Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Solar Hot Water System Prices - Efficiency

In my previous blog I stated that Solar hot water system prices vary for 6 main reasons. They are - rebates - the efficiency of the system- type of system - size of system - the quality of the installation and whether the system has to be moved away from the location of your existing hot water system.

Last blog we covered rebates. In this blog I will deal with the efficiency of the systems. However, it will be your own research that will ultimately help you decide if you have been quoted a fair price for a solar hot water system.

As a general rule - the more efficient your solar hot water system is more technology is required to build them. This also means they are likely to be more expensive to purchase and install.

However, this expense can be offset to some degree by the higher number of STCs allocated to more efficient solar hot water systems. If you read the previous blog on rebates you will understand that you as the owner of the system can sell each STC.

I will give you three examples of how the offsets work.

If you buy an Apricus 315 litre 30 tube electric boosted solar hot water system, that gets 35 STCs, it will generally cost $7000.00 installed. If you sold each STC for $34.00 the end cost to you would be $7000.00 - 35 x 34 = $5810.00

If you buy an equivalent 300 litre roof mounted Rheem with 2 panels, that gets 28 STCs, it will generally cost $6500.00 installed. If you sold each STC for $34.00 dollars the end cost would be $6000 - 28 x 34 = $5558.00

If you buy a 250 litre Gas boosted 2 panel Dux Sunpro solar hot water system, that gets 40 STCs, it will generally cost $7250 installed. If you sold each STC for $34.00 dollars the end cost would be $7250 - 40 x 34 = 5850.00.

In addition to the higher STC rebate the more efficient systems will consume up to 40% less energy for boosting. Therefore they will also be cheaper to run.

You can check the efficiency of most solar hot water systems at http://www.hotwatersystems-plumbing.com.au/solar-hot-water-canberra/STC-values.html

Be sure to ask the salesperson how many STCs the system they propose is eligible for. This will tell you how efficient the system is.

Remember before you accept any solar hot water system prices research what you have been told by the sales person.

For a comparative quote for Solar Hot water system prices you can contact 6 Star Hot Water and Plumbing at: http://www.hotwatersystems-plumbing.com.au/get-a-quote.html