Solar versus Heat Pumps for Hot water?
I am no plumber and neither are many of us.
Please don’t be misled! Both of these will give you savings but research carefully your options versus your investment cost.
Solar is a waste of time and money! This was our experience on one of our 2500 sqm buildings which is a retail and office mix.
We went solar first and the cost was high and the problems just climbed exponentially as it just could not meet demand for hot water. So more investment and fewer problems but eventually had to draw the line.
Then one heat pump installed and a circulation system on each level and no more issues. Temperature consistent!
In fact everyone gets heated water within 13 seconds of opening any tap so we are using less water and our electrical consumption has dropped about 52% but by the end of this year we will see if this is a more accurate average. As the heat pump is ambient temperature driven we will see how much energy we save in summer.
On solar we didn’t really see much of a saving as we only had two accounts in that period and would say it was no more that 23%.
And investment: Well don’t be misled here. If your investment cost is not paid off by your savings in 6 to 12 months of installation of Solar or Heat Pumps you are using the wrong application. The solar investment cost was higher than the heat pump route and the savings on Solar half of that on the heat pumps. It was in hindsight an obvious decision. We just didn’t know about the heat pump option!
Research carefully before blundering ahead like we did ongoing Solar!
