orangeblossom

Does anyone have experience of a switch in either direction that would give me an idea of price differences?

My flat in PT currently has solar hot water heating. When I bought the flat I assumed I'd be saving on heating costs with this but it seems to cost a hell of a lot to service and yesterday my tank started leaking. The engineer tells me that it will be very expensive to replace the solar hot water tank, which has corroded due to the hard water in the area. [The people who were servicing my solar system over the last few years hadn't told me that the tank needed to be checked/serviced too so I haven't been having that done.] I already spent more than 200 euros earlier in the year to replace the heating element in the tank (probably also due to the calcification).

If I junk the solar system and go for an old fashioned electric tank, the cost of installation will apparently be about 1/3 of replacing the solar tank (replacing the whole solar system would be even more). I haven't had real quotes yet but the price difference is likely to be a minimum of 600-700 euros . Would I be better off giving up solar ( ecology aside)? The old fashioned system can be expected to last for years without much servicing so if the price difference in amount of electricity used isn't enormous that might be my best bet. I currently pay commercial rates on my electric because I rent the apartment out for part of the year and there can be up to 6 people staying in it during the summer, but that may change and if I remain in PT the whole year it will be mostly one person using hot water.

wellinever

In my limited experience solar is pretty usless after 3 days of cloudy weather., water not hot enough for a shower (new 300ltr 2x panel only one person with one shower per day)
I have gas back up which at least is consistent and works even with electricity outage.
Remember that the same immersion heater element will still need to be changed prob every 4 or 5 years if you are lucky, The more it is operating the quicker it will need replacing.
But as you say thats nothing compared to the annual maintenance on solar and the fact that it will need complete replacement after 10 years, whatever any bright spark tells you..
If you are in PT for longer periods switch to dual tariff in winter when you need water to be hot, in summer not so imprtant as you spend more time trying to keep cooler.

Andy43

We have a gas instant water heater - estate has underground tanks feeding each house. If we didn't have that I would choose a cylinder like you're considering.
For simplicity a termoacumuludor (sp?!) is just fit and forget for maybe 200-300 euros and to be honest it's something it would take a plumber an hour to fit if pipework and 13A power are well placed - I'd DIY it personally. The ones I've seen just plug into a standard PT wall socket. We've stayed in places with around a 100-150 litre tank - family of four - and a second shower straight after the first could tail off a bit but ten minutes and the water was ok again. Good recovery rate.
Leroy Merlin's website allows you to select tank size based on number of people if I remember correctly - worth a look.
Running costs - as long as you switch the element off when property is empty it could work out pretty cheap taking into account the cost of running a 60W solar circ pump all day - plus it sounds like you had immersion element back up already running anyway...!!
Incoming mains water in PT is always pretty warm compared to the UK too - I'd guess at maybe 15 degrees minimum which helps.
If you can be bothered you may be able to resell the bits your plumber removes too, which may offset the cost.

wellinever

usually the immersion element is 2Kw.....which for standard leccy base rate costs €0.16 x 2 per hour of usage = €0.32 an hour.
How long it needs to be on is of course dependant on how much hot water is required.
Thing to remember is that for every litre of hot water taken out of the tank, a litre of cold water replaces it.
IMO storing hot water is the worst of all cases and for showers I would go for a UK type instant hot water shower.

orangeblossom

I didn't know about the possibility of dual tarrif. I will look into that, so thanks.

I guess I could go for the cheaper option now and replace the whole in a couple of years if it worked out way more expensive bu maybe that is just throwing money down the drain for a short term saving.

orangeblossom

something went wrong wih the quoting. sorry.

Rosemary

There seems to be a few problems with quoting on BE. Sometimes it is working and others not. I have removed the quote aspect in order to rectify the difficulty.

Rosemary

orangeblossom

Turns out the quote for one of those is 500 including installation, where I am in Tavira, though the guy did say it was a sophisticated very energy efficient one.
Having said that, the quote for a whole new solar system with a tank on top on the roof (as opposed to the large water heater in a cupboard in my flat that I have currently) backed up by a smaller immersion tank in the falt is coming inat 2,000 and replacement of just the tank I've got, (though resituated because the kind I have on the wall is no longer available) i.e. keeping the 12 year old panels and the 6 month old 'resistance' is 1,300. Have panels evolved alot in the last 12 years? If I decide to stick with solar would I be better off replacing the whole system.

I may shop around but don't know if here in Pt there is much price difference between diff companies. When I was looking at appliances the prices were all much of a muchness.

ONe worry I have about switching is that if all the other flats in the area have solar hot water heating, wouldn't a simple electrical system make it harder to sell if and when I ever do?

orangeblossom

Thanks, it seems to be working better now.

wellinever

I just had 300 litr solar (2 panel) fitted to a flat roof preinstalled for Solar. Total cost was €1400 for equipment (all new) plus €500 for installation, but that included fitting A/C as well.
Bought from Leroy. Talk to them and get a quote to fit frm their approved installers (that way you have no issues if anything goes wrong).
You probably ony need 150/200 single panel unit, which are much cheaper to buy and install. Esp as you have all of the pipework already there.
I looked at efficiency of all units. The only one that appears to be a bit more efficient is Junkers. More important is the correct placing of the panels and the angles used.
Possibly panels only need refilling with liquid saving more money. I am sure the installers will tell you.

wellinever

I hasten to add that I was forced to intsall solar by legislation for a new house, otherwise I was more than happy with my esquentador that was fitted before the obligatroy energy certification also need for all new properties, that determined that solar was also obligatory. I reckon payback for the solar is in excess of 20 years and thats without anything going wrong and needing fixing in the meantime......buts a good earner for PT in IVA. As far as the planet is concerned I think it will also be negative when you take into account the cost of making and delivering the solar units, and the fact that the gas esquentador is necessary in the winter. ( yes it could have been an electric backup which would be OK if it was all produced from carbon neutral source) but it isnt.