How expensive is a solar panel heating system

paddy147

How expensive is it to put one of these solar panel hot water heating systems up on an average sized terraced house?

Recently I have noticed that they are popping up everywhere on roofs and so they must be a good investment too and good for reducing those heating bills.

Also I how long does the solar panel grant application process take?

Thanks.:)

Poor Uncle Tom

Thread moved to the prices and costs sub-forum for easier discussion on pricing, systems, etc.

paddy147

anyone have any info on my question then?

Thanks.

paddy147

WOW.................4 days later on and not 1 single constructive reply.

Thanks.:(

gaz wac

Paddy, I know NOTHING about solar panel's, sorry

Poor Uncle Tom

I think you would be best talking to a good local plumbing and heating expert who will ususlly call to your house and asses the best type of system for you and give you a costing on it.

Coming on here with very little detail of your house, number of bedrooms, floor area, etc., or details of your existing heating system and expecting to get a costing on a solar panel heating system is a little optamistic.

stephentbb2000

I am afraid uncle is right, is it a new build or a retro fit. Will you be installing solar showers and upgrading the rest of the plumbing and electrics for the system. There is then different styles and size panels which can be placed on your roof.

All of the above will have cost implications, solar panels are exempt from planning but there is conditions about the total size and placement of them.

It cost me around the €5500 for 5m2 velux solar pannels including all works and tank, but this was for a new build.

ccsolar

Hi Paddy
The price is around €3700 inc vat fitted with a SEI grant of € 1471.
It must be fitted by an SEI registered fitter to avail of the Grant or you can do it DIY and just get it commisioned by fitter.
It only takes a few weeks for the application and letter of offer but can take up to 8wks to recieve payment of grant after you install.

CC

guideanna

Sorry for butting in on the thread here, i was speaking with my engineer today who tells me that the installation on solal panels is now compulsory on all new builds (effective from some time in 2009).
I can't find anything online that confirms such, and tbh i'm not that keen on the idea of them (added expense that we can't really afford at the build stage).
Can anyone tell me if they have heard of solar panels being made compulsory?

ccsolar

Hi
Solar panels are not compulsory on new houses , BUT you do have to provide some form of renewable energy.
You have to provide 1800kwh of renewable energy per year to comply with planning and solar panels are the cheapest form of renewable energy also as you are new build the cost of installing the panels will be greatly reduced.
You will have to install a water tank in your hot press regardless and this will be supplied with the solar system.
There is also a large saving with regards to heating your hotwater through out the year with solar panels.

CC

bertie1

paddy147 wrote: »

How expensive is it to put one of these solar panel hot water heating systems up on an average sized terraced house?

Recently I have noticed that they are popping up everywhere on roofs and so they must be a good investment too and good for reducing those heating bills.

Also I how long does the solar panel grant application process take?

Thanks.:)

They are only good for hot water , they will not heat the house for you , it cost me 6500 to do a 3 bedroom house in West cork , 3 panels , pipework , controller , put up scaffold , get roofers to open the roof & close it , ( we already had an exisiting insulated cylinder 300 liter so that did not have to be changed but a heat exchanger was put int the loop as another coil). Grant of Euro 1800 from SEI. Some form of renewable enery is compulsory on new builds now , solar being the cheapest. ( So they are not giving grants for new houses)
You have to get SEI approval before you start & use an SEI registered contactor and when you get the approval you must complete the job in a certain amount of time or you loose the drant .

ccsolar

bertie1 wrote: »

They are only good for hot water , they will not heat the house for you , it cost me 6500 to do a 3 bedroom house in West cork , 3 panels , pipework , controller , put up scaffold , get roofers to open the roof & close it , ( we already had an exisiting insulated cylinder 300 liter so that did not have to be changed but a heat exchanger was put int the loop as another coil). Grant of Euro 1800 from SEI. Some form of renewable enery is compulsory on new builds now , solar being the cheapest. ( So they are not giving grants for new houses)
You have to get SEI approval before you start & use an SEI registered contactor and when you get the approval you must complete the job in a certain amount of time or you loose the drant .

