Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Jan 28, 2016 3:57 pm I am hoping somebody on here would be able to help me with their experiences so we can decide on which unit to use. The husband and i are building a house through Sekisui in the Newcastle are of NSW. We are currently a family of 5 so need a decent size hot water System. We would prefer a roof mount system as when where speaking a solarhart consultant they mentioned the pump for the split system is not covered in warranty. The builder has given us a choice of 2 systems the rheem solar hi line 300 litre electric boosted and the Rinnai sunmaster 10 330 litres also electric boosted. Has anyone had experience with either of these or others of the same brand? Any information muchly appreciated. Building a sekisui house in Holmesville NSW viewtopic.php?f=31&t=75060 Re: Solar Hot Water systems Rheem vs Rinnai 2Feb 17, 2016 3:04 pm Same here. Looking for invaluable information as we plan to get a solar hot water with electric backup and leaning towards getting a Rinnai. Owner Builders in boot-shaped Yorke Peninsula : viewtopic.php?f=38&t=80264& Re: Solar Hot Water systems Rheem vs Rinnai 3Feb 17, 2016 3:31 pm I have a Rheem in my current house I installed not to long ago - and our new house is going gas. I hate it and it seems to be a solar hot water thing not a brand thing. We have 5 people in the house and our Rheem does not have a booster switch - so at the start would only extra heat at night during off peak. We have a very large one to. So hubby would have shower, kids have shower and I would hop in after they all left for the day (as I work evenings) and there would be no hot water and I would have to wait and hope for a sunny day. If it wasn't a sunny day - like winter, well no hot water either until about 1am when it would heat. So I had to call my electric company to come and put a new switch in and now it will heat off peak once at night and once during the day. He said this is really common installation they do especially during winter. Still doesn't solve no hot water in the morning for me - but at least by the time I go to work I can have a shower. Also annoying if one of us is sick and has a shower - because of aches, pains, fevers etc and then we run out of hot water.....I honestly never had as much trouble with my all electric hot water running out like this one does. I have spoken to others (and this talk came up at work last night actually) and 3/4 of us have this same issue with hot water. My inlaws don't as they got a solarhart all on the roof solar hot water with a booster switch so they can just switch on - but they still need to wait an hour for hot water. However they rarely need to do it as there is only 2 of them. Same here, if the kids are away we find it fine for just us - just not 5 people. So we have decided to go gas instead. Yes it may cost more running it but is about $3500 cheaper so we could use the credit on something else and I never have to worry about having a cold shower again (will be having 2 tanks). ~Shellby~ GJ Bridgewater 203 11/3/2016 - Site Work Started 29/9/2016 - Handover 142 Work Days 6 Work Days Over https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=80174 Re: Solar Hot Water systems Rheem vs Rinnai 4Feb 17, 2016 11:22 pm Cheers shellby! My partner will check out with a local SA company about these issues of solar hot water setup. I love my hot showers so I would not want to get a setup that will need a lot of mucking around. Owner Builders in boot-shaped Yorke Peninsula : viewtopic.php?f=38&t=80264& Re: Solar Hot Water systems Rheem vs Rinnai 5Feb 18, 2016 1:34 pm If you decide that solar hot water is not for you, but would like another green (& efficient) alternative, you may want to look at a heat pump hot water system. These run on the same principle as RC air cons, extracting heat from the air, & are much, much more efficient than a normal electric hot water system. Just like solar hot water systems, heat pumps are eligible for government rebates. If you're thinking of installing solar PV panels on your roof, then a heat pump becomes an even better idea. As you can heat your water for free during the day (when your PV panels are generating). At other times the cost will still be very low, about 1/3 the cost of electric hot water heating. Heat pumps are quite expensive, though a bit cheaper than solar hot water systems I believe. Two very well regarded brands are Sanden & Siddons. Re: Solar Hot Water systems Rheem vs Rinnai 6Feb 18, 2016 10:04 pm Agree with ddarroch, we went heat pump plus 5.2 solar PV, brilliant! We are all electric home, last power bill $38. Custom build Northern NSW viewtopic.php?f=31&t=72217 Solar Hot Water systems Rheem vs Rinnai 7Feb 19, 2016 11:52 am Tracey and ddarroch, you guys have had no issue with running out of hot water and having to wait for it to heat again? We probably will look at the capacity of the tank (what is the size of your hot water tanks, if