Anyone tried switching from solar (gas boosted) to electric heat pump?

press711 on 16/07/2024 - 16:19

We are looking into getting solar in Melbourne and some of the companies providing quotes are suggesting switching our perfectly functional gas boosted solar to electric heat pump.

Since our home has gas heating, it is hard to tell what proportion of this bill is the hot water currently and the pay off period.

Also, we got told we can setup the electric heat pump to run during the day only (when we have excess solar output). Is this correct?

Has anyone else tried this?

PS: We are not getting batteries at this point. But, might do so at a later date.

Home & Garden

Comments

  • Duckie2hh on 16/07/2024 - 16:31
    +3

    perfectly functional

    Nuff said

  • tanksinatra on 16/07/2024 - 17:01
    +2

    If your water heating is perfectly functional then why switch?

    I've been using an electric heat pump (Quantum brand) for many years now and it's fantastic. But I'm not sure what it would offer over your existing solar hot water?

    • press711 on 16/07/2024 - 17:47

      The main reasons as I understand it: Since the heat pump can be set to run during the day only it can be running mostly on solar energy from the panels and maybe the grid at times during overcast days.
      But the gas boosted solar on the other hand is constantly heating the water using gas when the temperature drops.

  • freefall101 on 16/07/2024 - 18:00
    +2

    I have only gas hot water and gas cooktop (electric oven) and my usage is usually $40 a month for two people - it's barely more than the connection charge. Since our heating is electric and there's always someone working from home, our exports have been near zero the past two months.

    Since it's going to be a couple of grand to get a half decent heat pump hot water even with rebates, I'm going to wait until I can get rid of gas entirely.

    • press711 on 16/07/2024 - 18:22

      For me with 4 people in thw house our rough HWS bill, I am estimating to be $15 a month or $180 a year. With a system cost of $1500 (after rebates), the payoff period comes to 8 years provided all the energy is from Solar panels.

      • freefall101 on 16/07/2024 - 21:28

        What's the warranty on that system? There are a lot of rubbish systems out there, I'm not so sure I'd trust it for 8 years. If it's a good one though, let me know, I had prices way over that in Melbourne (at $1,500, I'd just jump in).

        Plus they still use electric boosters and in winter if you have 4 morning showers going on it's going to use it. Unless your solar is generating a tonne of excess in solar and it's a big tank it'll use some electricity.

        • press711 on 16/07/2024 - 21:52

          It is a 270L Emerald Energy System (Warranty 5 years system/2 years labour and service). I will have a 10kW system but currently need only 6kW so should have plenty of excess. Looking at my low gas bills for summer heating the current HWS system seems to be working fairly well.

          Few cons I can see:
          - The warranty doesn't last as long as the pay off.
          - I don't know how well the current HWS will be recycled vs creating landfill.
          - The maths is still full of assumptions.

  • Drakesy on 16/07/2024 - 18:03
    +1

    From a financial perspective, if it ain't broke don't fix it.

    If it is broken then switching to a heat pump is a no brainer.

  • AustriaBargain on 16/07/2024 - 21:21
    +1

    Heat pumps are so hot right now.

  • wannagrababargain on 16/07/2024 - 22:11
    +1

    Solar boosted gas is pretty much on par efficiency/feels good wise as heat pump. The boosted systems are complicated though so it's bound to die in a few years. I would wait until it inevitably breaks then replace it. Heat pumps will only get more popular, cheaper and efficient in the mean time.

    • press711 on 20/07/2024 - 23:46

      Thanks. That's what I am leaning towards as well

  • john smith apples on 17/07/2024 - 16:08
    +1

    I electrified about 12 months ago and replaced a gas water heater with a heat pump. A few points:

    • yes you can set your heat pump water heater to run only between certain times of the day. This will make it very low cost from a running cost perspective as you can use the power from solar to run it

    • assume that feed in tariffs for solar and going to $0. Pretty soon you'll make nothing on this. It's only 5c per kWh now, getting lower every year

    • one benefit of going completely electric is that you can avoid the fixed monthly charge from the gas company. This is probably only $30 or something

    • biggest user of electricity for us is ducted air con. It uses so much and in winter time in Melbourne your solar won't produce much

    • check out pvoutput.org to see what others in Melbourne are generating from solar

    • get powerpal so you can know how you're using electricity

    • press711 on 20/07/2024 - 23:45

      Thanks. Great tips. Will checkout PVOutput.org as well

  • Palamedes on 20/07/2024 - 15:51

    A few points.

    When I asked for solar quotes one supplier said rather than get anything fancy like Solar HWS or Heat Pump you get a solar diverter installed to divert excess power to a conventional HWS and save heaps. https://www.canstarblue.com.au/solar/solar-diverters/

    The article quotes $800 - $1500 for the gadget but my solar guy said it could be done very cheaply with the system he had quoted on. Maybe it was in the Inverter?

    Re timing when to turn Heat Pump on etc, in my previous house I had the electricity box breaker for the unit converted to a timer breaker. It had dozens of little teeth you pushed in/pulled out to set a time schedule. As I was in QLD with a feed in tariff over 50 cents I only turned the Heat Pump on when the solar wasn't working to maximize solar payback.

    There are lots of types you can get both analog & digital. For example see https://www.sparkydirect.com.au/p/CSG-TMA116-Single-pole-tim…

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