Bernd Felsche <berfel@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> I've had SHW for about 35 years. The 'newer' system is 20 years old.
> Sacrificial anode got replaced about 3 years ago when I had the
> house re-roofed with steel (and insulated).
My parents had a solar system with the tank under the house and the
circulation between the tank and panels driven by a small mains
powered pump. It worked for over 20 years with little maintainence
but when the pump impeller failed after all 4 children had moved out
of home, they worked out the the cost saving of solar vs off peak
electric for just the two of them meant that repairing the solar was
not cost effective.
They now run straight off-peak electric.
> Installers tend to drop the heater on whichever surface looks
> convenient.
Just as long as it doesn't break. :-p
> The clever dicks will orient it for maximum insolation
> during winter. You'll probably get too much in summer anyway.
> Slightly away from North is probably better than true North. A few
> degrees East may work better to get the water hot sooner in the day.
The planned extension will be 2-stories high, and the roof should get
pretty good early morning sun in spite of the place being in a valley.
> It's somewhat dependent upon where the clouds tend to be in your
> part of the world.
Surprisingly, NE is probably the least cloudy direction. Probably a
side effect of the hill...
> If in doubt, put panels on the NE and NW roof sides. :-)
I think I might skip putting them on the NW face, which will be the
front...
> Keep the storage tank out of the wind, if you can.
I'm leaning towards an in-roof type to avoid the lossy pumping
arrangement that my parents had.
If I do end up with an ordinary storage tank near ground level, it
will be inside a corner of the garage under the stairs to the top
floor.
> Make sure that you get an inline gas booster, controlled by
> thermostat. You should never need to touch it except to add gas.
We are in a small area of a few blocks (maybe 100 houses) that
don't have natural gas even though the areas around us do, so it
would have to be LPG. Perhaps I should get a seriously decent
sized tank, a bowser for the vehicle fleet and a separate take-off
for the HWS and standby genset. :-)
Seriously, my preference would be solar with heat pump backup but it
seems that heat pump is seen as an alternative to solar, not a backup
for it. :-(
--
Athol
<http://cust.idl.com.au/athol>
Linux Registered User # 254000
I'm a Libran Engineer. I don't argue, I discuss.
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