Extra panels or Solar Geyser?

[Fcon_Vpro]

In my opinion, it is foolish to utilize solar power to drive any heating element as it will drain the system and cycle your batteries even faster than they would otherwise cycle.

I am factually investing in solar vacuum tubes. Their value proposition is two-fold. Firstly, even if they only work 50% of the time, I will save a ton of money. My current geyser consumes about 10 to 12 units of power a day. It makes up for 80% of my power bill each month. Secondly, I have a 50% chance of having hot water during load shedding.

I am also considering having a gas water heater installed. This also has two value propositions. First, it can function without any need for solar radiation thus it will function on overcast days and at night. Secondly, it can work independently.

Both the vacuum tubes and gas water heater will cost less than one-tenth then what a solar system will cost. My gas stove has already proven itself invaluable and very cost-effective as I only spend R300 on gas for it each month. This allows me to cook food for a family of 4 all of us are adults on a day-to-day base.

It also allows me to boil water for coffee, and this alone saves a ton of money as an electric kettle can be very taxing on our power bill. Factually I saved over R150 per month on my power bill just on the electric kettle alone. That is half of my gas costs. That is an incredible saving for something so small.

Once Eskom implements its 18.65% it will have a massive impact on our livelihood, as I am on the lower end of the income scale this will have a fundamental and profound impact on how we live our lives.

I know I'm late but I thoroughly enjoyed this post.
R150 saving on electric kettle alone.
So let's say you paid R2.50/kwh, and you saved R150: R150/2.50= 60kwh usage
Let's assume your electric kettle has a 2kw element which means:
60kwh/2kw= 30h of kettle usage per month
How much water were you boiling?

 

[Speedster]

I know I'm late but I thoroughly enjoyed this post.
R150 saving on electric kettle alone.
So let's say you paid R2.50/kwh, and you saved R150: R150/2.50= 60kwh usage
Let's assume your electric kettle has a 2kw element which means:
60kwh/2kw= 30h of kettle usage per month
How much water were you boiling?

At least he was factually saving

 

[newby_investor]

I'm on the Low-fi option where it's scheduled:

https://www.thegascompany.co.za/gas-exchanges/gas-on-tap

There's a "Smart" option with some providers where they attach a smart monitor and once the pressure reaches X they schedule a replacement automatically
Ex: https://www.gotgas.co.za/auto-order-changeover

That looks like a great deal, I see it's in Centurion area. I wonder if there's such a service in Cape Town...

Not that I'd use it at the moment but it would be nice to know as an option.

 

[wingnut771]

just as nice and practical .View attachment 1496393

Is it a BSL when it starts the compressor then turn into a BLS when it runs continuously?

 

[SauRoNZA]

heat pump, ours uses roughly 4units a day ( runs at avg of 800-1000w)

Seems to be a lot of money to burn to save 1kWh since my geyser only uses 5kWh a day.

 

[BouncyNinja]

Seems to be a lot of money to burn to saw 1kWh since my geyser only uses 5kWh a day.

I could / should set it to run on a schedule , but it’s currently set to run all the time , as and when the tank temperature drops below 55

 

[Koosvanwyk]

Seems to be a lot of money to burn to save 1kWh since my geyser only uses 5kWh a day.

I have 5.4kWh heatpump that consumes about 2 units per day in summer and 2.5 units per day in winter on water heating.

The 5.4kWh heatpump draws max 1.8kw. It takes just over an hour to heat the water up to 60 degrees Celsius in summer and just shy of 1 hour and 30 minutes in mid winter.

It runs off battery power early morning and then might come on again mid afternoon depending on how much warm water we use during the day.

 

[BouncyNinja]

I have 5.4kWh heatpump that consumes about 2 units per day in summer and 2.5 units per day in winter on water heating.

The 5.4kWh heatpump draws max 1.8kw. It takes just over an hour to heat the water up to 60 degrees Celsius in summer and just shy of 1 hour and 30 minutes in mid winter.

It runs off battery power early morning and then might come on again mid afternoon depending on how much warm water we use during the day.

so if i schedule mine, i could get it way better,

that said, its been the single biggest reduction in our electricity account

 

[wingnut771]

I have 5.4kWh heatpump that consumes about 2 units per day in summer and 2.5 units per day in winter on water heating.

The 5.4kWh heatpump draws max 1.8kw. It takes just over an hour to heat the water up to 60 degrees Celsius in summer and just shy of 1 hour and 30 minutes in mid winter.

It runs off battery power early morning and then might come on again mid afternoon depending on how much warm water we use during the day.

How many litres?

 

[Speedster]

I have 5.4kWh heatpump that consumes about 2 units per day in summer and 2.5 units per day in winter on water heating.

The 5.4kWh heatpump draws max 1.8kw. It takes just over an hour to heat the water up to 60 degrees Celsius in summer and just shy of 1 hour and 30 minutes in mid winter.

It runs off battery power early morning and then might come on again mid afternoon depending on how much warm water we use during the day.

