Been asked to quote on supplying a Salus Solar panel but i can't seem to find a stockist......any of you guy's got a contact/web site please
Salus Solar Panel
- Thread starter powell30
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Does anyone know of a web site which lists all the solar panels on the market with their technical details?
The drain back is the most reliable and easiest to install but all the major suppliers are selling pressurised types as their systems are more complicated and thus expensive and profitable for them.
Few current designs are suitable for drainback but the odd one or two are even if sold as part of a pressurised system.
Until solar becomes more widespread the market is going to be a luxury niche and the secondary suppliers will not be established.
Whilst the government says its committed to saving CO2 their establishment of a regime that requires a £1600 payment to become a grant installation supplier just makes things worse.
Tony
The drain back is the most reliable and easiest to install but all the major suppliers are selling pressurised types as their systems are more complicated and thus expensive and profitable for them.
Few current designs are suitable for drainback but the odd one or two are even if sold as part of a pressurised system.
Until solar becomes more widespread the market is going to be a luxury niche and the secondary suppliers will not be established.
Whilst the government says its committed to saving CO2 their establishment of a regime that requires a £1600 payment to become a grant installation supplier just makes things worse.
Tony
Look at Vridian Solar. We are going to install one next year.
You can get Salus solar equipment from these people
www.solarsavings.co.uk
www.solarsavings.co.uk
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Another good one is Longacre Plumbing Supplies. www.lapsdirect.co.uk
John Gray's your man - 01522 697785 a handy bloke to know!
John Gray's your man - 01522 697785 a handy bloke to know!
Sorry I missed this earlier.
The place I use a lot is
http://www.navitron.org.uk/
in fact they have thier own forum
http://www.navitron.org.uk/forum/
HTH
mike
SALUS SOLAR WEB SITE www.lapsdirect.co.uk
.
And so you know its all biased toward their own kit although it is very similar in terms of performance and construction to many others.
Other collectors/cylinders that are sold in the UK are constantly rubbished by them. They ran a test with Soltrac yet chose not to include a similar collector in that test so it appears the Navitron collectors performs better, you would think it better to test similar collectors, at least I would. I have seen Paul Barker's post and the collectors he has perform at least as well as the Navitron SFB collectors.
tony
Thats what I was asking about !
An independent comparisom site where I can see all the many different makes and the dimensions ( and ideally prices.
There is a lot of confusion and not much skill in the firms selling solar equipment. At one of the shows I asked each firm if their system was suitable for drainback. None even knew what the question meant! The only one which seemed OK the poor salesman didn't even know it was.
All the systems being pushed are pressurised because they are more complicated and thus more expensive. We really need a large seller who can penetrate the market with a quantity sale led drainback product. They are about 20% cheaper to supply and install and dont need annual checks or the overpriced antifreeze.
Tony
An independent comparisom site where I can see all the many different makes and the dimensions ( and ideally prices.
There is a lot of confusion and not much skill in the firms selling solar equipment. At one of the shows I asked each firm if their system was suitable for drainback. None even knew what the question meant! The only one which seemed OK the poor salesman didn't even know it was.
All the systems being pushed are pressurised because they are more complicated and thus more expensive. We really need a large seller who can penetrate the market with a quantity sale led drainback product. They are about 20% cheaper to supply and install and dont need annual checks or the overpriced antifreeze.
Tony
Tony
The big companies are the ones selling overpriced kits and have very little knowledge of their products I have had dealings with the largest in the market all give conflicting information and will tell you anything to get a sale, of course the same could be said of smaller companies as well. I had another to call today from someone looking to heat their home with solar he honestly thought (because that's what he been told) a 30 tube collector could replace his boiler.
Why is a pressurized system more costly or difficult to install?.
You can Buy a vented twin coil 210ltr grade 3 cylinder with 2 x solar keymarked 20 vacuum tube collectors(40 tubes) a Resol BS3 controller solar rated EV, pump and non return valve plus 10m oh high temperature pipe insulation for around £1200.00p it can be fitted in less than 2 days the maintenance on my four year old system has been? nothing.
I know of one company selling a drainback system suitable for vacuum tubes, IMHO not a good idea. Plenty of flatplate drainback systems around but tell me where you can buy one for less than £2000.plus. This type of system takes longer to install, claimed benefits? wont overheat(stagnation) wont freeze strange then its not favored by either the Germans or Austrians who have far more experience of solar than the UK and prefer closed loop systems.
