Edwards Solar Hotwater system

[Disco_owner]

I've been booked in today to have my edwards Solar hot-water system installed , It should hopefully be finished around midday.

The system being installed is an Australis series II. ( L32 305L )

what has triggered this is the high energy consumption for offpeak hotwater in our household.

I finally had enough of the continous tarrifs on the existing 125L electric hotwater system providing Hotwater for 4 x people in the household ,whom mind you was installed back in 2004 and still looks new but it was time for a slightly more efficient system.

I was speaking to a colleague at work who says that years ago these systems were a lot cheaper around $3k installed without a state or federal government rebate.

the price for the system I was quoted was up around $5155 , this was prior to RECs deduction , the RECs deduction of $1085 ( this apparently can slighly vary ) and $1300 state and federal government rebate works out to be roughly the same price as when there was no rebate earlier and these systems were installed for sub $3k.

cheers Khos

[PhilipA]

Khos, perhaps you should read this mate.
Edwards L Series 2 Solar Water Heaters Reviews Australia www.edwards.com.au
Regards Philip A

[Disco_owner]

Khos, perhaps you should read this mate.
Edwards L Series 2 Solar Water Heaters Reviews Australia www.edwards.com.au
Regards Philip A

Going by the comments from people on the link you've provided We should be fine there is only 2 person/s having showers in the morning , one of us works shift work so would be coming off night shift in the morning ,so he might have a quick shower in the afternoon . I've recently installed a 5 star rating shower head for saving on water so this would help with saving on hotwater . I suspect this setup would be a better option than installing a larger Electric hotwater system anyway say a 300L which would have cost around 1500.

there 305L useable hotwater in the tank and if it runs out of hotwater we would have a switch in the switchboard to manually boost up to 160L.

but that defeats the pupose .


Edit: I just hope I've made the right choice , there aren't many people raving on about this system

[PhilipA]

a larger Electric hotwater system anyway say a 300L which would have cost around 1500.

Mine cost me $700 2 years ago and costs $20-30 per quarter for the two of us on off peak 1. Never over $20 until the most recent bill which was 11% price increase.
I did a full study of options before I replaced my blown up one which lasted 23 years and then it was a no brainer, compared to instant gas( bottled for me) , instant electric.
I cannot have solar as you probably know from my location in the trees.
Heat pump is also expensive and would save me almost nothing based onn my costs and the projected running cost of the heat pump..

Just be sure you connect the booster to off peak 1 at 7 cents a kw hour .

When I looked for Edwards I was just looking to see whether it had a booster when those reviews popped up.
AND the reason was that I had lunch a couple of days ago with a friend who had just installed a solar system in a new house and was complaining that in winter the solar was useless and they had run the booster every time they wanted a shower.
He being an analytical type had estimated that they only got about 1/8 the solar intensity in winter in Foxground which is near Berry.
Regards Philip A

[Fluids]

In another life I used to sell & install Solarhart solar hot water heaters. We had one ourselves.

Here's the rub about the booster ... DO NOT connect it to the off-peak 1 power, connect it to normal available 24hrs/day power WITH a manual switch ... you decide when you need to boost, not the thermostat. Switch it on for 15-20min in the morning, if needed, then have a shower using the hot water only. It can heat for the rest of the day using solar energy.

With time of use metering for power now on most homes, anytime between 10pm in the evening & 7am in the morning is almost as cheap as off-peak 1 power. If it's connected to off-peak 1, you cannot turn it on if you need to boost. Connected to normal power, you can ... avoid turning it on between 2pm-8pm on a weekday !!!

... we currently use a mains storage electric 315L unit, and our quarterly power for hot water (on off-peak 1) is approx $50-70 ... family of 4. Never run out of hot water. We could use solar, out aspect is right ... but the payback period would be close to 20yrs, and most solar systems in reality may not last that long.

Kev..

[Disco_owner]

I know most hotwater system won't last for the payback period , but I was willing to give it a go , I'll take a picture of the install in the morning , the roof is almost north facing and no obstruction blocking the sun,I'm at a high point also so almost get maximum sun , also I'm also connected to Offpeak 2 for hotwater , the thermostat is set up to boost between 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm and then again from 04:00am till 06:00 am so theoretically we should always have hot water , I came home this evening and opened up the tap and had plenty of hotwater runnign out of the tap .

[101RRS]

A house I rented in Canberra 15 years ago had a solarhart and I found it worked well. Access to the morning to midday sun was restricted by a large tree but even so it was heated. On overcast days some heat still got in and it took about two days for the water to become luke warm.

The switch for the heater was manual and you soon learned when to turn it on and if there was extended cloudy weather when to have showers etc. I found it worked well and was very economical.

Why would you connect it to any sort of power system where the thermostat switches it on automatically - it will always be hot from electricity before the sun gets to do its work - if you do have it set - set the thermostat very low.

Garry

[Disco_owner]

In another life I used to sell & install Solarhart solar hot water heaters. We had one ourselves.

Here's the rub about the booster ... DO NOT connect it to the off-peak 1 power, connect it to normal available 24hrs/day power WITH a manual switch ... you decide when you need to boost, not the thermostat. Switch it on for 15-20min in the morning, if needed, then have a shower using the hot water only. It can heat for the rest of the day using solar energy.

With time of use metering for power now on most homes, anytime between 10pm in the evening & 7am in the morning is almost as cheap as off-peak 1 power. If it's connected to off-peak 1, you cannot turn it on if you need to boost. Connected to normal power, you can ... avoid turning it on between 2pm-8pm on a weekday !!!

... we currently use a mains storage electric 315L unit, and our quarterly power for hot water (on off-peak 1) is approx $50-70 ... family of 4. Never run out of hot water. We could use solar, out aspect is right ... but the payback period would be close to 20yrs, and most solar systems in reality may not last that long.

Kev..

Hi Kev ; I'm lead to believe that our edwards system is connected to Off-peak 2 ( as mentioned ) , from what I've read in the manual as I've mentioned earlier the thermostat kicks in between 04:00 pm-6:00 pm in the evening and again 04:00:00 am -- 06:00 am to boost during winter, I'm not sure if I should as you explained have a Manual override setting on it but in the meter box the switch has remaind unchanged , there are 2 settings M/S and OPHW

currently the Switch setting is on M/S , should the switch setting be on OPHW ???

[Disco_owner]

we seem to have continous running hotwater since saturday and haven't run out as yet possibly because
the OPHW switch was ON when it was intalled initially ( old 125L tank was on continous ) I since have
switched to the OFF position and see how it goes, but have been told if the water is lukewarm at night
I need to switch it back on so we have enough hotwater in the morning.

I've taken a metre reading from the OPHW meter and will update this post with how
much we're using in 7 days

Meter reading 1= 07069

[101RRS]

I would get a switch installed somewhere convenient like your kitchen or bathroom where you can turn power off an on to the heater. You will soon learn by trial and error the circumstances to turn it on or off - usually if the temp is getting down a bit later in the evening, particularly after a couple of dull days then turn it on so you have hot water in the morning.

Don't forget to turn it off first thing in the morning when you get up.

Garry