Solar - Boiler - Hot Water?

tartlet

(Mods, I think this is the right board, and not Accommodation & Property, but if it has to be moved, please do)


The house I am renting has solar panels, which during the summer produced great hot water

The shower in the bathroom has a switch on the wall (so presuming its electric), and during the summer, the dial on the shower would have been set at 5 and the shower was hot.

Now that its October, the shower set at 5 is only lukewarm (making me think that the solar heated water is connected to that shower) and when the gas was switched on last night to heat the water (not the radiators), the girl in the house said she had it turned on for an hour and a half and that when she took her shower, she had to turn the dial up to 9 and it was “warm enough” not hot.

Now comes the questions

If the shower is electric, but connected to the solar heated water, when the solar water isn’t hot enough, should the shower kick in to up the temperature so that if the dial was turned up to 9 the water should be very hot?

Also, if the gas was on for 1.5hours, should there be plenty of hot water in the tank ? (I checked the water in the tap about an hour after the gas was turned off and it was only just warm)

I will be seeing the landlord at the end of next week and will ask him about it, but wanted to get opinions as its making me crazy thinking about it

heinbloed

If the shower is electric, but connected to the solar heated water, when the solar water isn’t hot enough, should the shower kick in to up the temperature so that if the dial was turned up to 9 the water should be very hot?

This depends on the installation.

tartlet

Fair enough heinbloed.

Have the boiler on now for DHW and rads, and some of the pipes in or out of the tank are hot but hot water not reaching the taps. Rads are fine at least.

Landlord calling this Thur evening instead so hopefully he will be able to solve it for me!

heinbloed

If the shower is electric, but connected to the solar heated water, when the solar water isn’t hot enough, should the shower kick in to up the temperature so that if the dial was turned up to 9 the water should be very hot?

Check if the shower is conected to the ST system, if it is suitable to be connected to a source of hot water.
Most electric showers aren't, but there are some available - certified by the manufacturer - which are.

Check the brand of the shower and look up the www.. There you'll find the technical data sheet, this will give you the maximum inlet temperature.
A ST system can create water temperatures well above boiling temperature, therefore a mixing valve has to be included. To avoid dangerous situations.
This mixing valve can be installed seperatly, for example suplying the shower, taps, washing maschine, the entire warm water outlets of the house.
But with electric showers suitable for warm water infeed this mixing valve could as well be included in the electric shower unit. This depends on the make and it's installation.

Those electric showers suitable for a warm water infeed (and topping it up) are frequently refered to as "solar showers" or "solar thermal suitable" or the like. Mira has one, another one is Clage (good quality).
There are more of them.

If the electric shower is not suitable for warm water infeed but used for this purpose there might be a safety valve, reducing the risk of scalding for the user. But don't rely on this, make sure it is certified by the manufacturer.

fressatty

this might sound funny, but how warm is the bathroom before you take your shower? if the room (or you are) is cold then the shower will not seem as hot on the normal setting you use. Thats why during the summer months the 5 setting seems ok, but now it needs to be 9 because the air around you is cooler...just a thought