59 minutes ago, Jaco de Jongh said:

Hi all, Iv been reading through this discussion and saw that a few guys are moving in the electrical water heating direction. I am busy with another idiee that might help someone.

I looked at the geyserwise system with the three extra panel and all of the extras and got quotes from between R13k to R16k. in my setup I still need to add panels to my existing system so to buy 3 panels for the geyser just didnt make sense. The rest of the time its just going to sit there, doing nothing. I also looked at heat pumps, collectors and all the rest, and for a good system I would also pay between R8k and as high as R20k.

All of this made me look at other options and after monitoring my system closely while on leave for a week or 2 I made the following conclusion. I just wish it was completed so I can post the pics and report on the results. But i decided to jump the gun in an attempt to point out another option to those who want to buy the electrical heating system.

I do have quite a bit of spare capacity most of the days, my current geyser is still connected to incoming power. running of a timer witch allows it to come on for 2 hours. Watched it for over 2 weeks and never came on for more that 1h15min per day. I tracked down a element manufacturer in JHB and had him manufacture me a Stainless Steel 220v 1KW element. Went to the scrap metal place in town and removed a cover plate from an old geyser that will fit mine. Had a 1 .5 inch nipple brazed to it and also had a thermostat pocket installed. The element will arrive next week and then I need to screw it in, remove existing plate with original element and thermostat, install modified plate, reconnect and switch on. No wireing changes ext.

Will connect circuit to my existing inverter and set the timer to 5 hours run time a day. will still have sufficient heating and if it is a cloudy day, it will use the grid to top up. So far the exercise is still costing less than R500 , Element for about R360.

This supplier also manufactures 1.5kw and above. 2kw is freely available in the geyser world, but I could not find a 1 kw.

Jaco I'm sitting in the same boat as you, have plenty solar energy to spare on most days. What did this element cost? Would it be possible to have another made, perhaps a 1.5Kw unit?

The element was R360. I will pm you their details a bit later. At work now..

Sent from my SM-N910F using Tapatalk

i am sure there is a company in the Strand that sells this type of element...... think i have an email addy......going hunting

1 hour ago, Jaco de Jongh said:

The element was R360. I will pm you their details a bit later. At work now..

Sent from my SM-N910F using Tapatalk

Thanx!

11 hours ago, Jaco de Jongh said:

This supplier also manufactures 1.5kw and above. 2kw is freely available in the geyser world, but I could not find a 1 kw.

I have a 1000W element but it does not have a pocket for a thermostat. PM your address you can have it.

15 hours ago, Mike said:

i am sure there is a company in the Strand that sells this type of element...... think i have an email addy......going hunting

I think they went out of business. It was called the Turbo-element, right? One Energy used to sell them for a bit after that but I can no longer find it on their side either. A former colleague of mine installed one and eventually put the old one back, can't remember exactly why.

Voltex makes a dual 1.5kw element, but I don't think it is cheap.

I like the idea, except I'll get into serious trouble if I have to wait 5 hours to reheat the geyser. I would like a 1kw+2kw combo, so you can turn on the big one if you fall behind. Should not require rewiring, I used to have a 4kw element up there.

@Travis I wanted to know if your Geyserwise MPPT was a fanless unit, or if it had a built in fan that ran 24/7?

I have been checking out the Geyserwise units, do you have any idea what the 12v 4aH battery is for?

If you could, would you share some more pics of the geyser part of your install

 

Hi @Travis. Where did you purchase your Renesola Replus from? Bonanzatech?

I saw they have it:

http://www.bonanzatech.co.za/index.php?id_product=8220&controller=product

Hi,

 

I got mine from Current Automation for R16300 after negotiating, price on Bonanza at the time was R16000. I paid the extra R300 because CA offers the full 2 year warranty, but after speaking to Bonanza, they only offer 1 year.

hi guys

just a bit of useless info

irrelevant of the size of the  ac geyser  element

you can half its power in/output by placing a diode inline  when running ac   

   1 element  but 2 possible  power outputs   

half power solar full power Eskom   

     you smile wife smiles

cheap way      a simple contactor with  2 n/o  2n/c  could be used to select  which power supply you want to use  to choose  inverter or Eskom  ie Eskom 2 n/o  inverter  2 n/c

better way      two contactors  with mechanical interlocking to ensure  less chance   feed back power if a fault was to occur

the power to the contactor is supplied buy a simple timer  to control  say inverter day   Eskom night

 

btw  if considering running  dc from solar to an element  then be carful to do sum maths as the size of the element ie resistance  will greatly effect the output

just my 2c  although I do accept credit cards,cheques , pizza , beer

cheers

Max

 

BTW @travis

pray do tell how you got that tablet to work on the inverter  please

such a good idea

cheers

Max

21 minutes ago, maxomill said:

you can half its power in/output by placing a diode inline  when running ac   

Of course this makes your load non-linear. Probably doesn't matter too much, the inverter might just sound a little different.

23 minutes ago, maxomill said:

btw  if considering running  dc from solar to an element  then be carful to do sum maths as the size of the element ie resistance  will greatly effect the output

Indeed. If you use a standard 3kw element for example, that is 3000/230 = 13 amps, 230/13 = 18Ω. If you then put panels on it that has an Imax of around 8 ampere (which is pretty common), it will pull the voltage down to 8 * 18 = 144V. The power produced by the element will be 144*8 = 1.15kw. Not even half :-)

You need the Isc or the Imax of the panels to be pretty close to the current the element would normally draw, and then add enough panels to get the voltage up. If you do the math again with a 2kw element, it gets remarkably close (8A*26Ω = 208V, over 1.6kw heat output).

these guys are local and sell dc elements for water heating and  other items

http://www.bluepools.co.za/dc heating element.html

http://www.elexco.co.za/index.php?route=product/category&path=60

these guys do induction geysers   interesting

http://www.inductioncooker.co.za/geyser.html

http://techluck.com/faq.php

interesting reading I thought dc geyser elements  game changing

cheers

 

Edited August 2, 20187 yr by maxomill
afterthought