pootle26

hi

has anyone got solar water for their house - either gas or electric boosted???

we are looking at possibilities for our new home when we build it & thought that solar sounds like a good idea

im all for good ideas - but does this actually work in practise??

i know a lot has changed with regards to solar water and would love any advice on someone that has had new solar water fitted recently

looking forward to your replies


pootle

DagBoy

Our last house had it. Not sure how old the system was.

It worked pretty well. There was a valve that could be switched to go between solar and normal electric tank (there was provision for an electric booster in the solar tank, but the heater had never been installed, just a switch and little light). In the summer we turned off the electric tank and ran only on solar - never ran out of hot water - the only complaint was the pressure was low so it took a while to fill a bath or anything. Only needed the electric when we had tail end of a cyclone and got 4 or 5 days of overcast (not that common here).

In the winter, we tended to have the electric tank turned on, but would still switch to solar and drain the hot water from that for things a lot of the time.

I am sure there are more sophisticated management systems available.

Cheers,

DagBoy

jayr

There tend to be a lot of subsidies for these sort of thigs - first stop your local electricity supplier's website.

pootle26

many thanks for that - i didnt realise that there were subsidies - which is an unexpected bonus!
not sure who the electrical supplier would be - have to look into that


anyone else had any first hand experience with solar water?????!!!??


pootle

pootle26

many thanks for that - i didnt realise that there were subsidies - which is an unexpected bonus!
not sure who the electrical supplier would be - have to look into that


anyone else had any first hand experience with solar water?????!!!??


pootle

mlbonner

I used to work for Ergon Energy (regional QLD), the main two products I dealt with were aircon & solar hotwater systems. As has been said, rebates are available, they work on a Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) system. So basically the unit you buy has a value of say 20 REC's, I think they were worth roughly $36 each, so that would be a rebate of $720 however from memory, the rebate was more if you had an existing h/w system to change, the less efficient (ie oil) the system, the higher the rebate you would get.... and lots of other small print!
Depending on whether you have a lowset, or high/two-storey house will mean if you can have a streamline model (would be my preference if you can do). Other factors that will come into consideration are; type of water, direction house faces, amount of people in house, d/washer, hot water on w/machine, location in the country (both for heat/frost and also cyclone areas, cyclone areas require an extra reinforcement, from about Mackay & further North).

Depending on where you're going look on that regions electricity website (as suggested). You can also have a look at one of the main suppliers website for ideas on costs, and also how the REC's system works state-to-state

Wol

And don't forget that it freezes in some parts!

pootle26

wow! - thanks for the info! - we havent built our house or even drawn the plans yet- so i suppose a lot of the factors you mentioned we can build our house around it as it were.

we will be using western power as we wil be in northam - so i am now off to do further investigations!!

many thanks

pootle

mlbonner

FWIW, if you're building, you might want to consider roof insulation and tinted windows on the hottest side of your house. This will make for the most efficiency for an inverter (the cheapest to run, and most efficient) aircon system. If you can afford it though, a ducted system throughout your house (built in from the start) is going to be the best

cresta57

We have a "solarhart" solar hot water system it provides enough hot water for 5 of us to shower, wash up and do the laundry. It's a 300 litre system, my folks got a nice rebate back from the Govt. for having it installed.