Browse Forums Heating, Cooling & Insulation 1 Jan 09, 2010 7:51 am We are currently about to purchase a new solar hot water system. We have looked into several brands, and have decided maybe our best option would be either Solarhart, Edwards or Ecosmart. Solarhart have a nice system, but they seem to die after their warranty is up due to the anode problem. Edwards sounds good, as they have a stainless steel tank. Ecosmart also has a stainless steel tank, but the sales guy seems a bit loopy, and wont even answer the phone on some days. Has anyone recently gone through the process of buying a new solar hot water system and may have a few tips or advice on how we can choose a system? They all seem to be about the same price, after the various rebates have been applied. thanks, Steve Re: Best solar hot water system 3Jan 13, 2010 9:21 am We went the Hills, it is very efficient, heated our 315 litre tank to hot from cold in 2 days. The key is the evacuated tube technology. We have gas boost on the unit to cover us for winter. http://www.hillssolar.com.au/arbitrage/pages/Home They are a little complex to install, but that is not your problem, and they have good RECS ratings. I fell in love with the technology that was my main reason, warrantys are good also. Dan Re: Best solar hot water system 4Jan 13, 2010 9:42 am I think the key feature with HWS (Solar or otherwise) is the storage tank material. The volume brands don't use copper or stainless steel tanks and so they end up rusting out within 5-7 years. Our last HWS only lasted 6 years because the tank rusted out. Ironically, the warranty period was 5 years and when I queried the manufacturer, I was advised that the "design life" is only 5-7 years because of the tank. Re: Best solar hot water system 5Jan 13, 2010 10:51 am Thudd Does the anode problem refer to "it wasn't replaced by its due date"? Because that's a user maintenance issue, not a problem with the tank itself. Yep. It is to do with the anode, almost exlusively from what I have learnt. Solarhart have two models relating to the system we need. The 300L and the 300L easy heat. Both models are roof mounting and are identical, except the easy heat version has a 10 year warranty and larger anode. This is also consistant with the smaller anode of the 300L being only a 5 year warranty. Once the anode is gone, things go bad very quickly. Replacing the anode is not trivial. Once the system is installed, calling out a tradie for any reason subjects the system to more problems, delays and excessive costs, so I am pursuing the maximum warranty for both parts and labour, regardless of up front costs, so as the system can be maintained. According to solahart, they do not conduct repairs of systems, except thouse under warranty. They also do not provide documentation for home owners to conduct their own "user maintenance". Although a nice system, both ecosmart and edwards, amongst others are offering a lot more for the same price (ie, stainless steel tanks, 10 year warranty, no anode etc). Steve Re: Best solar hot water system 6Jan 13, 2010 11:08 am Gambarol I think the key feature with HWS (Solar or otherwise) is the storage tank material. The volume brands don't use copper or stainless steel tanks and so they end up rusting out within 5-7 years. Our last HWS only lasted 6 years because the tank rusted out. Ironically, the warranty period was 5 years and when I queried the manufacturer, I was advised that the "design life" is only 5-7 years because of the tank. I think so. It seems to always be the tank to go first. I have heard of no reports of collectors failing. From the research ive done, a small hole eventually corrodes it way through the tank, regardless of its fragile glass lining, usually near the tanks unprotected fittings (ie -bolts, cover plates, elements, sensors, access points etc). Its then that the leaking phase of its life begins. The other issue is anode surface area. As the anode gets smaller, it loses its ability to sacrifice fast enough to accommodate the required protection for the large surface area of the tank, and so a ratio of corrosion starts occuring, with the tank contributing. Hot water agressively accelerates the entire process. Its pretty brave using such a system in such a corrosive environment. The concept is definately temporary, with the anode fighting an intentional losing battle. Stainless steel seems the only soultion if you want the system to last, however, that may be deemed detrimental to future sales. Stainless steel from a consumers point of view seems like a superior solution by far. Steve Re: Best solar hot water system 7Jan 13, 2010 11:17 am danc12 We went the Hills, it is very efficient, heated our 315 litre tank to hot from cold in 2 days. The key is the evacuated tube technology. We have gas boost on the unit to cover us for winter. http://www.hillssolar.com.au/arbitrage/pages/Home They are a little complex to install, but that is not your problem, and they have good RECS ratings. I fell in love with the technology that was my main reason, warrantys are good also. Dan I agree. They have beautiful collectors! Id love this system, but installation alone was quoted at around $2400. We currently have a solarhart 300L with the the full plumbing and power already installed, which means we only pay $1300 for installation, so we will go with a similar roof mounted system to reduce installation costs. I could only find split systems being offered by Hills.. Steve Re: Best solar hot water system 8Jan 13, 2010 