BENiFIts of solar panels / solar thermal panels
With solar panels or tubes installed a typical household will enjoy 90% of the hot water required for central-heating-off months of the year. Typically that’s April – September. This saves 90% of heating and immersion costs for that period.
What may come as a surprise is that you will also see savings of 20%-25% on your winter heating bills from October to March. In these central-heating-on months the solar will preheat your domestic hot water, reducing the amount of heat needed to maintain your radiators or underfloor heating to it’s required levels. In other words, you will only have to boost your hot water from 25-30° to the required 40° instead of from 7-8° up to 40° for steaming hot showers and baths. So while solar doesn’t directly heat your radiators, you will see a reduction of 20-25% in your central heating bills after your solar panels are installed. SAVINGS
Previous customers with standard solar thermal heating solutions have calculated their annual savings at €700-€800 so solar panels will typically pay for themselves in 5-7 years.
SERVICING solar thermal panels
Solar thermal hot water heating systems should be serviced every 2-3 years. The glycol which circulates through the pipes loses it’s anti-freeze qualities over time and needs to be topped up with concentrate or sometimes changed altogether. If the flow rates have not been set properly or if has overheated regularly, the glycol may have ‘caramelised’, and developed sticky blobs within the liquid. Temperature sensors may also become faulty or dislodged from their proper position resulting in false temperature readings. Controllers may need to be reprogrammed with non-default parameters after power cuts and software may need to be updated.
We service a large number of solar hot water heating systems on an ongoing basis. The majority are our own installations which typically involve minimum maintenance. Recently we’ve seen a distinct rise in requests for us to investigate other installers work. We are more than happy to help clients whose original installers cannot be contacted for whatever reason. We will assess any problems and advise how any faulty systems can be fixed to maximise their potential. If your system isn’t giving you all of your hot water from March – October, and significantly reducing your winter gas/oil costs, then it is not achieving it’s full potential. Let us look at it and help you make more savings.
Our typical Solar Panel service will include:
– power flushing your solar circuit to remove any debris
– assessing the existing glycol and refreshing it to ensure an appropriate level
– an examination of all fittings and connections within the solar loop
– all valves will be checked
– the expansion vessel pressure will be checked
– an examination of all electrical connections
– all settings, parameters and variables within the controller will be adjusted to suit the particular site
– the system pressure will be set
– an appropriate flow rate will be set to ensure maximum heat transfer
