Geyserwise Install 2025

[Micdew]

Hi guys, at my current place i had full solar installation but i think it was an overkill once loadshedding was over. Moving to a new place in cape town (brackenfell) which has a standard 150l elec geyser. Thinking of putting in a geyserwise wifi unit to monitor temp but thinking of doing something more to save on elec cost.

What is the best route to go now a days? Pv solar, heat pipes or solar geyser? Also what are the cost plus installation now a days? The first guy alreaded quoted me r30k for solar pv with geyserwise but that sounds way to much.

 

[Tomtomtom]

Solar PV with geyserwise. I did mine for R12k or so DIY, but I skipped the overpriced TSE controller and built my own. We do need a bit more competition to drive down prices.

But even at R20k it's still a no brainer IMO, with a payback of about 3 years.

 

[joker08]

I am in cpt, and I recommend a Full solar installation and geyser connected to smart load, that's the best approach right now.

I have a solar geyser with collector plates etc... and a geyserwise. This was installed by the previous owner 10 years ago, when solar panels were still expensive.

Now with the cost of current price of solar panels, I don't see a reason to have a separate solar heating. I have enough excess Electricity to heat water.
If u can afford it, go for a full solar, save on electricity, my monthly electricity cost is r100(except in 3 months of winter)

 

[SmartPad]

We definitely agree with this approach. If you connect your Geyserwise to Home Assistant, you can control when your geyser turns on in a very granular way, even using spare PV as the trigger to turn the geyser on. Electricity costs of sub R200 are very easy to achieve like this, and a geyser is the best way to store energy.

We do find that running the Geyserwise with ESPHome does make it a bit easier to expose the temperature values to Home Assistant, and some do report a more stable Wi-Fi experience, although it is not impossible to do this with the Native Tuya integration.

 

[Stephan Maritz]

I have a Geyserwise Max, with a collector with 15 evacuated tubes for heating the water. From October to May, I use no electricity at all.

I use the Tuya app to control the Geyserwise. I tried to get it imported into HomeAssistant, but soon gave up. It displays the temperature incorrectly and is missing almost all of the functions.

 

[Gtx Gaming]

I am in cpt, and I recommend a Full solar installation and geyser connected to smart load, that's the best approach right now.

I have a solar geyser with collector plates etc... and a geyserwise. This was installed by the previous owner 10 years ago, when solar panels were still expensive.

Now with the cost of current price of solar panels, I don't see a reason to have a separate solar heating. I have enough excess Electricity to heat water.
If u can afford it, go for a full solar, save on electricity, my monthly electricity cost is r100(except in 3 months of winter)

How many KW storage do you have? I have 15 but struggle make though evenings someitmes, So decided to go back eskom in evening until its full on summer in cpt. I do around 450 to 500watt idle load with lights etc switched off, due running pc and few other devices that runs 24/7.

I use use TSE unit but did not add panels to it yet.

 

[Tomtomtom]

If you connect your Geyserwise to Home Assistant, you can control when your geyser turns on in a very granular way, even using spare PV as the trigger to turn the geyser on.

You can also do this with a smart breaker, like a CBI Astute, which is ~R 500 instead of R 2k+.

The only thing the TSE is really adding is a thermocouple, and you can buy that separately.

 

[Napalm2880]

I am in cpt, and I recommend a Full solar installation and geyser connected to smart load, that's the best approach right now.

I would agree with this approach. I looked very closely at Geyserwise, but it made more financial sense to just plow that money into a solar install. I reduced the element in my 250L geyser from 4kW to 2kW and now my geyser load is spread throughout the day without the "peaks" drawing power off Eskom. I've got the geyser on a Sonoff Loadshedder so it doesn't draw from my batteries if Eskom has a fault/loadshedding.

 

[Tomtomtom]

I looked very closely at Geyserwise, but it made more financial sense to just plow that money into a solar install.

Really? Would be interested to see your figures.

The stock market has returned 40% over the past two years, so that's the opportunity cost.

In my case solar PV water heating is returning about 40% per annum. If I'd spent 5-10x as much for a marginal extra saving, my return would be below the next best use for the money.

So it made no financial sense and still doesn't. As much as I want to buy more panels at the insane prices right now, the balance of system costs make it unattractive.

 

[Micdew]

Question: for full solar installation (or even for geyser solar) does one need an sseg certificate once done or just the coc? I see many companies provide coc but been told you need sseg certificate as well?

 

[Tomtomtom]

Question: for full solar installation (or even for geyser solar) does one need an sseg certificate once done or just the coc? I see many companies provide coc but been told you need sseg certificate as well?

If you do a solar PV geyser retrofit using the Geyserwise dual element or similar, the DC from the panels to the geyser is a closed circuit entirely separate from your house electrical system and from the grid, so no CoC is required.

 

[hilt_ctn]

If you do a solar PV geyser retrofit using the Geyserwise dual element or similar, the DC from the panels to the geyser is a closed circuit entirely separate from your house electrical system and from the grid, so no CoC is required.

To add. Brakenfell is supplied by CoCT ( link ). So, you'd need SSEG for a full solar ( whole house electrical ) installation. Most of the decent solar installers will do this for you for a reasonably small fee. So 1-800-someone-else-do-it

 

[joker08]

How many KW storage do you have? I have 15 but struggle make though evenings someitmes, So decided to go back eskom in evening until its full on summer in cpt. I do around 450 to 500watt idle load with lights etc switched off, due running pc and few other devices that runs 24/7.

I use use TSE unit but did not add panels to it yet.

I just have 10 kW battery. But we use gas cooking. My standby load is also 450watts

 

[joker08]

Really? Would be interested to see your figures.

The stock market has returned 40% over the past two years, so that's the opportunity cost.

In my case solar PV water heating is returning about 40% per annum. If I'd spent 5-10x as much for a marginal extra saving, my return would be below the next best use for the money.

So it made no financial sense and still doesn't. As much as I want to buy more panels at the insane prices right now, the balance of system costs make it unattractive.

Not everyone has the knowledge of investing. I would definitely like to know more

 

[joker08]

Question: for full solar installation (or even for geyser solar) does one need an sseg certificate once done or just the coc? I see many companies provide coc but been told you need sseg certificate as well?

Full solar yes u need sseg as it's connect d to the grid.
If it's only for the geyser then I think (I stand to be corrected) u don't need one.