Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
Hi there,
There is an issue with role permissions that is being worked on at the moment.
If you are having trouble with access or permissions on regional forums please post here to get access: https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058365403/you-do-not-have-permission-for-that#latest

Ridiculous claim?

  • 24-04-2011 8:38am
    #1
    iwb
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,398 ✭✭✭


    I was talking to a friend recently and told him that I was going to put up solar panels for hot water on my house. I expect to pay around 2.5k to buy 60 tubes and gear and self install.

    He told me he had a quote (wasn't sure if it included grant) of 4.5k to put in solar on his house. They claimed he would have no more oil bills as it would heat the water and the underfloor heating.

    This sounds like utter bull to me. I can't imagine he is going to get much more than the 60 tubes I will get for the money and I don't expect to even get enough out of them to heat the water in my 300l tank in the winter, let alone get any space heating.

    Am I missing something here?


Comments

  • #2
    Poor Uncle Tom
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 14,547 ✭✭✭✭Poor Uncle Tom


    iwb wrote: »
    He told me he had a quote (wasn't sure if it included grant) of 4.5k to put in solar on his house. They claimed he would have no more oil bills as it would heat the water and the underfloor heating.
    I can imagine the conversation now:
    ..Four and a half, boss. No more oil bills, boss. I'hill hate the waher an da underfloor hatein an awl, boss. For anoher two I'll paint da roof while I'm up here, boss....

    The claims of some con artists are so outlandish, anyone can see through them, this is one of those cases.


  • #3
    iwb
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,398 ✭✭✭iwb


    Well, to be fair to my buddy, he didn't know either way and the salesman is someone he knows fairly well. I think the salesman is doing this part time to make a few quid in commission so maybe he doesn't know either.

    Just to be clear though, is it possible, even with a huge amount of panels to get lots of heat in the winter? Not that this quote will do the trick but just to be able to say to my buddy, 'well if you spend 20k, you will get it' or whatever.


  • #4
    gman2k
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,076 ✭✭✭gman2k


    iwb wrote: »
    Is it possible, even with a huge amount of panels to get lots of heat in the winter?

    No.


  • #5
    Carlow52
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,389 ✭✭✭Carlow52


    iwb wrote: »
    Well, to be fair to my buddy, he didn't know either way and the salesman is someone he knows fairly well. I think the salesman is doing this part time to make a few quid in commission so maybe he doesn't know either.

    Just to be clear though, is it possible, even with a huge amount of panels to get lots of heat in the winter? Not that this quote will do the trick but just to be able to say to my buddy, 'well if you spend 20k, you will get it' or whatever.

    click ur location into this piece of kit
    http://re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pvgis/apps4/pvest.php

    and crunch the math for solar irradiation
    or here
    http://re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pvgis/apps/radmonth.php?lang=en&map=europe

    or here
    http://www.sealite.com.au/technical/solar_chart.php


    The all year round heat jobbie is done in places like Switzerland where the solar gain is much greater and the storage tank is stratified and start at about 45,000 litres

    Some useful stuff here too
    http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/tools_directory/subjects_sub.cfm


  • #6
    quentingargan
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,627 ✭✭✭quentingargan


    See below for comparison of monthly radiation on horizontal ground in Austria and Ireland. They get roughly twice our winter sunshine. OK - if you mount the panels at 70 degrees, you will get more radiation. But not enough to make this worthwhile...


  • Advertisement
  • #7
    BryanF
    Moderators, Home & Garden Moderators Posts: 10,146 Mod ✭✭✭✭BryanF


    iwb wrote: »
    I was talking to a friend recently and told him that I was going to put up solar panels for hot water on my house. I expect to pay around 2.5k to buy 60 tubes and gear and self install.

    He told me he had a quote (wasn't sure if it included grant) of 4.5k to put in solar on his house. They claimed he would have no more oil bills as it would heat the water and the underfloor heating.

    This sounds like utter bull to me. I can't imagine he is going to get much more than the 60 tubes I will get for the money and I don't expect to even get enough out of them to heat the water in my 300l tank in the winter, let alone get any space heating.

    Am I missing something here?

    I have also heard this 100% bold claim and investigated. it may be a crowd that is installing solar/air source heat pumps in ireland at the moment - in their defence they were "told by SEAI that there system was classified as a solar panel", however, I have tried unsuccessfully to get any actual 'in use' data from them, so I have not considered them any further.


Advertisement