Active 8 solar panel service

greasepalm

I have had solar panels to heat my hot water in immersion and was good at the time.

Now even panel says 60c temp water is cold as should be good for a shower , not even hot water to get a shave..

Rang up the company and said it was overdue every 5 years i was told and could not afford their price.

Email sent to me said maybe some plumbers are into that but no idea hence asking.

manatoo

Are you talking about solar PV or solar thermal?

If it's solar PV and your inverter and panels are all working fine, which you would know from your inverter app, then it can only be the immersion in your hot water cylinder that's at fault

greasepalm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123559157#Comment_123559157

I had to Google them so must be solar thermal in use as it would or should heat the water but does not now.

I dont use or have an app as just the panel in the hot press to monitor it if i open the doors.

DayInTheBog

Ask over on the renewable energy forum

dathi

post a few pictures of your hot press with the control panel and the pump station

greasepalm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123559364#Comment_123559364

All i can access is this in hot press as cannot get into the attic where other stuff is.

IMG_20240124_150511.jpg

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John.G

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058417040/active-8-solar-panel-service

If you follow the piping back from the roof where the solar panels are you should see a pump and a pressure gauge fairly close by, this should read a minimum of 1.0bar, normal is ~ 2.0bar. Also post the make/model of the solar controller, it looks like a Resol?.

greasepalm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123561276#Comment_123561276

Unable to access roof anymore with bad hip stopping me from climbing the ladder.

Booklet says it is a DeltaSol C Plus

Found the booklet and a quick look for issues , no errors or faults shown on the panel and earlier was up to 95c and no pumping action but still see the arrows move to say its active.

John.G

You don't have to go onto the roof, you should see the circ pump with the system pressure gauge close by and a white or red expansion vessel, note the pressure and feel the pump when its supposed to be active, if the pressure is < say 0.5 bar then the pump can't circulate around the system, normal ~ 2.0bar, if the pump is running and the pressure is OK then there may be air on top of the collectors, especially if they are (evacuated) Tube type or the solar fluid may have turned almost into treacle from repeated overheating.

dathi

https://barillafuture.com/products/brv-single-line-pump-station-grundfos-upm3-hybrid-2-12-l-m

you will have a pump station that looks like the above somewhere in the attic as its not in hot press we need to see the pressure gauge that is on it if the controller is turning on the pump then either you have lost pressure in the solar fluid side or the pump is seized

TheWonderLlama

Its probably the glycol in the tubes has evaporated. You need to change this every 2-3 years and re-pressurize the system.

Just had the same done to mine and now its fine. Similar setup to OP.

greasepalm

Got chatting to a plumber and he also said its in the attic , i do remember seeing a red vessel for pressure up there and an empty plastic container that had fluid in it when originally fitted.

So its handier if only in the attic for the service and for me i cannot climb up that ladder to check things anymore.

Just need to find service engineers for thermal panels and go from there.

Cheers folks.