Solar Water Heat

Water heating is probably the most costly "appliance" we run in our homes, using the sun can reduce our electricity bill by a fair amount.

Only one...

There is only one solar system I can recommend, its affordable and it works.

The Geyser is made by a company in Paarl. The company is called Xstream and their geyser is made from fibreglass.

http://xstream.co.za

Combine that with flat panel collectors and you have a winning combination. (Flat panel collector is a solar panel for water heating)

The great thing about this solution is that it goes on top of the roof, so any dripping, leaking potential bursts is not in the ceiling..

The cost is about R 13 000.00 for the complete installation, flat plate collector and 200 litre geyser.
You can opt for evacuated tubes but honestly, I don't think it makes a difference worth the cost. It you live in sutherland where the temperature is below freezing often then you do need to go that route.

You do have an alternative if you dont want to replace the geyser, it makes going over to solar water heating affordable.

What you do is install the flat plate collectors and a small 10 watt photovoltaic panel. The PV panel powers a small pump during sunlight hours that circulates the water from your normal geyser through the flat plate collectors.

The cost of this add on for the normal geyser is about R 7 000.00

I find in summer months I can switch off my geyser completely, in winter if the sun doesn't shine for a day or two I need it to run 90 min in the morning and 90 minutes in the evening.

The element on the Xstream geyser is only 2000 watts so it uses 2 units an hour, basically the same power as a kettle element. (normal geyser is 4700 watts)




....no I don't have shares or am affiliated to either company, I just think they have a good product at a reasonable price.