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Advice on solar panels

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By (user no longer on site) OP   
over a year ago

I know I know nothing to do with swinging but could give free hot water to showers after a good session

Just wondering if anyone got solar panel fitted to there roof.

Looking for info off people / don’t just want to get the sales pitch off the company

Any help greatly appreciated / parents want to get them installed and asked me to get to info

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By *eralt80Man
over a year ago

cork

Solar thermal is good, my folks got them fitted years ago and all hit water from May to September is from the panels. You should have a high hot water demand to get the most out of them.

Solar PV in my opinion is a better option. About 2.5kw collector would do your average house. Good grants available now too. A feed back tariff is on the way too.

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By *eavenNhellCouple
over a year ago

carrbrook stalybridge

had them fitted to our flat two years ago through our housing association has halved our electricity bill all year round even with the landlord taking thier cut .the work even in poor light only thing that seams to effect them is a covering of snow

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

If u have the spare money of course but it will be a long time before you see a return in what u spend to get them fitted.

I always recommend them been fitted on new builds but wouldn’t bother on a house that’s been lived in

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

There are grants available for them so it helps with the cost however the problem with solar in Ireland is you have very hot water all summer and only warm water in the winter. But it does still save money as the cost of heating water from cold to warm is the most expensive part. If your going to make any investment insulation is really the best option to save money although a really good insulated hit water tank is worth the money too, keeps the water hotter for longer.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

The advice I got was that it will never return the initial investment in savings. As someone above said insulation is a far better option. If you want instant hot water and are on gas try changing your boiler.

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By (user no longer on site) OP   
over a year ago

It’s an well insulated house

They ve only oil to heat water in there area

And there’s 5 living there

And an electric shower - electricity bills are just going up and up.

€2000 of a grant available

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By *ensualandslow321Man
over a year ago

Tullamore

I put them in when I had the house built 13years ago. Lots of free hot water especially in the summer. Would I put them in again....yes

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By *oghunter33Woman
over a year ago

on the hill NordWest of


"It’s an well insulated house

They ve only oil to heat water in there area

And there’s 5 living there

And an electric shower - electricity bills are just going up and up.

€2000 of a grant available "

Help your folks changing electricity supplier. It's crucial to change every year and your bills will go down.

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By *hocko87Man
over a year ago

dublin


"Solar thermal is good, my folks got them fitted years ago and all hit water from May to September is from the panels. You should have a high hot water demand to get the most out of them.

Solar PV in my opinion is a better option. About 2.5kw collector would do your average house. Good grants available now too. A feed back tariff is on the way too. "
I was told bye an installer this is the way to go

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By *ryst In IsoldeWoman
over a year ago

your imagination

I've solar panels and they're great. Provide plenty of hot water for me most days, even in Winter, but I do live in the Sunny South East

However, I wouldn't rely on the hot water supply for a family in the Winter months. When I have visitors staying a few days, I have to use a back-up.

I think if I was doing it again, I would go with photo-voltaic panels.

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By *ablo57Man
over a year ago

Tipperary/Limerick

Hi OP, I installed a system 7 years ago as a pre heater to a 60 gallon boiler system, the savings made in those 7 years have more than covered the installation costs.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

I have PV panels fitted since last year, connected to diverter and immersion. Great job, I’ve not run out of hot water except when panels got covered in snow.

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By (user no longer on site) OP   
over a year ago

So not too many negatives

It just boil down to €€€

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By *ohndunboyneMan
over a year ago

Dunboyne & Dublin

I have a geothermal heating system, with underfloor heating in house. Wondering how many PV panels I would need to cover its electricity cost?

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By *eralt80Man
over a year ago

cork


"I have a geothermal heating system, with underfloor heating in house. Wondering how many PV panels I would need to cover its electricity cost?"

I do work for a guy who has a 5kw collector. He has a geo heat pump too. During the summer he generates more than he uses and the reverse in the winter, consumes more than he generates.

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By *j47Man
over a year ago

limerick

Weighing up the pros and cons u must look at the life expectancy of the equitment u intend to use,for instance a solar panel has a ten year life expectancy .there for the price of that panel must be saved over tbe ten year peroid to date the savings haven't paid anyone back for the instalation of a solar set up yet.