I'm a heatpump fan but, with solar gaining popularity, I'm less inclined towards them. For the cost of a heatpump (and the annual maintenance) I would think it is almost easier/cheaper to just install some extra PV. The thing is panels are relatively inexpensive making the alternatives less and less attractive.

As per solar geysers, if you're only looking to heat water and save costs they are a very good option but the moment there is a PV system in the mix it begins to make more sense to simply add more panels.

 

[newby_investor]

I'm a heatpump fan but, with solar gaining popularity, I'm less inclined towards them. For the cost of a heatpump (and the annual maintenance) I would think it is almost easier/cheaper to just install some extra PV. The thing is panels are relatively inexpensive making the alternatives less and less attractive.

As per solar geysers, if you're only looking to heat water and save costs they are a very good option but the moment there is a PV system in the mix it begins to make more sense to simply add more panels.

The thing a heat pump will do is allow your essential circuits to breathe easier. Much lower peaks compared to a normal resistive geyser element.

And less battery drain. so yeah there is a cost, but even with solar there is a benefit as well.

 

[Speedster]

The thing a heat pump will do is allow your essential circuits to breathe easier. Much lower peaks compared to a normal resistive geyser element.

And less battery drain. so yeah there is a cost, but even with solar there is a benefit as well.

I hear you, but with just a little planning a normal geyser should "fit" into a solar system without causing any issues. Most houses have a lull in daytime usage which can be used to heat the geyser. Here's a typical day for us.

P.s. I see with the later sunrise I probably need to shift my geyser timers on by a couple of minutes.

 

[SauRoNZA]

The thing a heat pump will do is allow your essential circuits to breathe easier. Much lower peaks compared to a normal resistive geyser element.

And less battery drain. so yeah there is a cost, but even with solar there is a benefit as well.

What essential circuit?

 

[Paul_S]

The thing a heat pump will do is allow your essential circuits to breathe easier. Much lower peaks compared to a normal resistive geyser element.

And less battery drain. so yeah there is a cost, but even with solar there is a benefit as well.

Or one can use a smaller geyser element like 2kW to heat over a longer period and still save on the outlay for a heat pump.
I'm not a fan of heat pumps as they are not cheap, not silent and they have moving parts which eventually wear out.

 

[newby_investor]

Or one can use a smaller geyser element like 2kW to heat over a longer period and still save on the outlay for a heat pump.
I'm not a fan of heat pumps as they are not cheap, not silent and they have moving parts which eventually wear out.

Yeah I mean this is fair. It depends on what you want to prioritise I guess. My next dream home has underfloor heating which a heat pump will be crucial for.

But I can totally understand those who disagree.

 

[Operator]

Or one can use a smaller geyser element like 2kW to heat over a longer period and still save on the outlay for a heat pump.
I'm not a fan of heat pumps as they are not cheap, not silent and they have moving parts which eventually wear out.

Exactly what I did...............by exchanging the 3kw element with a 2kw element, I made the load a lot easier on my pv system. It makes a heatpump and/or ex vacuum tubes irrelevant

 

[Koosvanwyk]

so if i schedule mine, i could get it way better,

that said, its been the single biggest reduction in our electricity account

Same here, paired with solar it works well. Granted it is not cheap, but I have no extra space for more panels so it was a logical option for me.

 

[Koosvanwyk]

How many litres?

200L.

We are 4 people, after the WC drought a few years ago we have become very light on water usage (we average 12000L per month).

It means that the water in the tank is often still fairly warm early morning which means less time for the heatpump to heat back to 60 degrees Celsius.

 

[Koosvanwyk]

I'm a heatpump fan but, with solar gaining popularity, I'm less inclined towards them. For the cost of a heatpump (and the annual maintenance) I would think it is almost easier/cheaper to just install some extra PV. The thing is panels are relatively inexpensive making the alternatives less and less attractive.

As per solar geysers, if you're only looking to heat water and save costs they are a very good option but the moment there is a PV system in the mix it begins to make more sense to simply add more panels.

Your logic and reasoning is spot on, more panels makes more sense cost wise and maintenance wise.

Wasn't an option for me, already maxed out my usable roof space so I had to focus on reducing consumption as opposed to increasing capacity.

We went from using (yearly average) 30 units per day pre PV system to 16 units per day after by changing appliances.

 

[Koosvanwyk]

Or one can use a smaller geyser element like 2kW to heat over a longer period and still save on the outlay for a heat pump.
I'm not a fan of heat pumps as they are not cheap, not silent and they have moving parts which eventually wear out.

I cannot say that my ITS heatpump is noisy, I was surprise by the lack of noise the first few days after installation. You can have a pretty normal conversation with someone standing right next to it when is is running (it is significantly less noisy compared to my to two AC's, although probably an unfair comparison as the AC unis are 10 years old already).

Wear and tear is not something unique to heatpumps. Like AC units they have to be services annually, the last service was R300. Most people don't know this but normal a electrical geyser also has to be services annually to ensure that the anode does not corrode away, but no one does this.