Hi All,
Just moved into a new house and we have an old instantanious electric box on the wall in our laundry sucking electricity and cash like its going out of fasion. Im in sunny perth, so I figure solar is the go.
Im looking at the Solargain 300L roof mounted solar with electric booster here for ~$3000 installed. Is this a good deal, can anyone comment on the quality of their systems, or suggest alternatives?
Cheers
consider also LPG boosted solar.
(LPG via the bottle, I assume you don't have mains gas)
could also use LPG for kitchen stove if you want.
Gas passes the property but hasnt been installed - Ive just done some reading and i think i could have it installed almost free of charge (looks like the operator does up to 20m of gas line free of charge to connect you, which would reach me) - in which case I could go an instantanious gas sytem over the solar (cheaper outlay), no tank limitations.. hmm.
Definitely go the natural gas option.
call your local gas company, Synergy?, and ask for a quote to get gas connected to home. If it is anything like AGL (sydney) they were able to give me an estimate over the phone, but then a written quote after they sent out someone to have a look (my gas had to run from a bit further up the street).
There'll be a bit of outlay for the connection and setup, but much lower than solar.
I have instant gas, and hope to add solar as gas prices are rising here.
In you position I would go solar with gas boost.
But having gas for cooking and heating is worth it to me. In Perth paying the supply charge plus usage for just gas hot water would be costly.
^This
Gas is cheap, but the supply charge is a killer.
Our Gas bill (Hot Water, Cooking and Heating) even in the depths of winter with a newborn only 50% of the bill was actual gas usage!
Back when I was single, my usual gas bill was $8 gas, $80 supply charge!
I've got instant gas (a Bosch unit) and it's fantastic. No tank, no electricity and works surprisingly well in a big house with three bathrooms. If you can get gas connected easy I'd recommend this.
I had a instant electric HWS replaced with a solar in 2009. $3000 seems like a great deal, I paid $2900 for a 180L Edward system installed after Government rebates.
Solar works great in Perth, I turn off the electric booster for 7-8 months of the year. Go with solar, you won't regret it. How many people live in your house?
Just myself and the missus at the moment. Do early morning showers utilise the booster in summer, or does the solar hold onto the heat overnight?
I suppose it comes down to if I am going to get gas connected for other things (cooking/heating/etc). If I decide I wont get gas connected i will go the solar, if I am going to connect gas in the future I might be better off with the instantanious gas.
The solar has no problems holding onto the heat overnight in Summer without the booster. My system faces the morning sun, I don't know if that helps or not but I have a shower before bed and still have hot water in the morning.
I live alone so its easy for me to manage without the booster in summer, obviously if you empty the tank before bed your not going to have hot water in the morning.
I'm in north/west NSW and have solar. More than happy with it.
Consider:
A roof mounted tank needs a good roof- has to hold 300+ kgs weight of system
When I put mine in (4 years ago) the evacuated tube technology was the most efficient
Mine has an electric boost and I have it on a timer. In winter when it needs a boost, I have the boost come on at 4.00am and off at 5.00am (1 hour). That's cheap electricity time for me and it provides hot water for showers for 4 including 2 teenagers. The timer and installation was $150 . Of course you can overide the timer if needed eg visitors.
This spring /summer I haven't used the booster except for one week when we had 5 consecutive cloudy/rainy days.
I too considered gas , but here the cost of the supply (meter, etc) was prohibitive.
If there are 2 of you at present, but possibly growing some little people, that's the scenario you need to plan for. Eg 4 people all having baths/showers at least once a day is the planning scenario. My evacuated tubes are just fine until say 2 consecutive days of cool weather, they work on ambient temps and therefore do not need actual direct sun, but direct unsunshaded north is best. I can boost the temp from very warm to hot in an hour.
Try to coordinate washing and dishwasher by when you need hot water. Eg leave enough in the tank for an am shower, and then if the sun is out / hot day, get all the washing and dishy on. But, you don't need to be ruled by it, it's just a way of maximsing.
I think it is in the right ballpark for an installed price.
Perhaps ring a couple of local plumbers and see if they can recommend a better deal? They get to see a range of systems, so would have some idea on reliability, and usually have an arrangement to source systems wholesale.