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If you're deliberating on installing solar power panels, this may help you decide.

  • 22-07-2016 12:11pm
    #1
    Gautama
    Registered Users Posts: 641 ✭✭✭


    In January last year a bought a house and moved in. It was built around 2007. There was a 30 tube solar panel on the garage roof, east facing. I hadn't given the panels much thought.

    On a number of occasions last summer (a dull summer as I recall) I turned on the tap to wash my hands to notice the water was fairly warm or nearly hot. I was surprised and checked to make sure the immersion wasn't on, or the timer on the oil boiler wasn't on. No, none of these were on. This happened on a number of occasions. I was starting to think that the insulated water tank was super efficient in retaining heat in the water. It may have been a week or more since the oil/immersion had been on and the water was still hand-wash hot. Then the penny dropped: it was the solar panel. I'd always been a fan of the concept but was still sceptical of the abilities of domestic solar panels. I'd always assumed they would take the cold out of the water by a few degrees but never hot enough to get the water hand wash hot. I was sold, immediately. Not enough to have a bath or a shower, but plenty for hand-washing.
    Skip forward to this year. The only thing that really annoys me about this house is that the hot water tank is in the garage. When you turn on the hot water tap, you have to wait nearly two minutes for the hot water to travel thru' the pipes to the tap. As a father of two schmalls still in nappies, there is a lot of hand washing in my house and a lot of waiting for the hot water.
    So I spoke to a plumber about the options. The best thing to do was to move the hot water tank to the house. However, this would also entail moving the solar panel. On the plus side the panel would now face south, getting the solar rays at a better angle and for more of the day. This job was completed last month. Now the water is even hotter and enough of it for a showers/baths for the family. I was sold last year, I'm doubly sold this year.
    Oh, and the hot water comes to the tap in a matter of seconds now that we've moved the tank!

    Yes, go solar!


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