1:10 pm 2400 is probably about right too, the plumber that installed ours started cursing just after he opened the box and still hasn't stopped. He was organised by the builder, I am not sure he knew what he was getting into. IN respect of warranties, all the major items have 10 years that includes the tank. Dan Re: Best solar hot water system 9Jan 13, 2010 3:35 pm We went with the Rinnai Prestige Split system, which utilises a commercial grade stainless steel cyclinder, and hence, it doesn't require a sacrificial anode. With our system, we decided to go with 2 frost tolerant "Excelsior" collectors. It has only been about 5 weeks, but so far so good (touch wood). Re: Best solar hot water system 10Jan 20, 2010 9:51 pm Today we removed our Solarhart 300L solar system from the roof in preparation for a new system. The new system is an ecosmart with a stainless steel tank, as we felt the old Solarhart system's tank had rusted out with water going everywhere. In the process, to our horror, we found this behind the electrical panel of the old Solarhart. http://users.tpg.com.au/srkh//thermo.JPG This device protects the cylinder, and prevents the system from exceeding a temperature that would typically cause the tank to rupture. For over five weeks since it was repositioned on our new roof, it has been leaking hot water - our pLuMbEr said that it is normal to leak hotwater. We can now see, this pLuMbEr who reconnected the system, failed to screw the thermostat back into position after reconnecting the power (which is also located on the same block), resulting in both the primary sensor and the cut out sensor not being able to detect the temperature of the tank via the metal plate it is attached to. This causes the 3.6KW element to turn on and stay on - until the element burns out or the product destroys itself through rupturing, or fire. This system was installed in 1984 and was operational until 2010. From a reliability point of view, 26 years of service is utterly amazing. My apoligies to solahart - their systems undoubtly perform extremely well. http://www.solahart.com/files/factfiles ... FF_011.pdf Steve Re: Best solar hot water system 11Jan 20, 2010 10:27 pm All owned by Rheem Where you are coming from is where you are going to... Re: Best solar hot water system 12Jan 20, 2010 10:52 pm Yep.. that use to phase me too, but after this latest ordeal, I am now convinced there is a greater evil, that is spiraling into a plague, other than a Japanese company buying up solar hot water manufacturers. Steve Re: Best solar hot water system 13Jan 20, 2010 11:32 pm Now you know, can we do anything?? Where you are coming from is where you are going to... Re: Best solar hot water system 14Jan 21, 2010 1:47 am the main builders supplier of Solar HWS in Bunbury did both Solarhart and Edwards. We went to have a chat to them ourselves to discuss what they thought was best for where we were. (we wanted to make sure we got the best system for location, family size etc) The person we spoke to several times over a number of months told us that between the 2 we were looking at it it depended on location because of the water in that area. We'd heard quite negative comments about one of the 2 brands from another person in Perth at the Home Improvement Centre and were quite concerned as this was teh one she was suggesting for our build. Anyway after talking to her about why she suggested this one of the other it seemed she would have suggested the opposite of the one we were recommended if we had still been living in our old house because of the water supply there. sorry I can't be more specific. it was a long time ago in home building terms ( nearly 2 yrs ago) Blog http://wherethehearthis.blogspot.com/ Build https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?t=6634: Yard https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=27687&p=378401#p378401 Re: Best solar hot water system 15Jan 21, 2010 5:01 am You do know that Rheem IS wholly owned by a japanese company. Re: Best solar hot water system 16Jun 19, 2013 10:30 am we moved into a new home that already had solarhart system instaled which wasn't working properlly however we recommended a solar hot water plumbing company that came out serviced the system replaced the anode cleaned up the glass pannels and checked everything else that was 3 months ago, hot water system works great and recieved our first electric bill so much cheaper than our last house. we live on the gold coast so if any one else has problems with there system I'd give these guys a try you might save yourself a fourtune not having to replace the system http://www.solaplumb.com.au/ Re: Best solar hot water system 17Jun 19, 2013 11:47 am It is important that if there is a heating element it is the correct type for the type of water you have. where we are we need the more exxy version due to hard water. The original element in the system wasn't this type and needed replacing about 15 months into it's use. Unfortunately due to it being winter and being in a regional area at the time where the repairers/installers come from a non hard water area the only element available was the exact same one. We replaced it and yup 13 months later it went again. This time we are able to source the more exxy version through a different repairer where there tends to be more hard water issues and it's been nearly 2 years and ... it's still ok. 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… 3 12091 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 24133 |