Solar Panels

E

Eithneangela

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I'm interested in reducing our carbon footprint by utilising renewable energy and am wondering if it makes financial sense to install solar panels on the roof of our small bungalow, built 2006. Living in the sunny south east, our house is southwest facing, with sun all day long in the back garden (i.e. when the sun shines). Also wondering if the windmill technology has advanced sufficiently to utilise it in a domestic way - maybe a group of residents? Looking forward to hearing feedback on the logic and financial sense (i.e. proven statistics vis. a vis. standard energy like gas, oil, electricity). Regards.
 
www.irishecoplumbing.com

I plucked this website from an old thread on solar, it’s a plumber who’s tracking the temperatures of a client’s solar panel output & it makes impressive reading,
I’m looking into doing something similar to yourself and am approaching it with a 2 pronged approach- 1: insulation-and lots of it 2: solar panels & wood pellet boiler

Unfortunately when you’re talking about financial benefits, well there are grants but unfortunately this technology does not come cheap and the pay back period would be long enough, however you’d like to think you’ll benefit from peace of mind while also you would hope should you consider selling the property down the line the presence of renewable’s would add to the value of the property!

Bottom line is oil & gas prices are only going 1 way….and then they’ll run out
 
Interesting website! Don't mean to hijack the thread but we are thinking of installing the same i.e. solar panels, wood pellet stove, insulation etc.

We had a highly efficient gas condesner bolier in last house, great for watrer on demand. Can you use an efficient gas condenser bolier in conjuction with solar panels? My thought was that the solar panels would bring the temperature to a certain level and the bolier would give that extra needed heat when needed?
 
My (limited) understanding is that with an integrated system (solar & boiler) the boiler will kick in when required, obviously solar wouldn’t be effective during winter months but would still be capable of heating water to say 10-15 degrees which would reduce the energy requirements from the boiler.

Another thing to consider is using Thermostatic Radiator Valves which maintain a stable heat in a room.

As I read on another thread having solar & other renewables in a house is like putting lipstick on a gorilla- unless you insulate the house properly there’s little point!!
 
Hi,

The data on the site linked above comes from my house.

In terms of the statement about insulation I would only half agree when it comes to water heating using solar, obviously you should get the most heavily insulated tank you can afford, however, my reading of the data coming form my system would indicate that the temperature drop at the top of the tank is very much dependent on how much cold is in the bottom of the tank, I'd say that water mixing has a much greater effect on the overall temp in the tank then heat escaping through the sides of the tank. having said that, in the current weather the tank is touching 90 every day and the outside of the bonded insulation is warm to the touch.

The biggest change for me with the solar is the awaren ess of energy consumption in relation to hot water, you become much more conscious of how much hot hater you have, and how much you need, which in turn further reduces your dependence on fossil fuel in the times when the solar is not supplying all the requirements (I for one would never go back to a simple cycle of having hot water on when the heating is on in the evening).

The final thing I would say is that the graphs on the site show that indeed solar is effective in winter, it certainly won't give you shower hot water very often, but the temperature of the water coming into the system is so much lower that any bit of sunlight contributes.

Regards
Gtec
 
hi. We have 8 sq mtrs of flat plate panels installed. As people will know from previous posts our system is not performing at all well. The highest temp we have got over the past days of strong sunshine and warmth is 49 degrees C. Our system will never pay for itself. I do accept that there is something wrong with our system and we have been onto the supplier and installer several times, to no avail yet. We are being completely ignored. We are thinking of going farther with it now. Can anyone advise as to the best way to do this? Please.
Optimistic
 
Hi Optimistic,

What size is your cylinder... your system is clearly underperforming.
What makes are your panels and what is your roof orientation?
 
Many thanks for the information - I logged on to the ecoplumbing site and am about to follow up with that option in terms of viability, pricing, service levels, implementation timescale and construction work, referenceability and payback time. While keenly interested in greening my lifestyle, the options followed must make financial sense.
 