Photo volteric seems to be the way to go with the grants going and the savings on eletric bills plus the future rembersment plans but again cost and life expetancy plus service charges must be involved in any caculations

Dont get me wrong there is a very good feel good factor attached to producing hot water almost for free but upfront and service costs outweigh that over time.

One thing thats easy and cheap to instal is a under sink water heater for the kitchen sink this can be pressed into service for the summer months' if your lucky enough that the bathroom is close to the kitchen the sink in there can also be connected to it. when tbe heating is normally off anyway using an eletric shower in the bathroom 4.5k will heat a hell of a lot of water for essentialy 5 months of the year weather dependant.

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By *ohndunboyneMan
over a year ago

Dunboyne & Dublin


"I have a geothermal heating system, with underfloor heating in house. Wondering how many PV panels I would need to cover its electricity cost?

I do work for a guy who has a 5kw collector. He has a geo heat pump too. During the summer he generates more than he uses and the reverse in the winter, consumes more than he generates. "

Good info. Thanks for that

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

I used to be in the business.

Really depends what you need most - hot water or electricity or even both. My advice is to get one of the current grants to super insulate your house first and foremost.

Solar thermal vacuum tubes for hot water are a bit more expensive but well worth the extra cost and make sure to install a large capacity well insulated tank. The panels do not need an awful lot of roof space to give you copious amounts of hot water. In winter they will not provide all your hot water requirements, but as mentioned above, will often on the dullest and darkest of days still have water up in the high thirties in your system - which will need to be heated further by either oil/gas/solid fuel or electricity to heat radiators. They work great if plumbed in correctly with underfloor heating as it does not need the water at as high a temperature as radiators. Payback is difficult to calculate as other fuel and energy prices are rising all the time. It used to be 6-7 year payback but with rising fuel prices that can be down to three/four years.

Solar voltaic is also an excellent option but you do need a decent amount of roof space to fit sufficient panels. Bear in mind that you do not need to fit on the roof - you can fit both types in frames on the ground if you have space and no large animals or young children running around them.

with voltaic you have the option of feeding into a battery storage system during the day which will then power your house/immersion/and charge your electric car at night if correctly sized. Ideally all the above works best and cheaper as part of a new build but would I install in an older house today - most definitely after insulated properly and even without any grants.

I would go for a combination of both - thermal and voltaic as if either system should fail or develop a fault - you will always have hot water and heat from the other system to keep you going.

There are some quite impressive air to heat and air to water heat exchangers on the market now but I am not up to speed on them.

But to go back to the start - insulate first/improve windows as it is keeping the heat in and the cold out that is the most important and cost effective factor.

Hope that helps somewhat

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By (user no longer on site) OP   
over a year ago


"I used to be in the business.

Really depends what you need most - hot water or electricity or even both. My advice is to get one of the current grants to super insulate your house first and foremost.

Solar thermal vacuum tubes for hot water are a bit more expensive but well worth the extra cost and make sure to install a large capacity well insulated tank. The panels do not need an awful lot of roof space to give you copious amounts of hot water. In winter they will not provide all your hot water requirements, but as mentioned above, will often on the dullest and darkest of days still have water up in the high thirties in your system - which will need to be heated further by either oil/gas/solid fuel or electricity to heat radiators. They work great if plumbed in correctly with underfloor heating as it does not need the water at as high a temperature as radiators. Payback is difficult to calculate as other fuel and energy prices are rising all the time. It used to be 6-7 year payback but with rising fuel prices that can be down to three/four years.

Solar voltaic is also an excellent option but you do need a decent amount of roof space to fit sufficient panels. Bear in mind that you do not need to fit on the roof - you can fit both types in frames on the ground if you have space and no large animals or young children running around them.

with voltaic you have the option of feeding into a battery storage system during the day which will then power your house/immersion/and charge your electric car at night if correctly sized. Ideally all the above works best and cheaper as part of a new build but would I install in an older house today - most definitely after insulated properly and even without any grants.

I would go for a combination of both - thermal and voltaic as if either system should fail or develop a fault - you will always have hot water and heat from the other system to keep you going.

There are some quite impressive air to heat and air to water heat exchangers on the market now but I am not up to speed on them.

But to go back to the start - insulate first/improve windows as it is keeping the heat in and the cold out that is the most important and cost effective factor.

Hope that helps somewhat"

Cheers

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