Ecosolar Solar Hot Water System Installation Manual

Summary of Solar Hot Water System

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    Solar hot water system installation guide.

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited e c o s o l a r solar hot water heating installation guide energy conscious design limited / ecosolar 15b saturn place, albany, auckland, postal po box 81049 • whenuapai • auckland • new zealand phone 09 442 0996 • fax 09 442 0997 e info@ecosolar.Co.Nz • web....

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited table of contents thank you 1 selling the benefits of swh 1 selecting the most appropriate system 2 types of system 2 basics of system sizing 4 system operation and control 4 caution - issues 9 building consent and code compliance 9 heat rejection 9 system te...

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited collectors inclined across roof pitch 36 maximising the benefit from solar hot water 37 system control 37 system control overview 37 pumped systems 40 temperature sensor installation 40 variable speed drives 40 over heating 41 cylinders 41 collectors 41 valve...

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    S o l a r h o t w a t e r i n s t a l a l t i o n g u i d e ecosolar energy conscious design limited 1 thank you thank you for choosing an ecosolar hot water system. You may look forward to many years of monetary savings as well as knowing that you are helping provide a sustainable future for genera...

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 2 supplied to the hot water cylinder. The efficiency of a system is often overstated or misinterpreted, two of the most common overstated efficiency levels are outlined below; • 97% efficiency – we have heard salespersons promoting that a system is 97% effici...

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 3 figure 1 thermosyphon system figure 2 indirect pumped drainback system.

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 4 figure 3. Ecosolar 12volt uvr61 controller basics of system sizing as a rule of thumb solar hot water systems are often sized on the basis of 1m2 of collector area per 50 to 75 litres of water storage or per person. For instance, based upon 75litres of wate...

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 5 adequately managed to maximise energy savings and to ensure that excess heat is not provided to the cylinder increasing the risk of overheating. There are numerous methods of providing backup heating 1. Electric elements in the cylinder 2. Boiler or other h...

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 6 figure 4 “one shot” backup heating controller, allows manual control of the backup heating. The heating is manually turned on and will be automatically turned off, maximising the savings from the solar system timeclock – the electric elements or boiler are ...

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 7 system and automatically switches the wetback pump on only when there is heat available in the wetback. Solar water heating as a preheater in most cases a solar system installed in either a commercial or higher specification domestic system will have to act...

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 8 figure 6. Ecosolar drainback solar preheat system c/w boiler heated booster cylinder.

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 9 in summary the solar water heating system must be promoted with the correct level of savings else, it is unlikely that the customer will be satisfied with the system. The type of system is key to the reliability of the system and the sizing and control of t...

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 10 be confirmed and the valve replaced if there is any doubt over its operation and correct function. The function of this valve shall be regularly checked and be appropriately maintained. The tempering valve must be suitable for the high temperatures experie...

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 11 drain the contents of the tank to solve the problem. If the glycol is replaced, it should be drained from the system, contained and disposed of in a suitable manner. Another commonly found problem is that of incorrectly sized expansion vessels. Any thermal...

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 12 close after the water has warmed up, this results in excess water usage. The valves are susceptible to damage and go out of calibration if exposed to high temperatures. Increased reliability can be obtained if the frost valves are installed on a 300mm leng...

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 13 cylinders there are many options for hot water cylinders. Low pressure low pressure copper cylinders offer a good resilience to high water temperatures as experienced in solar water heating systems and are historically proven for most areas. There are seve...

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 14 operate as a direct (open loop) system, that is, the water contained within the cylinder that is drawn off at the taps is also the water that circulates through the solar collector. Most existing cylinders do not have an internal heat exchanger and therefo...

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 15 thermosyphon systems thermosyphon systems do not have pumps and operate on the principle of warm water rising from the solar collector into the hot water cylinder. Thermosyphon systems can either have the cylinder close coupled to the collectors or have a ...

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 16 system types there are two overall types of thermal hot water systems; • direct system • indirect system in a direct system the hot water that is heated as it passes through the solar collector is supplied to the taps. An indirect system has a heat exchang...

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 17 • open vented, a vent pipe will extend from the cylinder through the roof and terminate some distance above the roof with an open end. • valve vented, a thermal / pressure and / or pressure relief valves will be installed to relief any excess pressure or h...

