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DOUBLE SOLAR HOT WATER FLAT PANEL RETROFIT KIT

Quick Links: Solavis FP Collector | Frequently Asked Questions | Additional Information | Photos | Specifications

Above: Solavis Double Panel Flat Plate installation at our home in Melbourne. Has been installed for over 15 months. Prospective buyers are welcome to view this working installation. Just contact us.

OVERVIEW:

You are bidding on a Retrofit Solar hot water heating kit which will allow you to incorporate solar water heating to your existing hot water system. (Note: Please ensure that your tank is suitable to be retrofitted - ie. has two outlets at the bottom, or one outlet and can fit the 4 way valve), The Solavis Retrofit kit will allow you to heat the water in your tank using the suns energy. Your gas or electric booster element will still be connected and it will turn on when additional heat is required. However, becuase the solar panels will provide the majority of the heat, your gas/electric elements will turn on less often than before and you save money through reduced electricity/gas bills.

Features

• Selective absorber coating
• Laser-welded for maximum efficiency and durability
• Aluminum absorber with copper passages
• Durable seawater resistant aluminum frame
• Low profile at less than 10cm thick
• Tempered glass with optimal light transmission
• Full complement of custom mounting hardware is available
• Skylight Appearance: Tapered frame
• Long lasting, easy to install.

This 2 panel retrofit package will give you two panels with a total of 3.52m² of aborber area (the area that can collect the suns energy and convert it to heat). Compare this to the absorber area of other similarly priced ebay systems including evacuated tubes!

Our retrofit system is an extremely cost effective way to install a solar hot water heater at your home. It is a common misconception that evacuated tubes are vastly superior to flat plate panels. This is simply untrue for the majority of Australian conditions (where we have mild to warm weather). See below for further explanations.

However, of course, efficiency is not the only characteristic that should be looked at when purchasing
a solar collector. The durability of a collector and the price are also very important aspects to consider. So is the value. A collector that is 10% more efficient but 50% more expensive makes very little economic sense. Maximizing economic return is more about getting more collectors for less money than getting highly efficient, but more expensive collectors.

Retrofit Kit contains the following components:

• 2 x Solavis-FP solar panels
• 2 panel stainless steel frame for flush mounting solar collectors to tile roofs.
• 4 way valve
• WILO pump
• Differential controller - the 'brains' of the system
• 3 year warranty

Solavis FP solar panels:

Further information about our solar panels can be found below or by clicking here

4 way valve:

Retrofitting of existing tanks requires the use of a 5 way RMC connector that fits into
the cold inlet fitting at the bottom of the tank. This special connector allows cold water
to be drawn off to the collectors and the hot water returning to the tank to be injected
into the tank through the centre of this connector

Wilo Pump:

A pump is required to circulate the water from the tank to the panels on the roof, which are at a higher position, and finally back down to the tank. The differential controller controlls the pump operation. The Wilo pump supplied with this system is a quality German pump and runs at only 46 watts, quite a bit less than a 1.2kw electric element!

Differential Controller:

A differential controller has sensors in the solar collector and in the bottom of the hot water storage unit.

The temperature differential controller switches on the electric circulating pump
whenever the temperature of the water in the collectors is higher than the
temperature of the water in the bottom of the storage tank. This brings the hot water
from the collectors to the storage tank.

Our controller also provides a level of frost protection, this feature switches on the pump when the collector temperature approaches freezing. This pumps warm water through the collector, which continues untill the controller detects warm water in the collectors, when it switches off. The controller is shipped with intergrated fittings, temperature sensors and a full instructions handbook.

PRODUCT DETAILS:

Solavis Flat plate collectors are an affordable and efficient way to use the free energy provided by the sun to heat your water. Solavis Flat plate collectors cost a fraction of both evacuated tube collectors and even other well known Flat plate collectors in Australia and can be retrofitted to an existing hot water tank - making a Solar hot water system more affordable than ever before.

Rockwool insulation batts are used to insulate the base and sides of the collector to minimise heat loss. It is 30mm thick on the back, and 25mm on the sides, with a density of 50kg per cubic meter. Rockwool insulation is also more environmentally friendly than other forms of insulation including polyurethane and doesn’t give off toxic fumes when burnt.

