Cheap Hot Water Tank Replacement / Wholesalers?

tunzafun001 on 01/05/2021 - 00:33
Last edited 01/05/2021 - 09:38 by 1 other user

Noticed white particles and rust colour when turning on our hot water. Went to change the anode in our Solahart HWS and discovered it was full of sludge, rusting and a plastic tube inside had disintegrated.

The mob that installed it have done the shut down / re Phoenix dog act and wiped their hands of warranty. Solahart can't verify the serial number of the tank, but I reckon it's a couple of years outside the poor 5 year warranty. Solahart say ours is one of the rare units that fail early (normally get 20 years on average he reckons), but the plastic pipe is a common failure. The bits get jammed under tap washers and clog the tap outlet filters and shower heads. So might hit them up with not fit for purpose and see exactly when the warranty expires. But it doesn't help with hot water right now unfortunately.

Anyone know of any good / cheap tank replacement wholesalers / sellers. I can do the change over. Doesn't need to be Solahart, in fact I'd prefer another brand. But needs to connect to solar hot water collectors on the roof.

Cheers all.

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  payless69 on 01/05/2021 - 11:10

  Is your tank on the roof? I found roof mounted units are an endless compromise. A lot depends on your water supply. Here in the tropics solar HW is going out of fashion because of the inabillity of plumbers to understand the corrosion issues. A simple filter can save many taps. Safety rules with anti scalding valves placed add nothing to longevity.

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    tunzafun001 on 01/05/2021 - 11:49

    Yeah its on the roof.
    Yep, looks like a few different types of metal connectors throughout. So shows not many understand corrosion/ galvanic reactions.

    I read that enamel begins to fail at above 70C, so Solahart systems basically aren't fit for purpose in Australia (needs to have a curtain or something similar over half the collector over summer).

    Edwards and Rheem use stainless instead of enamel. But then they can't handle the chlorine content.

    If I was building a HWS, it would be glass lined like a thermos flask, but apparently that doesn't exist. "Glass lined" in the hotwater world is just baked enamel paint..

    Is I'm thinking of a ground based enamel tank (ideally heat pumped boosted) with a circulation pump that doesn't allow water coming in from the collectors above 70C. Any water above 70C can get purged to the rainwater tank (which is what can happens, but it's just boiling water from the pressure relief valve). But I know now that design isn't for for purpose.

    However, solahart don't do a ground based solar boosted heat pump, because it makes too much sense and they would last 30 years.

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  GnarlyKnuckles on 02/05/2021 - 04:47

  +1

  I note that you are in Adelaide/SA. If you don't already have solar panels on your roof, you should:

  1. Install an electric hot water system of your choice; ASAP/to address the immediate need for hot water.

  2. Rip all the outdated/'last millennium' solar hot water crap off your roof.

  3. Install a nice shiny and massively government-subsidised 6.6 kW (minimum) solar electricity system on your roof. I think SA has good subsidies on batteries at the moment as well … so maybe also look into this.

  4. Send SolaFart a bill for a lazy grand as a 'modest contribution' to all the costs you have incurred because their useless product failed hopelessly, and tell them that if they don't pony up the dough there will be a 'not fit for purpose' lawsuit coming their way. Note that the duration of the warranty they officially included when you purchased it is not the over-riding factor. 'Reasonable expectation' is the term used in the legal provisions, meaning that even if they only offer 5 years, if it is 'reasonable' to expect a hot-water service to last for at least 10 years (which it clearly is), that is likely to be what is deemed to apply/be upheld in a court/legal proceedings.

  Forget about the now archaic concept of actually heating up water 'on your roof' (and worse—if I understand you correctly—storing that hot water up there …). Just move with the times/technology, shoe-horn as many solar panels onto your roof as you possibly can, get a (big) battery too, and run everything in your entire house on electricity forevermore, for free. You won't look back.

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    tunzafun001 on 02/05/2021 - 12:25

    Cheers. But already have a 4 month old 6.6kw system + 13kw battery. With the battery, I could add more panels to max the inverter to 8kw.
    But it already reaches 66C with 6.6kw, and clips at the maximum 5kw inverter limit, and recon the inverters life will reduce dramatically with 8kw (and be wasted in clipping anyway). My PHEV uses 1.5 kw to charge, and it still clips. So 6.6kw is enough. Covers all our usage, so not much point going to 8kw. With 370w panels, there is still plenty of room for a solar hws. So that's why I went with a solahart. Works brilliantly, but made of shite.

    Now I still have the old 3kw solar system as well that cant be connected to the grid. But I am considering rigging an electric hws up direct from the panels with DC (know I will need to oscillate the DC power to the thermostat otherwise it will burn to the ground). So making use of the old panels off grid.

    I was thinking heat pump, but after seeing how much calcium crud was inside the current unit, I think the heat exchanger in a heat pump will clog and lose a lot of efficiency in just a few years.

    So now thinking of leaving the collectors up there, getting a stainless tank at ground level and pump it all around. But the pump will be the next failure point. But at least it's on the ground. However, rumours are stainless dies at the welds and high chlorine kills it.

    Was hoping there would be a HWS like a thermos flask (plastic with a glass liner). Apparently not.

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    tunzafun001 on 02/05/2021 - 13:02

    Oh, as for point 4.

    Solahart have no Head office phone number / email contact. I rang their listed state 'head office' number and it connects to Rheem , who have no idea about Solahart. I made my way through their generic 1300 number and ended up with a lady who said she had worked their for 4 days and was not allowed to give out the head office number, but took my details and someone will call me back…uh huh…

    So will report them to an ombudsman/ AFCA and go from there. They maybe used to be fit for purpose when Aussie built (as in would do 10 years), but obviously now use cheap steel, plastic and the manufacturing of the enamel coating (which isn't fit for purpose anyway really) is also crap.

    Product review score of 1.7 says plenty. Pitty as the concept is solid, but the application hasnt advanced, and worse, gone backwards.