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 18 symbols circulating pump tempering valve pressure relief valve to tundish strainer isolating valve non return valve temperature, pressure, vacuum relief valve pressure reducing valve as required solar water heating system types and schematics direct or ope...

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 19 figure 8 above shows an open loop solar hot water installation retrofitted on to a cylinder with only bottom entry fittings, no bottom dispersion plate. This installation uses the 4 way inlet fitting..

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 20 figure 9 mains pressure open loop solar hot water installation, using side entry connections and retrofit 4-way connection..

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 21 indirect or closed loop systems many indirect or closed loop systems have historically been systems using a propylene glycol and corrosion inhibitor, however these system are becoming less favourable as the deficiencies of propylene glycol are becoming und...

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 22 figure10 closed loop glycol based system with single pump and heat exchanger in the dhw cylinder..

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 23 indirect drainback system drainback systems are often seen to be the most flexible and reliable system and are becoming more commonly installed in nz. As well as the conventional drainback system as shown in figure 11 below, options are available to retrof...

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 24 figure 11 closed loop drainback system with single pump and heat exchanger in the dhw cylinder..

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 25 figure 12 retrofit indirect drainback system with twin pumps..

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 26 thermosyphon systems thermosyphon systems do not have pumps and operate on the principle of warm water rising from the solar collector into the hot water cylinder. Thermosyphon solar heating systems can be either direct or indirect systems depending upon s...

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 27 general installation pipework all pipework shall be copper and completed in a neat and economical layout, using long radius bends and minimising the use of fittings to ensure that the resistance to flow rate through the pipework is minimised. Pipework shal...

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 28 • the pump shall be installed in the flow to the solar collector pipework, i.E. Colder pipework. • a non return valve shall be installed about 0.5m from the hot water cylinder on the hot return to the cylinder to eliminate back circulation, (thermosiphon a...

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 29 solar collector location note the solar collector is to be installed with the vent holes at the bottom or with the new slot vents on the side. The vents shall not be orientated to allow moisture ingress. Orientation the solar collector should be orientated...

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 30 location geographic north is (x) degrees west of magnetic north, as shown by a compass (x for locations in nz are shown below) latitude cape reinga 17 34 kaitia 17.5 35 whangerei 18 36 auckland 18.5 37 hamilton 19 38 taupo 19.5 39 palmerston north 20 40 we...

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 31 solar collector mounting the collector fixings shall be mad in accordance with the nzbc, g12, as2 or shall be specifically designed by a structural engineer. The details below are generic, however specific design is required in high / extreme wind zone are...

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 32 figure 14 fixing method to corrugated iron and long run, pan or deep trough roofing..

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 33 tiled roofing for tiled roofs, install the kitset collector fixings. This kitset consists of 4 lengths of predrilled galvanised strap, 2 lengths of channel, 4 angle brackets and various fixings. The 4 angle brackets are secured in to the channel and tempor...

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 34 figure 15 fixing method to tiled roofing.

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 35 flat roof or to increase or decrease collector inclination from roof pitch the concept for increasing the collector pitch off of a pitched roof is shown below. The pitch required shall be stated when ordering the fixing kits from ecosolar. Figure 16 fixing...

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 36 collector inclined across roof pitch this type of installation requires specific design for the design of the collector mounting frame, however the concept is similar to that shown in figure 16 above. Figure 17 presents a potential system. Please contact u...

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 37 maximising the benefit from solar hot water following these recommendations will further enhance the benefit from your solar hot water system. • install low flow shower heads, taps, install flow restrictors and generally conserve water • heavy washing or h...

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 38 the monitoring of the water temperature in the top of the cylinder is a beneficial feature as it allows the user to more closely manage the water temperature in the cylinder, being more informed about how much hot water is available and whether the backup ...

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 39 figure 19 ecosolar uvr61r3 controller • ecosolar “oneshot”, this backup heating controller is installed with the above controllers. The user is able to manually turn on the backup heating and the controller will automatically turn the heating off once the ...

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 40 pumped systems in addition to the control requirements of the thermosyphon systems, pumped solar systems also need a differential temperature controller to only turn on the circulating pump when there is heat to be recovered from the collector, i.E. When t...

