solar panels on home in dublin?

teddyteddy

hi id really love to chat to anyone whos using solar on there home in dublin.
if at all possible .
carmel. x

ccsolar

teddyteddy wrote: »

hi id really love to chat to anyone whos using solar on there home in dublin.
if at all possible .
carmel. x

Hi teddy
Why don't you post any questions you have on here, you'll get honest answers from experts who aren't trying to sell to you
Cc

teddyteddy

a 3 bed home to be converted to solar for heating mostly. rough cost .and is it messy maintaining . cheers x

ccsolar

teddyteddy wrote: »

a 3 bed home to be converted to solar for heating mostly. rough cost .and is it messy maintaining . cheers x

Hi teddy teddy
Do you want the solar for just domestic hot water
Or
Hot water and contributing to central heating?
Cc

Outkast_IRE

Also what direction does your roof face ? North, South, East or West

teddyteddy

faces south. to heat up the rads and hot water if poss..

Outkast_IRE

teddyteddy wrote: »

faces south. to heat up the rads and hot water if poss..

If you want to heat up the rads you would probably want a buffer or accumulator tank which are expensive and take up a lot of space, as well as a larger area of tube or panels, which generally means a much more expensive setup.

Do you have the extra space for a buffer tank as well as extra expenses.

shane0007

Plus with the over-sizing of the system to heat a buffer in the winter, you must consider what you are going to do with all this heat you will produce in the summer.
A complete overhaul of radiator system would also have to be considered.
Preferable low heat rads otherwise at 70C flow temp from a buffer will drain quite quickly, hence a lower demand temp is required.

Outkast_IRE

shane0007 wrote: »

Plus with the over-sizing of the system to heat a buffer in the winter, you must consider what you are going to do with all this heat you will produce in the summer.
A complete overhaul of radiator system would also have to be considered.
Preferable low heat rads otherwise at 70C flow temp from a buffer will drain quite quickly, hence a lower demand temp is required.

Quite right, about standard rads draining a small buffer quickly. Low heat rads everywhere plus most of them an electrical supply would add up to a lot of money quickly.
Best stick to solar for hot water only unless you have a lot of money to spend.

ccsolar

teddyteddy wrote: »

faces south. to heat up the rads and hot water if poss..

Hi Teddy
Using solar for domestic hot water works great but when it comes to central heating its not viable on an existing property due to the radiators and heat loss from the structure of the building.
If the house is very well insulated and has under floor heating then it could be considered using a multi-fuel stratification tank but you will still need oil/gas to have a warm house.
The best system for you going by the info you have supplied is a standard solar system possibly 50 tubes as your fitting on the back of the house and a 300 litre stainless steel Triple coil tank, This system is over sized on the collector so you would need it heat dumping to your central heating on the very warm days.
The down side of heat dumping into central heating is that the house could get a bit warm some days, the advantage is that in winter you will still have great performance from the solar resulting in a lower oil/gas bill as the tank will take less time to be heated by the oil/gas and will switch to the central heating faster.
Every solar system installed in this country contributes to the central heating indirectly in some way.
When you are considering solar you will need to get a minimum of 3 Quotes and please note , the cheapest is not always the best, make sure that all the companies are quoting for the same size system.

Ask the following questions ?

1. How long is the company in business?
2. Can you have a list of references with contact details of happy customers?
3. Are you SEAI registered?
4. What make / type of solar system are you selling/recommending.
5. What guaranteed is with your solar collector? (Tubes 15-20 yrs. Flat panels (5-10 yrs)
6. What Guarantee is with the tank? (Stainless steel 25 yrs. Copper 5 yrs)
7. What guarantee is on the labour? (5 yrs parts and labour is required on all SEAI Jobs)
8. What customer satisfaction guarantee do they offer? (some companies offer a money back guarantee and remove the system)
9. How long will it take to install?
10. What back up service do they offer.
11. Does the price include the SEAI grant?
12. What measures will be installed to prevent the system from overheating in summer? (Heat Dump...)

The company should ask you.
1. How old is the house? (pre 2006 qualify for seai grant of €800)
2. How many people live in the house?
3. What is the sqm of the house? (Solar system needs to produce 10 kwh/sqm/yr
4. What other heating sources has the house? oil/ gas/ solid fuel.
5. How many electric showers are in the house or are the showers fed from the tank that will be heated by the solar?
6. What is your preference, Flat Panels or Tubes?

The company should explain the following to the home owner..
How the solar system works
What area the solar collector will cover on the roof.
The size of the tank and the space it will take up in the hotpress.
How they will prevent the solar system from overheating.
How the SEAI grant is applied for and executed.
What size solar system they recommend for the home and how they sized this system.

I'm sure that other people will add to this list on here, let us know how you get on and if you need any further advice just post it on here..

Cc

DaveSave

Thats great advice.

We had all the solar lads out pricing our home we got a price €21,000 reduced to €18,000 for a solar central heating system.