GLAZING

Glazing in collectors is important as it minimizes heat loss and allows collectors to be used in a wider variety of climatic and weather conditions. Solavis FP collectors feature a tough, tempered, low iron textured glass. This hail resistant, 3.2mm tempered glass is extremely strong. It is specially designed for solar applications with a high cover transmission of up to 94%, meaning less sunlight is reflected away and lost.

Solavis FP collectors utilise copper TP2 absorber plates ultrasonic welded to the eight riser pipes. Absorber plates use a black chrome selective coating to deliver excellent solar performance.

The absorptance and emittance co-efficients outperform many other absorber materials:

Absorptance = 96%
Emittance =12%

CASING

Constructed from 1.3mm Aluminium alloy ensure that Solavis FP collectors are both light and have good corrosion resistance.

How is it that the manufacturers of evacuated tubes can claim their products are more efficient than flat plates?

Quite simple really - they compare only the area of the aperture (the bit the sun shines through) of the two types of panel. On average, the aperture of an evacuated tube captures solar radiation more efficiently (monstly in colder climates) than the flat plate. There is however considerable variation between different models. Much more significant however is the relationship between the aperture area and the gross dimensions of the panel.

Whereas the aperture of a flat plate collector may exceed 90% of the total area of the panel, on some evacuated tubes it is as low as 52%. As anyone who has looked at an evacuated tube solar collector will know, there is a lot of space between the tubes!

So contrary to the claims of the evacuated tube suppliers, you probably need a larger gross area of evacuated tube collectors to achieve the same heat output as can be achieved with a given area of flat plate collectors.

For a further discussion of this please see below.

What does retrofitting a solar collector mean?

A retrofit solar installation means connecting solar collectors to an existing hot water storage tank or installing a solar hot water system as a preheater to an existing hot water system.

What is a temperature differential controller and how does it work in a pump circulation hot water system?

A differential controller is a control device that will regulate the flow of water from the collector to either the heat exchanger (in a closed loop system) or to the hot water storage tank (in an open loop system).

The differential controller has a number of temperature sensors (normally two) which read the temperature of the water in the collectors as well as the cold water in the storage tank. When the controller senses that the water in the collectors is at least 8-12 degrees (depending on the setting) hotter than the water in the storage tank, it will begin to circulate the water. When the temperature difference drops below the minimum level the pump stops circulating water.

Some controllers also have a frost protection circuit which turns on the circulation pump when the water in the collectors approaches freezing. The pump will circulate cold water (but still around 9?C) to the collectors which will stop them from freezing over. Also, some controllers will stop pumping if the water temperature at the bottom of the tank exceeds 70°C.

What is meant by a retrofit solar hot water installation?

A retrofit solar installation means:

• connecting solar collectors to an existing hot water storage tank or
• installing a solar hot water system as a preheater to an existing hot water system

Can I retrofit my existing gas hot water system?

A mains pressure gas storage unit is not suited to having a circulating pump and solar collectors added to it. Usually the storage capacity is insufficient but more importantly, whenever some hot water is drawn off, the gas heating turns on and heats the cold water that has entered the tank - without letting the sun do any of the work.

So what options do I have with my existing gas hot water system?

To use your existing gas storage hot water system and retrofit it to solar, you will need a separate tank to be used as the solar pre-heater. Water will be heated in the pre-heater tank from the solar collectors and as it is drawn into your gas hot water tank the temperature will be higher than cold water temperature - resulting in less or no supplementary heating by the gas heating. This type of system is normally a pump circulated ground mounted system, where both the gas hot water tank and solar pre-heater are ground mounted.

Can I retrofit my existing electric hot water system?

Mains pressure electric hot water tanks of adequate size lend themselves quite well to having a pump circulated system attached to them. The storage tank must be big enough however and should be able to provide at least one day’s supply of hot water. A tank of at least 250 litres would be required in most installations

Why is it important to have a good pattern of usage of the hot water? And how does it affect the efficiency?

How much hot water is used, and when it is used, affects the efficiency of the solar panels and therefore the amount of energy required to bring your water up to the desired temperature.

If the majority of hot water is used in the late afternoon or evening, the booster element will do most of the reheating of the hot water tank – rather than the solar panels.

Therefore it is important to try and use your hot water in the mornings, so that the hot water from your storage tank is used, and cold water can be reheated by the solar panels during the day. This means that night boosting is minimised and you can get the most out of your solar collector.

Photos:

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