Is a solar hot water system worth the money?
Jayne tried to run a bath tonight. This was the result.
Rusty bath water
No, that isn’t an autumn-inspired bath bomb turning the water a lovely shade of orange. It’s rust. Our hot water system has carked it. The water’s hot, but it’s brown.
So we need a new system. Trying to be environmentally friendly, I researched solar hot water systems. Yes, they seem to be more efficient than gas or electric systems. And yes, they’re more environmentally friendly. But they cost around $5,000 after rebate (not including installation costs). A quality gas-only system is around $1,200 and I’d estimate it’d be 50% cheaper to install.
So, ignoring the environment factor, to be convinced to buy solar we’d need to save at least $3,800 over the life of the system.
Will that happen? I doubt it.
Convince me otherwise…….
Brian - January 3, 2010, 10:20 pm
This is not good! When did you last run the bath – is it just it’s pipes? If it’s the boiler then it would come out of any hot tap like that – does it? What about the shower – I guess you would have noticed!
Is your present system gas or electric? Which ever you have now will be the cheapest to replace with the same – otherwise you’ll have to run gas or heavier duty power to it.
Try http://www.enviro-friendly.com for some good info.
I don’t know how much solar systems cost to run/save, but in the short term I suspect you will be more interest in the quickest/cheapest option. We have a large Rheem gas boiler and it’s been great – and it must be cheap to run.
Give us a call.
Dad