Convert Electric Geyser To Solar Geyser

Convert Your Electric Geyser To A Solar Geyser Or Install A Complete Solar Geyser With The Tested More Effecient Triple Coated Solar Vacuum Pipes

How Do The Solar Vacuum Tubes Work

	The sun's energy is transmitted to the copper heat pipe via the triple coated glass vacuum tube (a triple coated glass vacuum tube which is much more efficient in harvesting the sun's energy than the industry standard single coated tube).
	The copper heat pipe heats the water in the collector manifold, when it reaches the desired temperature, it is pumped and stored in the geyser. This process is repeated, increasing the temperature of the stored water throughout the day.

We use the evacuated tubes and not the flat plates. The tubes are far more efficient in that they warm the water passing through the manifold from direct sunlight as well as solar radiation whereas the flat plates work predominantly from direct sunlight. Up in the Highveld the evacuated tubes are far more efficient taking into consideration the extreme temperatures we experience.

We can convert someone's existing electric geyser to Solar which is called a "Retrofit". What we do here is place evacuated tubes on the customers roof and attach them to the existing geyser in the roof. The thermostat is removed and replaced with a probe, which is connected to a pump and control panel. The pump is necessary to pump the water from the geyser through to the manifold to which the evacuated tubes are attached. The tubes have a copper pin which protrudes and is inserted into the manifold. The controller is placed in a convenient place in the customers home where they can control the temperature in their geyser or even by-pass the electrical backup in the summer months.

We always suggest that the client has the option of electrical backup. The electrical backup will only kick in when the geyser temperature drops below the temperature set on the thermostat / probe. For example a customer may want their thermostat set at 50 degrees. The sun will warm up the water to at least 65 degrees in summer and 55 degrees in winter. If the customer uses most of the hot water at night then cold water will enter the geyser with no sun available to warm up the geyser at night.

We set the control panel to check the water temperature at 3 am and if necessary to warm the water up by using electrical backup so the client has hot water in the morning. We also do this at about 3pm as if we have had a really bad weather day the water may not have reached the desired temperature. The electrical backup will only kick in if the temperature is below the required temperature.

Going solar is a lifestyle change and you want the best efficiency and achieve the most saving then you should schedule bath and shower times so that some family members bath / shower in the morning and others at night. We also suggest that the change to showering rather than bathing. A bath can use 120 Litres of water depending on the size of the bath whereas a shower only uses about 25 Litres. Obviously in winter more electrical backup will be used.

We supply a W E Solartherm geyser (150 litre, 200 litre, 300 litre) as well as the appropriate number of evacuated tubes. We would remove the existing electric geyser and replace it with the new solar geyser. The pump and controller is also supplied as per option 1. This is a more expensive option but is normally taken when the client has a burst geyser.

How to Asses Your Solar Requirements

Solar collectors are manufactured in various sizes (18 and 24 tube units being the most common). Generally the rule is 6 evacuated tubes per 50L of water, ie 200L will require a 24 tube collector. The roof on which the collector is being mounted should be north facing, if this is not the case a larger collector may be necessary. The optimum angle is a pitch of 30 degrees, in the case of a flat roof a stand is placed under the collector to achieve the correct angle.

The collector can be mounted either vertically or horizontally however a larger collector will be required. An existing geyser may be adapted to a solar water heating system, there will however be no warranty on the existing geyser.