We have solar panels (no battery) and our feed in tariff is 5 cents/kWh (AGL). We pay much more than this to heat our water in an off-peak storage water heater. What is the most cost effective way to utilise our solar power to heat our water using the existing water heater. Would like to heat the water between 10am and 2pm. Thanks.
[NSW] Change off Peak Hot Water to Daytime When Solar Panels Working
Lbodri on 25/07/2022 - 16:36
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Thanks. Something to look at, it may not be worth doing right now but maybe in the future.
There's fancy diverters and simpler timers for this job.
The best situation is if you have low power elements in your hot water system, so the draw is always less than the panels are producing, although it'll take longer to heat the water.
This site explains all the options and compares models: https://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/solar-hot-water-diverter…Thanks for the link.
Apparently you can purchase a solar diverter or something like that. It pushes excess solar production to the HWS (or whatever you want to power).
When I looked at it a few years ago it was hardly worth it. 2 reasons for us. It was going to cost around $900 when our quarterly off peak HWS usage was around $40. Second reason is that we typically use most hot water showering in the evenings so the off peak would heat it up overnight anyway like it currently does.