I may ask?). We do not have main gas line where we are so we get bottle gas for our shed while we live there, but for the house, we really would like to stay away from doing that. Looking ahead is to not worry about utility bills too much ( when we are older and only rely on pension lol). Owner Builders in boot-shaped Yorke Peninsula : viewtopic.php?f=38&t=80264& Re: Solar Hot Water systems Rheem vs Rinnai 8Feb 19, 2016 12:25 pm Hi twylamc, we have a hydrotherm, think 300l. We set it to heat during the day, using the pv panels. Currently have 5 people staying and never run out of hot water. Custom build Northern NSW viewtopic.php?f=31&t=72217 Re: Solar Hot Water systems Rheem vs Rinnai 9Feb 19, 2016 2:33 pm Hi twylamc, I don't actually have a heat pump, just read a fair bit about them, as I like to keep up to date with new green tech. You could also ask around for recommendations (for either SHW, solar PV or heat pumps) on ATA forum, & Whirlpool Green Tech forum. Congrats TraceyWayne, a $38 electricity bill is a great result! Anybody would be happy with that, I'm sure you're smiling from ear to ear. Re: Solar Hot Water systems Rheem vs Rinnai 10Feb 19, 2016 7:16 pm What about something like this http://www.rinnai.com.au/hot-water/sola ... master-cc/ which has an option of a gas boosted system. So hot water would be "instantaneous" if you run out of hot water or if the water is not hot enough. Solar Hot Water systems Rheem vs Rinnai 11Feb 19, 2016 10:01 pm Yeah, that is an option too. We just want to be an all electric home (like Tracey). One reason as said is we do not have main gas line where we are and another is we think that gas will not be cheaper but actually will become expensive. We have solar installed in our home already for our electric needs and we just want to do the same for the hot water system. (I am not very knowledgeable about PV solar panels so we will look into it or if that is the solar panels that we have got or different again) Owner Builders in boot-shaped Yorke Peninsula : viewtopic.php?f=38&t=80264& Re: Solar Hot Water systems Rheem vs Rinnai 12Feb 21, 2016 11:56 pm We have a 320L rheem solar roof mounted HWS and we installed a timer in our meter box. All summer it has been fine (& it feeds hot water into our washing machine and we are a family of 5 so lots of washing). We haven't done a winter here yet, but had a similar set up in our old house and turned on the timer for an hour or two in the morning and half an hour in the evening (from memory) and water temp was fine for all our morning showers and the kids evening bath. I wouldn't have a solar set up without a timer for winter than you can set & forget Re: Solar Hot Water systems Rheem vs Rinnai 13Feb 26, 2016 10:37 am Solar hot water is an absolute no-brainer. It is the cheapest and most reliable form of energy storage you will ever find, with a very fast return on investment. About 4-5 times more efficient than PV panels. Much cheaper per kW than solar PV, and many, many times cheaper than electric batteries. Total system efficiency of a direct solar hot water system is >70%. Total system efficiency of PV panels, inverter and a heat pump is about 40% Total system efficiency of PV panels, inverter and an electric element hws is about 15% We had a 12 year old Rheem (Edwards) 300L rooftop unit on our house when we bought it and was still going good as gold. We have never not had steaming hot water and the electrical boost element has been switched OFF for 2 years. Another highly efficient form of hot water is using waste heat from heat pump air conditioning to heat the water. When you go outside on a hot day with the air con on, feel the air blowing out of the outdoor unit. It is hot. There are systems out there that run water around the condenser coil and absorb this heat into the water. If you use ground source heat pump air conditioning, you get air conditioning that is about 2.5 times more efficient than regular air conditioning, and when the air cond is running, it is using the waste heat to heat your hot water for free. The key to efficiency is to look at the various heating and cooling sub systems in your house (as well as the passive design of your house) as one big integrated system, rather than several different systems. Building Services Engineer Renovating our 1960's modernist home in Brisbane https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=53&t=82091 the sun master is the solar heating to "warm" the water in the tank the S26 is your hot water system which will heat the water (25 degrees?) so with both turned on you… 2 12132 I want to build a decking to the drawn shape outlined in black. The problem is how close can I build to the gas hot water unit? Will I be able to build around it and be… 0 20197 DIY, Home Maintenance & Repair Hi, I've got a brand new (2nd hand) Bosch Hydropower 16H tankless hot water heater. Since it was installed I have noticed it leaks a lot. I took the cover off and it looks… 0 24134 |