Wendy Smith - Solar Installation Diary
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Why Choose Solar Energy?
We’ve been looking into ways to reduce our carbon footprint for some time. We have been recycling packaging materials for a number of years, and have investigated the feasibility of installing alternate energy sources. A wind turbine, photovoltaic panels, solar panels and ground source heat pumps have been considered. Each of which have their merits in providing electricity & heating. Unfortunately we are in a sheltered location so wind power was not a sensible option and best advice to us is that heat pumps are better installed in new builds. As we are totally reliant on electricity, solar energy emerged as the only viable solution. Our initial foray is the installation of Solar Panels to supplement our hot water. It is also the simplest of all installations and provided the least cost solution.
So Why Now?
Apart from our desire to do our best to help the environment, our 210 litre immersion tank that heated overnight on ‘Economy 7’ was under siege. It has almost always provided sufficient hot water for our daily needs, but two teenage daughters with a love of long hot showers first thing in the morning has placed severe demands on supply. We found that increasingly, we had to boost the hot water during the day time peak electricity tariff. Some help was needed!
So Why East Green Energy?
We attended a Green Energy roadshow organised by Suffolk Coastal District Council last year where we found out about the SEAL (Suffolk Energy Action Link) initiative. They maintain a list of reputable local companies who will install solar solutions to their installation standards and advise on expected cost. SEAL recommended several companies all of whom offered acceptable solutions, but East Green was our preference for a number of reasons.
Firstly, we were impressed with Robbie Gawthrop’s and Linda Grave’s knowledge of the system they would supply, both were happy to answer our questions and provide background information whilst we deliberated on our final decision. We were also able to view a recent installation and were shown the system working.
Another deciding factor was the appearance of the Apricus vacuum tubes that East Green supply. The front of our property is south facing, so the solar collectors have to be positioned in full view and we wanted a product that was as un-intrusive as possible. Apricus are dark in colour and blend into the roof rather better than some of the bright metal alternatives on the market.
Having made our decision we waited eagerly for the installation, which was arranged with East Green at a convenient time for us.
The Installation.
Monday:
the week before our installation date: Receive a call from East Green to keep us informed of progress and confirm when work will commence.
Tuesday:
Receive a call from supplier, to inform us that a delivery of our new cylinder will be made on the Thursday.
Thursday:
As promised a very large cardboard container arrives and causes some excitement as it sits in the kitchen awaiting the installation in a few days.
Saturday:
9am. Scaffold tower is delivered to enable the installers to get safely onto our roof.
Monday:
8am. Robbie arrives with Mark & Dudley and erect scaffolding. Throughout their time with us all three are very pleasant and helpful.
Midday: Roof tiles have been removed to enable pipe-work to be located and routed into the house. Our existing hot water cylinder is removed from the airing cupboard and most of pipe-work fitted in loft space. There are a lot of pipes and things we do not recognise, but very neatly done. Mark emerges from his exertions in our loft space in the heat of the day a few pounds lighter; who needs a sauna, just spend some time in your loft!!
5pm. Framework for solar collector tubes now fixed to roof, although we don’t yet have the solar collectors in place. The box in the kitchen has been emptied into the airing cupboard and connected up to our plumbing giving us a new mains pressure hot water cylinder that removes the need for storing water in a tank in the loft! (Another benefit of our installation) It looks impressive and we are getting excited about the prospect of lashings of solar generated hot water. The sun has now dipped below the trees and all being well Mark and Dudley bid us farewell for the night and we settle down waiting for the water to heat up with the ‘old’ technology immersion heaters.
Later that evening: We discover the bath taps are dripping because the new mains pressure tank has exposed a weakness in the seals on the taps. Whilst turning off the water supply in order to fix the problem, we discover that the new tank has been inadvertently plumbed into the non softened water supply.
Tuesday:
7 am. Two disgruntled teenagers emerge from shower complaining that the water is not hot. Oh dear! Thermostat reads 32deg, even dad thinks that is too cold for a shower first thing in the morning and makes a note to speak to Mark about it.
8 am. Mark & Dudley cheerfully return to complete the installation. Mark sympathetically turns up the immersion heater thermostats and both continue with installation. After a bit more time in the loft sauna, Mark and Dudley have re-connected the water supplies and Dudley is back on the roof installing the solar collector tubes.
Mid afternoon: Electrician arrives to inspect the electrics. (The Solar panels have some electrical controls to regulate water temperatures in the hot water cylinder. If the stored water is below the threshold, and if the solar collectors have a higher temperature than the stored water, a pump will engage to transfer heat generated by the collectors to the hot water cylinder. As the collector temperature nears that of the stored water, the pump will stop running allowing the collectors to take in some more heat from the sun. The cycle repeats until the threshold is reached. If the stored water reaches the threshold, typically 65degree Celsius, the pump will stop delivering heat to avoid the tank boiling, or scalding water being delivered to the taps). Later, Robbie arrives to inspect progress.
The day ends with our installation almost complete. We have only had a couple of hours sunshine, but our first morsel of Solar energy has been collected and the tank is sitting at a warm 45 degrees Celsius.
Wednesday:
7 am. Tears in the shower, eldest daughter declares that water is freezing, younger daughter doesn’t even bother to try it! Thermostat reads 35deg.
8 am. Mark returns to finish off. Turns thermostat up again!!
By midday, all is complete with the installation and the scaffolding has been taken down and collected. Externally the only difference is a shining set of glass tubes on the roof. Internally the controller is reporting a healthy 80 degrees in the collectors and the tank is sitting at a respectable 55 degrees, all courtesy of the obliging Sun!
By the evening the temperatures in the tubes has peaked at 100deg. The water in tank is 65deg. Eldest daughter runs very full bath and enjoys some relaxation. Bliss!! Unfortunately she is in middle of ‘A’ level exams so cold showers did nothing for the stress levels for the last couple of days!! Not being used to having such hot water available so late in the day we get a shock washing the dishes that evening, but what a nice surprise!!
Thursday:
Brought along some clouds and we are eager to see how hot the water will become. Morning showers ensured we had a relatively low starting point, but even so, by mid afternoon it reached 45deg, and by 4pm was up to 60deg again. A visit from Linda and Robbie late in the day to commission and check operations showed that all was well
Saturday and Sunday are bright and bountiful amounts of hot water ensued.
Friday:
Lunchtime. Weather is sunny but water cold. We put it down to the fact that one of our daughters has had a shower in the late morning and the water hasn’t had time to heat up again. 3 hours later I realise the water is still cold and on checking the control screen for the hot water cylinder I find it is blank. A phone call to Robbie establishes that the tank has probably overheated and cut out. Less than an hour later, Mark appears to reset the controls and turn down the thermostat by 5 deg to hopefully prevent the same thing happening again. We are impressed with East Green’s rapid customer service at the start of a Bank Holiday weekend.
Overall we have been extremely pleased with the service we have received from East Green Energy. Everyone we have dealt with has been helpful and patient, and nothing has been too much trouble. So far the product is living up to expectations and we are more than happy with the choice we have made.