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 41 the pumps are installed and set to the high speed (3 on grundfos) setting. The pump will then always start on the high speed thereby providing the maximum torque to start the pump. Many solar system failures have been due to the pump being unable to start,...

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 42 the water pressure and the temperature, for the water to boil and lead to cavitation which can damage the pump. Expansion vessels expansion vessels will have maximum temperatures that should not be exceeded, this can often be managed with correct location ...

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 43 figure 21 latest generation ecosolar controller is able to automatically control a solar system to prioritise heat to several heating demands and then dump excess heat so to avoid system overheating. Figure 22 closed loop solar water heating system with au...

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 44 a heat dump may be an external heat exchanger, such as a fin and tube located under the south facing eaves or shaded under the solar collectors, hot water passes through the heat exchanger transferring the heat to the surrounding air. Another option, espec...

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 45 figure 23. Low pressure drainback system with header tank. Mains pressure drainback with receiver – these systems are uncommon in new zealand but offer many more advantages than conventional closed loop circuits with propylene glycol whilst costing about t...

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 46 figure 24. Mains pressure drainback system using a closed loop system mains pressure hot water drainback system using a heatstore cylinder – see figure 25 below, these systems are becoming more common as again they offer significant advantages over closed ...

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 47 figure 25. Mains pressure hot water drainback system using a heatstore cylinder reliability as a solar water heating system returns savings over an extended period of time and is generally not located in an readily accessible position, the system needs to ...

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 48 the first and most popular method is for the occupants to monitor the temperature within the hot water cylinder, using the controller, to ensure there is sufficient hot water for their requirements. The temperature below which additional hot water is requi...

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 49 to achieve. Another option, although having a greater capital cost, is to install a preheating solar system, these options will be discussed in greater detail in a future article. For maximum savings when installing solar on to gas heated cylinders a solen...

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 50 periodic maintenance to ensure correct system operation and to retain the system and component warranty, the system must be maintained in accordance with the recommended levels of maintenance. Please also refer to the operation and maintenance manual and c...

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 51 • replace cylinder sacrificial anodes • clean out strainers • check pump and differential controller glazing maintenance the glazing will require periodic cleaning, ensure you have a suitable standing area, that will not become wet during cleaning or if it...

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 52 • guarantees • code of compliance and • other relevant certificates and information structural structural has not been dealt with in this document and it has been assumed that the building has been designed to nzs3604 or equivalent. It is the installer’s r...

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 53 initial wiring • the reverse of the front plate has a wiring diagram, however remember that when the front cover is flipped over, this diagram is shown as the opposite to the connections on the back plate. • the temperature sensor with the pink cable is se...

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 54 1. With the screen displaying the sensor t1 temperature, use the right hand arrow to scroll through, 4 presses of right hand arrow, from the t1 screen, until the words enter par are shown on the screen. 2. Now press the down arrow, to enter and start progr...

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 55 temperature as recommended by the cylinder manufacturer, in many cases for mains pressure steel lined cylinders this is 65 to 70 o c. The max temperature is always greater than the max temperature. If when reducing the max temperature it will not reduce an...

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 56 13. Now press the right hand arrow, once code32 is displayed press the right hand arrow and then press the up arrow. Then press the left hand arrow until t1 is displayed on the screen. Now press the right hand arrow 5 times, enter men is displayed on the s...

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 57 20. Now press the right hand arrow 21. F check is displayed, this needs to be turned on, press the down arrow, press the right hand arrow and press the up arrow to select. 22. Now press the right hand arrow hqc is displayed, this is the heat counter, i.E a...

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 58 controller turns on the pump to circulate water from the cylinder to the collector to raise the collector temperature. The solar controller also has the capability to data log the heat being recovered from the collector, this requires the optional flow met...

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 59 please note that the above will limit but not prevent legionella from establishing its self in the hot water cylinder. The shower head is most at risk most pipework is also a risk area. All the pipework should be regularly flushed to limit the establishmen...

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 60 turns on the pump to circulate water from the cylinder to the collector to raise the collector temperature. The solar controller also has the capability to data log and download to a pc, temperatures around the system, solar radiation and the heat being re...

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    Ecosolar energy conscious design limited 61 button on the ecosolar “one shot” controller. This controller will heat the water and automatically turn off the heating once the water is up to temperature, the user will not need to turn it off. The over- ride switch on the “one shot” controller turns on...