melaniee

Any got it ? Anyone recommend or, not recommend it ? What are the + and - ?

Sam

We've got it, saves me loads off my electric bill (except during winter when we had to use our booster button!)

We have 4 showers a day (sorry i mean theres 4 of us, each showering once a day ) and the water is far too hot in the summer, spring and autumn

I love it,

rosscov1970

gas boosted solar is cheaper to run than the electric option, but possibly not to fit, altho gas is still the best option.

Timber Floor Au

We have solar hot water.

Rheem 340 litre fully solar powered.

Doesnt cost anything on electricity ( noticibably ).. the small pump inside consumes very little power, and we always have piping hot water.


I havent seen gas powered solar hot water, but i have seen gas powered hot water systems. All the builders are fitting these now, as conventional immersion type water heating is being phased out due to high consumption of electricity.

I would plumb for solar evertime.

Gems

Yes, we have it.
We are family of 6, and so plenty of showers etc. Our bills have been good.

I would recommend it.

GEMS

moneypenny20

Not sure of any negatives. These days it has to be the way to go. We have an electric booster and very pleased with it. No idea on gas fired.

tabby

How noticable off the bill is it ???

Timber Floor Au

perhaps 100 bucks a year+ cheaper

bridie

We have solar, electric boosted, only need the booster on the cloudiest days during winter.... yes, does get too hot in summer BUT bathrooms have their own thermostatically controlled valves anyway...

tabby

Thanks i have a real battle of consionce with this at the mo , I know the correct thing to do is pay the $3k + save the enviro and emmisions etc....

But can't help thinking it will take 30 + years to pay for itself by which time I prob will have moved and be out of pocket ....I also have this probwith rain tanks as it only say 40 bucks per 1/4 for water

Wrong I know but can't helpit !!!!!!

Timber Floor Au

We are not on town water, so i am a great advocate of sustainable living.

But that doesnt detract from people living responsibly with what they have !

So economics does play a large part

NickyC

Even if you don't gain the full economic benefit yourself - whoever buys the property from you will benefit from your far-sightedness, good intentions, care for the environment etc, etc

And who knows - the next house you buy might already have solar hot water installed by someone else who did the right thing for non-economic reasons....

rosscov1970

In SA grants are available to encourage people to install solar hot water sytems.
My OH is a gas engineer and installs gas boosted solar hot water systems and believes the savings on your fuel bill depending on your consumption, are considerable. He recommends using a gas boosted split system over an electric boosted system.

quoll

Had one for 25 years now so I think it has paid back its purchase price! Only problem we have had is when the panels froze one year and the water gushed out. We now have one with the water tank on the roof with the panels and, touch wood, have not had a freezing problem since then. I know that it means our electric bill for heating water is far less than our granny flat which has an electric water heater.

smee

You would have to buy some sort of water heating anyway, so if you took the price of a water heater, say $800, off the price of the solar water heater it is only costing you an extra $2200. Plus there might be Government rebates, there is in WA for installing a solar water heater, and for installing rainwater tanks.