I doubt you will ever find a site that will honestly compare systems and prices the Navitron forum did, but now is probably the last place to look for it, it has become a marketing tool for their products only.
Tony
The big companies are the ones selling overpriced kits and have very little knowledge of their products I have had dealings with the largest in the market all give conflicting information and will tell you anything to get a sale, of course the same could be said of smaller companies as well. I had another to call today from someone looking to heat their home with solar he honestly thought (because that's what he been told) a 30 tube collector could replace his boiler.
Why is a pressurized system more costly or difficult to install?.
You can Buy a vented twin coil 210ltr grade 3 cylinder with 2 x solar keymarked 20 vacuum tube collectors(40 tubes) a Resol BS3 controller solar rated EV, pump and non return valve plus 10m oh high temperature pipe insulation for around £1200.00p it can be fitted in less than 2 days the maintenance on my four year old system has been? nothing.
I know of one company selling a drainback system suitable for vacuum tubes, IMHO not a good idea. Plenty of flatplate drainback systems around but tell me where you can buy one for less than £2000.plus. This type of system takes longer to install, claimed benefits? wont overheat(stagnation) wont freeze strange then its not favored by either the Germans or Austrians who have far more experience of solar than the UK and prefer closed loop systems.
I doubt you will ever find a site that will honestly compare systems and prices the Navitron forum did, but now is probably the last place to look for it, it has become a marketing tool for their products only.
Tony
My panels seem to be working.
I have just been geting used to the controller. At the momnent I have learned to select the option to start up the pump briefly every so often which causes the warmed water to pass by the sensor pocket. Aparently it needs to be used on EV collectors. Prior to selecting this option I found they didn't come on as soon as I'd have expected.
The other thing I decided to do was make sure that the two sensors (collector/store) were callibrated equally. In the event they were.
But I wasn't really believing that they were circulating as often as should, so moved the collector sensor to a different panel and put lashings of heat transfer paste pin it.
Result of all these changes they came on this morning before I left the house at 8.00 am, whereas usually they wouldn't come on until about 11 am.
So there is definately more to it than just banging up panels and joining up pipes.
Overall very pleased.
Still to plumb in the first of two 1,000 litre stores. Just flogging a poor 145 litre cylinder to death right now..
I have just been geting used to the controller. At the momnent I have learned to select the option to start up the pump briefly every so often which causes the warmed water to pass by the sensor pocket. Aparently it needs to be used on EV collectors. Prior to selecting this option I found they didn't come on as soon as I'd have expected.
The other thing I decided to do was make sure that the two sensors (collector/store) were callibrated equally. In the event they were.
But I wasn't really believing that they were circulating as often as should, so moved the collector sensor to a different panel and put lashings of heat transfer paste pin it.
Result of all these changes they came on this morning before I left the house at 8.00 am, whereas usually they wouldn't come on until about 11 am.
So there is definately more to it than just banging up panels and joining up pipes.
Overall very pleased.
Still to plumb in the first of two 1,000 litre stores. Just flogging a poor 145 litre cylinder to death right now..
Once seen a drainback system that did not drain fully because of a sagging roof a few years later. Result was a frozen and burst collector plate. Another drainback system swithed itself on in freezing weather and did the same
Interesting.
You do understand I am not using drainback.
You do understand I am not using drainback.
Paul
Midnight is a retired Solar engineer with many years experience, I think he was replying to Agile's post and those I made. I'm sure he will have read about the system you have but was pointing out that a drainback system is no guarantee of a problem free system.
Tony
Midnight is a retired Solar engineer with many years experience, I think he was replying to Agile's post and those I made. I'm sure he will have read about the system you have but was pointing out that a drainback system is no guarantee of a problem free system.
Tony
Oh I see.It's just that people seem to keep piping up spuriously out of the blue about drain backs after I speak. Was beginning to get the idea they thought that was what I was doing.
I wouldn't have spent £400 plus vat on a pump if I was going to fit a drainback.
I had a very good friend who travelled the country fitting solar for many years John Copeman God rest his sole. A great character such a shame he didn't wake up one morning.
He said "the worst thing about installing solar was the sense of remorse on people's faces when they realised how much they had been ripped off"
I wouldn't have spent £400 plus vat on a pump if I was going to fit a drainback.
I had a very good friend who travelled the country fitting solar for many years John Copeman God rest his sole. A great character such a shame he didn't wake up one morning.
He said "the worst thing about installing solar was the sense of remorse on people's faces when they realised how much they had been ripped off"
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