.

 6 December 2014 – geysers placed in ceiling and not connected. 

 17 April 2015 – first set of solar tubes arrives and installed. 

 6 May 2015 – installation of second set of solar tubes.  

 7 May  2015 - pay plumber to come and finish connection R 3000. 

16 May 2015 - me and a male friend drive to the store in Stormvoel Auto Centre to force these people to come and complete this installation. They come and finish installation – when they are done we test the system and the water seeps through my main bedroom ceiling onto my brand new laminated floors. 

6 Jul 2015 – leak in roof call Outsurance in the middle of the night to send plumbers. 

7 July 2015 – solar guy 1 comes to fix the system – invoice R 1700 

 22 August 2015 – solar guy 1 comes to fix leak  - invoice R 450 

 29 Sept 2016 - solar guy 2 comes to fix dry joints – invoice R 750 

 1 Dec 2016- solar guy 2 comes to fix power trip – invoice R 800

 20 Dec 2016 – solar guy 2 comes to fix pump – invoice R 750 

25 May 2017 – solar guy 2 comes to fix system again (its benn malfuctioning since Deember 2016) – invoice R 3813 also sends me the email below explaining what the issue is. 

Hi Yolanda,

Just when I think I have seen everything possible on a geyserwise installation I see something that would have been a joke if was not so expensive to correct.

When we ( I brought along my son and his helper) we moved the collector sensor to it’s proper place on the solar panel on the roof. Getting back to the geyserwise we had a geyser temperature of 54° C  and a panel temperature indicated at 25° C, but the pump indicator showing the circulation pump to be active.

Looking at the control panel, I saw that this panel is a ‘two digit’ panel, where as your other panel is a ‘ three digit’ panel ( this is referring to the temperature display on the panels – the older model geyserwise units only had a 2 digit display where the newer units has a 3 digit display).

Getting in the roof confirmed my suspicion that the original installers screwed up the installation. The power supply is from the newer models( the mentioned 3 digit units),so the power supply and the display panel does not match. 

Also, when the units changed to the 3 digit units, the value of the collector temperature sensor was changed, and the little cable tie indicating the value of the sensor is removed from the sensor on your unit, so is suspect the sensor might be from the newer units, but can not confirm the fact.

After seeing the mismatch between the power supply and the display, we tried running the pump straight from the battery , but could not get pump to run. The battery voltage was at about 9.8v ,but that is enough to get the pump running, slower than normal,but running, so the pump n the installation is faulty, and testing the power supply also proved the power supply is not switching power to activate the pump.

On the attached quotation you will see that I propose a complete new geyserwise max unit, with a new back up battery, and new circulation pump. When replacing the pump I will  also install Cobra ball valves either side of the pump to make future maintenance easier as at the moment we will have to drain the system to replace the pump.

At the moment the system is still heating up the geyser on electricity , but the solar side is not functioning  .

Please feel  free to contact me with any questions you might have. The only thing I can not explain at the moment is how the system functioned previously, but will speak to Gavin at geyserwise, maybe he can give some explanation.

15 Sept 2017 – solar guy 1 comes finally to fix Geyser wise units – invoice R 4490

I’m away from December 2017 until July 2018 so the system is switched off for that period. 

14 Sept 2018 – solar guy 1 comes to fix yet another issue – invoice R 850 

19 January 2019 – solar guy 1 comes to repair lightning damage – invoice R 3000

 5 July 2019 – solar guy 3 comes to fix element – invoice R 1450 

That’s a whopping R 18 503 to fix a system that cost R 32 000. To put it into context – my electricity bill is R 400 per month – I could have used all this cash to pay that bill for 46 months. 

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Would it be safe to say that solar tube installations are more complex?

I have only been interested in the Geyserwise solar PV option (dual) and would like to know the comparison between the two systems.

The only disadvantage of their PV system (that stopped me buying it) is the difficulty of utilising the PV panels into a general solar PV system for the house when the water reaches temperature. 

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@Richard Mackay - Solar Tube installs are slightly more expensive, but are not more complicated than a Flat Panel panel installation, if anything they are simpler.

@Yogie - Ouch, you have been ripped, my costs were under R23k for all items (150l Solar Geyser, 2 sets of tubes - 24 total, GeyserWise Max, 12V DC Pump - I have a 12V central feed installed in my roof already)

Check out my Blog Post where I chat about Solar Water https://powerforum.co.za/blogs/entry/34-i-am-broke-how-do-i-make-solar-work-for-me/

 

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@KLEVA I know I've been had. The issue is that Geyserwise has a list of what you would think are reputable Solar experts. But everyone come and screws you around and tells you the previous guy was wrong for doing x y z ... So who do i believe ? My tubes haven't worked I'm sure for over 12 months if not more cuz i don't recall hearing the buzzing noise they used to make in a long time. So what can i do ? Call another person to come fix this s*it ? Pay another R 5K ? Whats the point because my electricity bill is in any case not more than R 400. I'm pissed .... but it is what it is at this point. Thanks ill check out the blog 

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On 2019/11/01 at 7:25 PM, Richard Mackay said:

Would it be safe to say that solar tube installations are more complex?

I’m not a plumber or expert on geysers but installed my own geyser and found it very easy to do the installation for a 200ltr ev tube hp geyser. All you need is time and a good hat than you are 50% there. I like this system because it has no finicky parts that needs power although it has a controller snd element for the rainy days.

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8 hours ago, Yogie said:

I don't wanna deal with it anymore but all the tubes are on the roof and they are busy rotting.

I’m sorry for your problems on your geyser. This type of installers are the norm these days and is why I try and do everything myself. When I first started investigating solar and told the guy I need to buy the stuff and will do the installation myself he told me it will never work. Well I bought from another supplier installed my own geyser and wow “hot water”

I then looked at PV panels and inverters and thought I’d try the first guy again because he was around the corner from me. But again when he heard DIY he told me it’s not how they do things and it will never work. Well again months later and thousands saved, I now, now that some supplier should be avoided at all cost if you want a cheap system that works to your needs.

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  • 2 years later...

Hi,

I currently have a Geyserwise Max unit that was installed way back when these first came out. Last year (2021) I installed a hybrid solar system for the entire house with the geyser in non-essential section of the solar system. Since then (2021) I have been constant E4s with my geyser unit and now the water is not heating up.

Will changing the entire geyserwise unit be a permanent solution?

If this is changed, is there any extra thing that is needed to accommodate the primary solar system that runs the house power?

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  • 1 year later...

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