There are no grants for new houses any more these have been done away with.
You now have to have lived in your home for min 12 mts OR before july 2008, (not sure on this date)
You only have to get SEI Approval if you are claiming a grant.
Sorry Bertie but i think you were robbed @ that price.

cc

muboop1

ccsolar wrote: »

There are no grants for new houses any more these have been done away with.
You now have to have lived in your home for min 12 mts OR before july 2008, (not sure on this date)
You only have to get SEI Approval if you are claiming a grant.
Sorry Bertie but i think you were robbed @ that price.

cc

Kind of depends on the quality of the solar panel cells....
He could of gotten a great deal!

ccsolar

muboop1 wrote: »

Kind of depends on the quality of the solar panel cells....
He could of gotten a great deal!

Just because something is expensive doesn't mean it's the highest quality.
You can pay a lot of money and still get lower quality.
Im NOT saying Bertie's System is a lower quality I'm just saying it was very expensive considering he supplied his own tank.
A lot of people are under the impression that if it's expensive it's the best, this is SO not true, it just means there is bigger profit for somebody.

CC

guideanna

Anyone know where i can find the details on this new regulation about the renewable energy?

Poor Uncle Tom

Try this.
http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/2008/en/si/0259.html

Ticktactoe

Does anyone know if its actually worth it? Does it provide warm water? Our house is plumbed for it re cylinder etc but we haven't got the panels yet.

bertie1

ccsolar wrote: »

There are no grants for new houses any more these have been done away with.
You now have to have lived in your home for min 12 mts OR before july 2008, (not sure on this date)
You only have to get SEI Approval if you are claiming a grant.
Sorry Bertie but i think you were robbed @ that price.

cc

3 panels & controller , 75 tubes , carpenters put up & took down scaffold on a 2 story house , opened the roof , reslated , put back ridge caps , ( a day for 2 carpenters) . The hot water tank was on the ground floor , to the existing cylinder , existing pipework had to be changed to suit the heat exchanger. The plumber spent 2 days there between piping it , & plumbing . If you break down the costs it is not unreasonable at all. Retrofitting a house already constructed is more time consuming than doing a straight forward new one . The job was done in September 2008 on a 2003 house. The origional question was from somebody enquiring about an existing house not a new build

ccsolar

Ticktactoe wrote: »

Does anyone know if its actually worth it? Does it provide warm water? Our house is plumbed for it re cylinder etc but we haven't got the panels yet.

Yes , solar panels do work in Ireland even in winter.
If you use a lot of hot water on a daily bases (Kids, showers, washing machine, dishwasher ect) Solar panels will save you a lot of money.
You will have a shorter payback time as you all ready have your cylinder fitted+ the Grant.

CC

muffler

ccsolar wrote: »

Yes , solar panels do work in Ireland even in winter....................Solar panels will save you a lot of money.

Id rather you qualified that statement having regard to the reduced amount of natural sunlight in the winter time.

I think we all know that their winter efficiency is nowhere near that of the summer output and consequently are not far off being dormant during a lot of the winter period. I dont want to see people being fed a sales pitch here.

ccsolar

ccsolar wrote: »

Yes , solar panels do work in Ireland even in winter....................Solar panels will save you a lot of money.

muffler wrote: »

Id rather you qualified that statement having regard to the reduced amount of natural sunlight in the winter time.

I think we all know that their winter efficiency is nowhere near that of the summer output and consequently are not far off being dormant during a lot of the winter period. I dont want to see people being fed a sales pitch here.

I managed to heat 100 litres of water the other day to 60C, that wouldn't have made much of an impact on the heating at all.

ccsolar

muffler wrote: »

Id rather you qualified that statement having regard to the reduced amount of natural sunlight in the winter time.

I think we all know that their winter efficiency is nowhere near that of the summer output and consequently are not far off being dormant during a lot of the winter period. I dont want to see people being fed a sales pitch here.

