All geysers, including solar geysers, lose heat overnight - don’t be fooled into believing otherwise. This in turn means that if you insist on long early morning showers or baths - the system will use electricity to give you sufficient hot water. To maximize performance and savings, try to use as little hot water in the morning and during the day - giving the solar system a chance to really heat the geyser up as much as possible. Sacrificing by not even washing dishes with hot water during the day will make a big difference because even though it’s tempting to reason that you are only using very little hot water, the ice cold water flowing into the geyser from mains is destructive to the efficiency of the system. The golden rule is to shower, bath, wash dishes and so on in the late afternoon or early evening - making good use of the solar energy harvested during that day.
The solar controller will have a timer function that you can set to ensure that the electric element is not working during the daylight hours when the sun’s doing its job. This function maximizes energy savings. In the afternoon, the solar controller sends power to the thermostat which only turns on the element if the water in the geyser is less than 55° (as a result of bad weather etc). The timer also allows the thermostat to run in the early morning for that essential morning shower or bath - but try to be sparing on the hot water for the sake of your back pocket.
|
HOME
FOR HOME