Hi Armada, Thanks for your reply. We have 8 sq mtrs connected to a 800 ltr tank with 200 ltr DHW (also connected to WPB, delighted with this) The panels are german made and supplied by a Cork supplier and installed by his recommended installer. We did not get the grant, but this guy is an SEI approved installer. I am not sure if I am can publicly disclose his name, but shall I say that the reason I went with this company was because they have been suppliers of solar installations for a long time. My brother has a similar system and is getting temps of up to 80 degrees C. Consistently up to 30 d C hotter than ours.
I have been repeatedly in touch with the guy we purchased from and he won't acknowledge or take my calls anymore, just said that he is a seller and his friend is the installer and they are two separate companies. We wrote him recently and have just sent another letter requesting him to rectify the problem.

What are our rights in relation to getting him to either remove/replace/repair the system? Or do we have any hope and money wasted? It cost us over 6500 euros to install.

Any advice will be gratefully received.Optimistic


Armada said:
Hi Optimistic,

What size is your cylinder... your system is clearly underperforming.
What makes are your panels and what is your roof orientation?
Click to expand...
 
Optimistic,

From your reply, I am guessing that you are talking here about solar providing heat to an 800Ltr buffer tank that is also supplied by the WPB, this in turn is heating underfloor I assume?

How is the DHW plumbed in to the circuit?

The data from my installation is DHW ONLY, i use oil for heating.

As a matter if interest I had a very similar problem to yours when mine was first installed, it turned out that the sensor for the panels was not actually in the sensor pocket, but was measuring effectively free air temp (due to a manufacturing fault), this was easily rectified, but I found out about it by accident. Basically, solar systems are incredibly simple, but are completely reliant on the sensors to make them work effectively. You are saying that you never get more that 40 deg on the panels, are you sure about this? Have you chanced this with an independent temp monitor?

The simple way to find out if your panel sensor is not reading correctly is to take the bottom of tank sensor out (it should be simply slid into the sensor pocket) and see if the temp in the tank rises above the temp your roof sensor is reading, this will tell you that the panel is in fact higher than the reading you are seeing. This was how i found out about my problem.

Send me a PM if you want more details about this

Gtec
 
Hi gtec,

Thanks for your reply. As far as I know the sensors are ok. The installer did check that and all seemed to be ok on that front. Yes, solar is to be contributing to the buffer tank which is a tank in tank system, 600 ltrs buffer and 200 ltrs DHW, the house heating is drawn off the buffer tank. I stopped the WPB to see if that made any difference to the performance of the solar, as I understand that the solar cannot contribute enough to the 800 ltr tank.

The problem is that in my brothers unit, he is getting way higher temps than ours consistently, and on an almost identical system, just different brand of solar flat plate panels, but same supplier. If it was not for his installation I would not have any expectations about solar.

thanks for all the help, optimistic

Gtec said:
Optimistic,

From your reply, I am guessing that you are talking here about solar providing heat to an 800Ltr buffer tank that is also supplied by the WPB, this in turn is heating underfloor I assume?

How is the DHW plumbed in to the circuit?

The data from my installation is DHW ONLY, i use oil for heating.

As a matter if interest I had a very similar problem to yours when mine was first installed, it turned out that the sensor for the panels was not actually in the sensor pocket, but was measuring effectively free air temp (due to a manufacturing fault), this was easily rectified, but I found out about it by accident. Basically, solar systems are incredibly simple, but are completely reliant on the sensors to make them work effectively. You are saying that you never get more that 40 deg on the panels, are you sure about this? Have you chanced this with an independent temp monitor?

The simple way to find out if your panel sensor is not reading correctly is to take the bottom of tank sensor out (it should be simply slid into the sensor pocket) and see if the temp in the tank rises above the temp your roof sensor is reading, this will tell you that the panel is in fact higher than the reading you are seeing. This was how i found out about my problem.

Send me a PM if you want more details about this

Gtec
Click to expand...
 
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