Quite right Muffler
The reduced amount of natural sun light in winter will effect the performance of any solar system BUT solar panels are by no means dorment during the winter period.
They might not produce massive amounts of hot water in winter but they will produce a certain amount and any amount is a saving.

ccsolar

Deleted User wrote: »

I managed to heat 100 litres of water the other day to 60C, that wouldn't have made much of an impact on the heating at all.

Hi
If you had 300 litres and it heated it to 40c , would that not be a saving?

ccsolar

ccsolar wrote: »

Hi
If you had 300 litres and it heated it to 40c , would that not be a saving?

It would be a saving, thats why I use it in this way - I was responding to mufflers comment about how much of a saving it would be.

KingPuck

bertie1 wrote: »

3 panels & controller , 75 tubes

What sized house is it. Starting my own house next few weeks approx 3,500sq ft. I was told that approx 40 tubes will do my house. Panels on roof of attached garage at rear of house, tank in garage. No underground piping required. 500L SS tank. What would be a reasonable price for this job? Would I be better putting up more tubes?

gpjordanf1

muffler wrote: »

Id rather you qualified that statement having regard to the reduced amount of natural sunlight in the winter time.

I think we all know that their winter efficiency is nowhere near that of the summer output and consequently are not far off being dormant during a lot of the winter period. I dont want to see people being fed a sales pitch here.

I would have to disagree with you here, I got a retrofit system installed at the end of Sept and was not expecting much until this summer coming. But from day one the system was producing all the hot water I could use! Very happy I got it in.

But in fact xmas week my water was being heated & maintained at around 40 - 42 deg during the day. Granted these like this week are sunny days but I wasn't expecting these kind of results.

I have 30 tube panel, serving a 4 bed semi. Retro fit to existing tank circa 120 litres.
Cost of system was €2960 incl VAT
Grant for system was around €1100

Cost to me was around €1800

All work was completed in a day and had hot water that evening.

Very happy with the system.

ccsolar

Hi Gp
30 Tubes is a lot of solar for a 120 ltr tank.
Did you also get a heat dump installed?

CC

pab_lowe

Hi GP Jordan,

Would it be possible to PM you? We are just about to begin a significan renovation on our house which involves rebuilding and I wanted to install solar water heating. The builder I have spoken to, while good, is not offering much in the way of advice on this. Therefore, if it was possible to pick your brains, it would be a great help. Where do I start for example? Do I go ahead an buy the items I need? Should I engage a seperate plumber? Should I apply for the grant first?
I'll take a look on the renewable energy website also

many thanks
pab

ccsolar

pab_lowe wrote: »

Hi GP Jordan,

Would it be possible to PM you? We are just about to begin a significan renovation on our house which involves rebuilding and I wanted to install solar water heating. The builder I have spoken to, while good, is not offering much in the way of advice on this. Therefore, if it was possible to pick your brains, it would be a great help. Where do I start for example? Do I go ahead an buy the items I need? Should I engage a seperate plumber? Should I apply for the grant first?
I'll take a look on the renewable energy website also

many thanks
pab

Hi Pab Lowe
If you are going down the solar route you MUST apply to the SEI for your grant BEFORE you buy the solar system. www.sei.ie
It can be done online and you will recieve approval within a few weeks.
All you need is the manufacturers name, size of system and the installer details.
Once you have approval and you decide that you want to change the manufacturer or installer there is no problem as the SEI allow this and will even provide the appropriate paperwork to do this with your letter of offer.

Some people have purchased their solar system first and then applied for the grant and were refused on these grounds.
Different solar systems also have different grants applicable to them so price around.

Best of luck

CC

pab_lowe

Thanks CC. My first step then is to source a suitable supplier of solar equipment.

ccsolar

Hi Pab

It's a buyers market.
Source a supplier for your grant application and then you can change after you recieve your letter of offer, if you get a better deal.
It will not effect your application.


CC