Plumbing layout advice

[charbel89]

Hi,

I am after some advice on my central heating and hot water system.

What I would like is:
- One Solar panel if possible.
- System fully automated. (i.e. no need to switch on or off any part of the system).
- Make use of Solar panels for central heating.
- Point out where automated switches and expansion tanks are needed and controllers should be located.

The system is not yet functional and simple adjustments may be possible.

I will be purchasing two hot water cylinders one 50 Liters and one 200 Liters. I am thinking they should be twin coiled.

Both Cylinders can be connected to Solar panels and boiler.

Restrictions:
- The Boiler is located quiet some distance away and it is not possible to relocate.
- The only possible new piping ( if needed ) can be between the Solar panels and Boiler.
- It is possible to install hot water cylinder near the solar panel, this may help reduce cost, (use of standard as opposed to twin coiled cylinders).

Any tips and advice on how to achieve this, for example multizone controllers room thermostats... expansion tanks.. I did not add these to the layout because I am not certain of what is needed.

Please not I have plumber who will carry out the work, however I would to gain full understanding of the system to avoid possible errors or mistakes or rip-offs.


Here is the layout:

Thanks in advance.


Regards


Charbel

 

[dcawkwell]

Forget solar. It will do next to nothing.
It certainly won't provide much central heating and will only do
some hot water and then at only some times a year.

Keep to simple gas boiler. Sorted.

 

[charbel89]

Thanks for your quick response.

Sorry I forgot to mention this system is in the middle east where you have 300 days of sunshine per year.

Thanks again.

 

[dcawkwell]

Going to need a much bigger cylinder than 200 litres to store any
quantity of heated water for central heating during the night.

I would have thought keeping cool was more important than heating.

I have seen the solar hot water systems in cyprus and they seem fairly
self contained on the roof. Tank and solar panel all done easy job.

 

[charbel89]

Yes that is correct, they use mostly direct passive thermosyphon, where the cylinder needs to be located above the evacuated tubes, water is then fed to the existing hotwater cylinder... which is further heated if need be using immersion heater or boiler.

There are issues with this system when you have excess hotwater (over heating) probably an direct active system works better... ???

My idea is not to wholly use solar for central heating but use what is currently available and then top it up using boiler. For example if solar is currently running at 20 degrees then boiler will top that up by say a further 30-40 degrees to bring it to 60 or 70. (Probably need to run 3-4 months of the year (December, January, Feb and possibly March) )

There is an AC unit in every room already which is also capable of warm air if need be.

Also the property has a double block wall with cavity and double glazed windows. (No wall insulation though..)