Solar Hot water Heater, anyone got one?

TheFew said:
You would have though so.. but the last guy just said it has evaporated... so ill just fill it up with glycol...
Click to expand...

He may well be right. Heating systems are sealed and they lose pressure over a year or so with no obvious leak. In reality a sealed system isn't perfect.

I'd check every joint you can see for signs of leakage and check the precharge in the expansion vessel, if it's all good then top the pressure up and go again.
 
Danm54 said:
He may well be right. Heating systems are sealed and they lose pressure over a year or so with no obvious leak. In reality a sealed system isn't perfect.

I'd check every joint you can see for signs of leakage and check the precharge in the expansion vessel, if it's all good then top the pressure up and go again.
Click to expand...

Yeah, most of the pipework is in the loft and no sign of leaks. There is no staining on the roof tiles near the panels, so really cannot see where it is leaking from. The engineer did check the charge on the expansion vessel and said it was OK.

Bit I did get skeptical when he said just top it up..
Maybe incorrectly..
 
It's possible a power outage during the daytime has caused your solar system to stagnate during the hot weather without you noticing and boiled the solar fluid causing it to escape via the pressure relief valve. Just refill it, you can make up a refill rig using a garden weed sprayer to pressurise the system. Use the proper fluid and make sure the pump and controller are working properly afterwards.
I fitted my own system back in 2012, I wall mounted the tubes so the angle is about 10 degrees off vertical. This way there's never any excessive temps in the summer and I get a decent supply of hot water in the winter when the sun is low on the horizon.
 
ron3003 said:
It's possible a power outage during the daytime has caused your solar system to stagnate during the hot weather without you noticing and boiled the solar fluid causing it to escape via the pressure relief valve. Just refill it, you can make up a refill rig using a garden weed sprayer to pressurise the system. Use the proper fluid and make sure the pump and controller are working properly afterwards.
I fitted my own system back in 2012, I wall mounted the tubes so the angle is about 10 degrees off vertical. This way there's never any excessive temps in the summer and I get a decent supply of hot water in the winter when the sun is low on the horizon.
Click to expand...

Any instructions on the garden sprayer hack? Thanks.
 
I have one. Its mega complicated and nearly gave my plumber a heart attack when it needed servicing. I would get pv. But this came with the house. Unless I had a pool.
 
Eurofighter said:
I have one. Its mega complicated and nearly gave my plumber a heart attack when it needed servicing. I would get pv. But this came with the house. Unless I had a pool.
Click to expand...

They're not that complicated really, it's just a pump and a controller.
Once set up you just leave it to do it's thing, there's very little to go wrong and very little in the way of servicing.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom