Solar Water Heating

[ChrisRoberts]

How many solar panels would I need to heat say 150 litre cylinder.[/quote]

I would put 30 tubes on for that. That way you'll have plenty. I have 180 litres and 30 tubes. In the peak times it's hot by 11am.

 

[Ontario Plumber]

You need to question why companies that usually make oil type boiler systems are now leaping on the solar path - basically oil is on the way out and they have probably branched into new technologies to save themselves in the future. Not sure about makes/brands but i would have thought it wise to look at solar specific companies. just because a name is big in one area doesn't mean it will be big in another.

I assume you know of all the www.clear-skies.org grants available for renewables - I think they end in spring tho so be quick.

Hi "Perth"

I have looked on the clear-skies web site. Good info. As for solar water heating system grant its £400 and there are strings attached. I am trying to explore all the possible avenues before I commit myself to such an expense.

 

[Perth]

I can totally understand your situation as we are in a similar situation ourselves - but trying to figure it out for our whole house! So far 1 small woodburner and nothing else. In Scotland this is brave.
We are looking into a vented (due to solid fuel) mains pressure cyclinder with various inlets so we can add a woodburner and possibly solar (but yeap this is expensive), and even then an immersion - I guess you could get oil in to. That way as i think it works you can add in other systems as you can afford them, when they become cheaper, etc. I don't know how much space you have for a cylinder and this is our big problem.
If you can have a coil for your DHW system within the tank and then have direct in put into the tank for solar (some systems can go direct but I think there can be a problem with convection or something). It seems that your woodburner and oil,etc can also go direct. This would mean 1 coil for DHW circuit, 1 for solar circuit and everything else goes in direct.
What confuses me in this set up is how to stop the backboiler on the wood burner acting like a radiator.
We are presently seeking advise on this kind of set up. I feel if you can get the right tank then it leaves you options in the future - it is a lot to think about. If you only have a smallish tank then you need to think about how many coils are practical before there is no space left for water!
it is all balancing up costs really and these tanks are dearer but not as dear as the big thermal stores.

The cylinder makers are quite useful to speak to (Macdonalds in Scotland, Newark copper cylinders, some of them have solar links on their websites etc)

 

[púca]

I'm looking at installing http://www.atmos.uk.com/core_files/productDoc(87).pdf

Anyone had any experience of this system?

 

[Slugbabydotcom]

I know of a place that the whole kit can be purchaced for about 2k. That includes evacusted tube pannels.

Do tell!

C'mon dude ... spill the beans

 

[-scrumpy-]

Just thought Id' share my experiences...

We had Solar Water installed last June. We are on oil in our village, and with the price of oil going up and up, it seemed a good option. the boiler wasn't used until about September/October when the heating came on.

The price for our system, which includes 20 tubes, and a new hot water tank was about £4600, but grants brought this down to £2000.

I'm really pleased with the system, even in these cold winter months you still get something out of it, although not as much as the summer of course.

We have evacuated tubes, 10 east facing and 10 west facing - in the middle of the day, we get loads of energy. the west facing tubes are in a manifold that holds 20 tubes - 10 tube slots in the manifold are blocked off. This means that if we want to expand the system in the future (in case our hot water demands increase), then we just have to screw in 10 new tubes.

hope this helps!