Buying Guide to Solar Hot Water System

Have you just received a shocking power bill? Have been receiving these bills since few months? Then it’s time you should bring and install solar hot water system friends. Wondering if a solar hot water system might be the way to go? Is it worth the upfront cost and will it really save you money in the long run? The short answer is probably yes. 

A well chosen solar hot water system or a heat pump may cost more to begin with, but they can be significantly cheaper to run than a conventional electric or gas system. Good for the purse, good for the planet. And some of the purchase cost can be offset with government rebates and incentives.

Why Should You Make the Switch to Solar Hot Water System Instantly?

A solar hot water system will typically cut your water-heating energy bills by 70-80%. The price of a suitable solar hot water system is about a few thousand dollars installed. The payback for this option depends on what you are replacing with the solar hot water heater. If you are replacing a conventional electric hot water system, expect savings of about a few hundred dollars per year if your heater is one the same tariff as the rest of your appliances. Payback will be about 5 years, assuming 7% electricity price inflation.

If you are lucky enough to have access to off peak electricity for water heating, then this drops to about $250 per year in savings. And therefore payback stretches out to 10years, assuming 7% electricity price inflation.

A typical Australian home with a gas water heater uses about 14000MJ of gas per year to heat their water. This is about $420 worth of gas. Saving 80% of this is worth $336 per year. But gas prices will to go through the roof over the next couple of years for these reasons. So, that’s the costs and paybacks associated with a conventional solar hot water system. 

So, Why Does Anyone Buy Solar Hot Water System These Days?

•      A good solar hot water system is offering you set-and-forget option. Once it is on you can rest easy, knowing that if there is sun shining – it will heat as much of your water as possible and the booster will only fire up when necessary.
  
•      A solar hot water system is much more elegant way to heat water than the rather convoluted process of turning sun to electricity and then turning that electricity back to heat.
   
•      Solar hot water system takes up a quarter of the space of 8 more PV panels. North facing roof space is going to become a very valuable asset in the years to come as solar continues to reduce in price. 

So, yes – if you want to be totally economically rational about the thing and you are buying a solar PV system at the same time and you have an existing electric water heater which is too good to replace, then you can certainly save a couple of thousand dollars by adding 2KW to your PV to cover you water heater’s usage instead of a solar hot water system. But if you are building a new home, or replacing your whole hot water system, a good old fashioned flat plate thermo siphon solar hot water system is definitely worth considering, especially if you are an old fashioned, greenie engineer with romantic notions about thermodynamic efficiency and Australian manufacturing like yours truly.