Solar PV + Solis inverter

[masterboy123]

We have moved into a new house and not sure how does the Solar PV and linked inverter works. I am attaching few pictures of the system. I was told by the builder that solar panels will provide hot water on first floor only.

 

[Zenith63]

Any chance of some more photos a little less blurry? FWIW it doesn't look like that inverter is on and generating, can be common for builders to remember to turn them on when they finish up.

Is there another box near the immersion switch?

It looks like you have a fairly standard Solis inverter (like this), which should very simply take electricity coming from the solar panels and convert it into electricity the house can use. It will usually be wired directly into the fuse board, so when the inverter/panels are producing electricity anything you are using in the house will be using some/all of the generated power. I'd guess you don't have a battery with that, so if you don't use all the power it will be exported to the grid, so ideally in summer you want to try and maximise your usage while the sun is at its peak, so run the washing machine/dish washer from say 11-3pm on sunny days.

There may be a separate box called a diverter somewhere near the immersion. This will wait for excess solar power and then turn on your immersion to use it, repeating this calculation every few seconds so you only heat water with excess solar. If you don't have one of these (and you probably don't if it's a bog standard builder install) then I'd suspect the builder was mistaken in his understanding about the hot water. Again more photos will help us!

 

[andrew2000ad]

Looks like a fairly standard setup you see in most new houses. Small set of Solar Panels, small Inverter tied into the meter to feed back to grid... the minimum for whatever spec or regulation the home builds are aiming for these days.

I got told all sorts of different stories from my Agent doing the sales, from the construction company and one of the Site Engineers. At the end of the day, unless the builder you talked to is the Electrician who installed or certified the setup, there's a good chance it's not their area and they really don't understand it.

As Zenith said, very unlikely there is a diverter that would be needed to heat the water only from excess solar power.
It will instead (assuming it's turned on, on both switches in your attic) generate solar power, feed it through your mains box and either to power demand in your house, or out through meter to grid if there's excess.