Solar heating pannels?

Question

2 of us live in a 2 bedroom bungalow with an east/west facing roof, and i would like to know APPROX how many pannels would be reqd, how long to install, and a basic guide as to how much it will be, give or take £1000 etc, and are they maintenance free, (any unseen pitfalls etc ?????.)

Answer 1

I was in the same situation. Firstly you need to think of what type of solar panel you want. There are 2 types forgetting about all the long words basicly one just heats up the water directly and the other one generates electricity and then this electricity heats up the water. You also need to think if you just want hot water or heating as well There are benefits of both. The main ones being (for the 1st option) that this is a tried and tested method and the cheapest option. The 2nd is still good but its the newer option and is more expesive as a result but if your like me and work all day and come home in the evenings then it will give you one massive benefit and that is that any spare elec is sent back to the power grid and this mean you get money back.

One word of warning both options take years (10 ish). to break even at best so only go for this option if you know you will stay there or if you care about the environment.

It normally takes 1 - 2 days to install regardless of option but ever more than 2 days.

The cheapest installed option one is about £3000 for one panel, tanks etc but ive seen it upto £6000 for a complicated but well negociated package.

Option 2 ive seen for £6000 to £10000 but remember your making money back from day one to help with the costs if you dont use all your generated elec.

Also one thing to consider is that in summer youll get about 100% of your heating and hot water (on the best days) but normally that drops to about 50ish % in winter.

They normally dont require any maintianance

Hope this helps

PS I opted for the 2nd option, west facing. All summer i have had heat and water for free and not had to pay a penny. Recently I needed heat in the evening but the water was warmed by the solar panel and then the boiler did the rest (physics tells us that more energy is required to get cold water luke warm than it does to get luke warm to boiling). My install as £4k with a supersized water tank isntalled in loft.

Answer 2

Take a look at solar panels in the green search box above on this page.  It will help you decide how big a system you would need.  Only contractors in your area could come close to estimating the cost.