DID YOU KNOW YOU COULD SAVE an average of €2,600 A YEAR EVERY YEAR FOR THE NEXT 25 YEARS ON YOUR HEATING BILL.
Are you confused as how to work out the value of your solar hot water investment ?
How can I FIX a chunk of my energy cost for the next 25 years ?, how much money will I save ?
What are the important things I need to know. ?
We have prepared this comprehensive guide to help you understand the value of a Surface Power solar hot water system and payback in SIMPLE to understand language.
We will include key points to look for in your research.
If you have any questions or need further explanations, just go to the bottom of the blog and post it, we will respond immediately.
Note: all our system configuration’s are design approved by “us” the manufacturer.
STARTING POINT: (make a good investment)
What are the key attributes you should be looking for in a solar hot water system…
1) Make sure the information you are receiving is from “the manufacturer”, not anyone in between, this means warranty, performance, lifespan, savings. (The manufacturers do not put this information out willy nilly, they have years of studies, global certifications and lots of customer’s, etc. to back it up.)
2) What is the warranty and is it achievable. Not alone do Surface Power have a long warranty but we have the ONLY 20 year performance warranty in the solar thermal industry. So far, we have far too many customers installing our systems where an existing solar hot water system was installed (even recently) and removed due to lack of performance. INVEST RIGHT, INVEST ONCE. Contact us for endless references…..not a problem, including the customers who have removed other systems.
3) Are you getting the latest and best technology for your buck !!, do the world certification bodies confirm this, can you see live data OR are you hearing phrases like, “can do up to 70% of your hot water”, OR ”one of the most efficient on the market” OR “these are market leader in washing machines so they must be the best solar hot water system”, etc. THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR GETTING THIS WRONG, all manufacturers have to get government regulatory certification’s around the world and we lead these results in both theory and in practice. Ask us for the data…
4) And least but not last, is the installer you are using plugged into the manufacturer on a daily basis, are they well trained but more importantly, are they well supported by the manufacturer so your installation is optimised from day 1.
LETS MAKE A START ON THE PAYBACK….
Let’s assume everyone has an annual heating bill, this will consist of oil/gas plus immersion, logs, peat, etc..all added together totals your annual heating bill.
A significant amount of this fuel is used to heat water, heating water alone without central heating requirement can be the most inefficient use of your boiler. You need to heat hot water every day, 365 days of the year. When you heat your hot water in summer, you have to heat your boiler first, the pipes, floor, walls, etc between your boiler and your cylinder and finally your cylinder coil. All the heat in the boiler, pipes, walls, floor, etc is lost heat, up in smoke never to recovered.
SO WHEN YOU HEAT YOUR CYLINDER WITH SOLAR HOT WATER, YOU SAVE DIRECTLY THE AVOIDED FUEL USE FOR THE HEAT GOING INTO YOUR CYLINDER AND ALSO THE HEAT LOSS YOU WOULD HAVE HAD IN YOUR BOILER/PIPES, ETC.
NOW TO ANNUAL BILLS…
The following is a typical graph of a standard regular house in 2012 looking forward at €3,000/£3,000 a year with fuel inflation set only at 5% p.a. (if there is a world crisis, this could mean huge oil price increases beyond that)
SUMMARY EXPLANATION: (READ THIS… THIS IS THE IMPORTANT BIT)
This means that if you invested approx €7,500 [<- guesstimate price] in an SP501 Solar PRO system (which is an all year round configuration and our best selling hot water system), you would have paid for it very quickly, probably, much quicker than you would have imagined.
It’s important to understand the financial model behind a good solar hot water system. Once it’s paid for, it has no running cost, the fuel is free, therefore you have FIXED a big portion of your Energy Costs for the next 25 years AS BEING FREE (for clarity, thats zero cents/kWhr). You should view this in a similar way to fixing your mortgage interest rate.
In the payback above, at €7,500 over 25 years, that equals €300 a year (paid up front for the solar system) to save approx €65000 euros over the 25 year period which equals an average saving of €2,600 per year. (Year 1 savings – €1,350 and Year 25 – €4,354) so your payback is less than 5 years.
By fixing your energy cost now for 25 years, you save an avaerage of €2,600 a year every year.
Notes;
a) Model based on actual 6 year old modelled installation, House rating c3.
b) Fuel inflation rate of 5% used.
c) Assumes a boiler season associated with a BER/EPC of C and above, (i.e., the insulation was upgraded)
d) Energy savings will be bigger if boiler is located outside.
e) Subject to the installation being installed as design approved.
f) The actual savings, energy values will be different for every building type and how the building is actually occupied and used. Typically higher hot water demand has higher yield.
