Solar Vacum Hot Water & UFH system

[Redlady]

Hi,

Sufacepower.com in Mayo have just launced a new system for DHW and UFH. They state that this system (which costs 10,000) will supply 70 % of your Hot Water needs and up to 90% of your UFH needs. If this is true, it sounds a much better deal than going down the Geothermal router.

Anybody have any thoughts on such a system?

Regards,

 

[10to1]

Just had a look at the site. Just a few points. I notice that they use the words "up to" when talking about the 70% and 90%. I wonder what is the average.

I considered a system for DHW only. I have an east and west facing roof and had somebody out to do calculations. We were looking at a min of 25-35 yr. pay back because of the roof orientation. Ideally you need a south facing roof or if yu have the land and are collecting from the ground you must be free of any obstructions such as trees. I was told that there are trackers available to track the sun throughout the day but this would most likely be a ground collection applocation.

I note from the drawings at [broken link removed] that both tanks are equipped with a 2k element and that the drawing shows a boiler if required.

My concern would be that this system would not be able to deliver the amount of hot water required for UFH at the times of year most needed owing to the lack of sunlight in the winter months and as a result the 2k element would be working overtime to compensate and I would be doubtful if this could deliver the amount of HW required in which case you would also need a boiler be it oil gas or whatever.

I would guess that the system prob works better in European countries where winter sunshine is the norm and not our norm of never ending cloud cover.