Geyser timer solution for solar

wingnut771 said:
Maybe try drop geyser temp? 70c is a bit wasteful. try 60.
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In winter by panels are East facing and the sun only shows up at about 7:50am and pool is on at 8:45am now as I am just producing enough to cover basic stuff and the pool, so around 1.1 kW and currently at 10am I am producing 1.58kW. Geyser comes on at 12pm and I barely producing enough for that and house and so I am lucky if I can get the geyser to 45 degrees by 1:30pm and then the panels dont produce enough to cover the geyser. I got 10 panels and ideally need another 6
 
duderoo said:
Thank you….with the geyser on at times between 11:30-2pm I am struggling to get batteries full. Need more than the 10 panels I have
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Or look at a heat pump, a 5.4kw equivalent heat pump uses 1.2kWh to heat the water, a 3.4kw one uses 900wh. the 3.4kw can be had installed for about 21k which might come into the price of panels + installation.
 
wingnut771 said:
Yes, and if you have excess solar then it makes sense to waste it with making water hotter as you are still storing more energy as every degree counts.

If you don't have excess solar, then drop your temps so you waste less as every kWh counts.
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Ah but around this time of the year, excess solar is becoming less and less + cooler water takes longer and longer to heat.
 
duderoo said:
In winter by panels are East facing and the sun only shows up at about 7:50am and pool is on at 8:45am now as I am just producing enough to cover basic stuff and the pool, so around 1.1 kW and currently at 10am I am producing 1.58kW. Geyser comes on at 12pm and I barely producing enough for that and house and so I am lucky if I can get the geyser to 45 degrees by 1:30pm and then the panels dont produce enough to cover the geyser. I got 10 panels and ideally need another 6
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Something wonky going on with my geyser switch, not sure what exactly but I have the switch exposed to Homekit from Home Assistant and randomly when switching it on from the Homekit side it will show it's turned in in both HA and Homekit but it won't actually be on (CBI Astute).

Must be like 3 out of 10 times it just does this. Wrote an automation yesterday to catch this and check that when it turns on, to check in 30 seconds to see if there is any power draw and if there isn't to cycle it again. Hopefully this fixes it.
 
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Lupus said:
You know AI pulls from sources, some of them can be old
View attachment 1910495
View attachment 1910496



It can only really pull from what it "knows" or it can find ;-) not exactly the best source of info, as it can't even tell you what the accurate cooling rate of a geyser is as the information can be decades old.
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anecdotal again but without turning the taps can see it drops faster at the higher temp and more stable drop rate after it goes below 60.
 
isie said:
View attachment 1910476

anecdotal again but without turning the taps can see it drops faster at the higher temp and more stable drop rate after it goes below 60.
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Electromann sells a digital thermometer for 50 rand with a probe. To prove that there is little to no difference between 70 and 60 or 50 thermostat setting I will actually buy one.

I genuinely dont know how you guys think 10 degrees leads to a double or 3x increase in rate of temperature drop. You are thumbsucking and guessing it does.
 
denmendez65 said:
Electromann sells a digital thermometer for 50 rand with a probe. To prove that there is little to no difference between 70 and 60 or 50 thermostat setting I will actually buy one.

I genuinely dont know how you guys think 10 degrees leads to a double or 3x increase in rate of temperature drop. You are thumbsucking and guessing it does.
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denmendez65 said:
Electromann sells a digital thermometer for 50 rand with a probe. To prove that there is little to no difference between 70 and 60 or 50 thermostat setting I will actually buy one.

I genuinely dont know how you guys think 10 degrees leads to a double or 3x increase in rate of temperature drop. You are thumbsucking and guessing it does.
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beacuse i got nothing better to do then watch that damn geyser (at least thats what my wife says :) )
Have run a few tests when away from home and see what occurs nothing scientific , no control and can be affected by so many factors hence i said anecdotal.
 
isie said:
beacuse i got nothing better to do then watch that damn geyser (at least thats what my wife says :) )
Have run a few tests when away from home and see what occurs nothing scientific , no control and can be affected by so many factors hence i said anecdotal.
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One day I will get smart DB switch for geyser in the cottage and see what kWh per day difference there is between 50, 60 and 70 setting without using any water.
 
duderoo said:
In winter by panels are East facing and the sun only shows up at about 7:50am and pool is on at 8:45am now as I am just producing enough to cover basic stuff and the pool, so around 1.1 kW and currently at 10am I am producing 1.58kW. Geyser comes on at 12pm and I barely producing enough for that and house and so I am lucky if I can get the geyser to 45 degrees by 1:30pm and then the panels dont produce enough to cover the geyser. I got 10 panels and ideally need another 6
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Can you move 10 panels to face north?
 
wingnut771 said:
Where are the 10 panels? 5 on each side? Is that a solar geyser ****ing up the space there? Could easily double up on the panels there.
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yes, 5 on each and there is a solar geyer but the roof area is sizeable and so can easily cater for another 5 panels on each side, need to find the money, but in summer will be overkill
 
duderoo said:
yes, 5 on each and there is a solar geyer but the roof area is sizeable and so can easily cater for another 5 panels on each side, need to find the money, but in summer will be overkill
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You still need more production even with solar geyser? Maybe change geyser timer to come on later so solar geyser has had more time to use the sun and panels can charge battery in the meantime. Change geyser timer to 2pm-4pm and drop temp to 55. Also, move all mixer taps to cold position during the day. Check on them constantly if there are any teenagers/wives around.
 
thats the geyser and you can see I am on the cusp, but had to turn the freezers off for 30min. With the solar geyser panels not facing north they are useless

1779711352892.png
 
duderoo said:
thats the geyser and you can see I am on the cusp, but had to turn the freezers off for 30min. With the solar geyser panels not facing north they are useless

View attachment 1910565
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I think if you turn it on later, it wont have to work as hard, yes, you may have to dip into battery, but that can recover afterwards.

Can you show SOC on there?
 
wingnut771 said:
I think if you turn it on later, it wont have to work as hard, yes, you may have to dip into battery, but that can recover afterwards.

Can you show SOC on there?
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32% to go and will be surprised if I get to 100%, will report back later
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