Intelligent Immersion Heaters for Solar PV Installations

1. The electrical power produced by your solar PV panels is fed into an inverter which transforms the electrical power to AC. This electrical power is now available for usage in the household. Any of this electricity which is not utilized is immediately fed back to the nationwide grid. An intelligent immersion system continually keeps an eye on the inverter output. Whenever it senses that surplus electricity is being fed back to the grid it switches on an immersion heater in the warm water cylinder, thus the description 'smart'. ADVANTAGES A solar thermal set costs around ₤ 1,500 with possible additional costs for installation and perhaps even a replacement hot water cylinder. A standard intelligent immersion kit might cost. Some designs are established to constantly vary the power supply to the immersion in order to match the surplus power that would otherwise be exported. Installing a smart immersion involves no pipes skills. The wiring is simple as it mostly uses clamps around existing cables. Producers always suggest using a certified electrician. Some intelligent immersions use wireless technology so that the changing of the immersion can be monitored (and even controlled) from inside your home. Such a display can typically be linked to a computer system to allow downloading of historical data about electrical energy generation and usage. Some products can be used to switch on so-called clever plugs to run other facilities (such as air conditioning) from the surplus electrical power. Larger PV systems, 3 to 4 kW, are more likely to produce enough surplus electrical energy for a smart system to work efficiently. DRAWBACKS The more sophisticated kits expense. For a medium-sized PV system, 2 kWp say, in a home where electrical energy or gas is the primary fuel source, the savings might be quite modest. Even diverting 1 unit of electricity per day to water heating, which is relatively positive, would conserve around ₤ 50 a year. Pay-back time could be for several years. More expensive solid fuels and lp gas would shorten the pay-back time.

2. For those systems which do not have variable control of the immersion heater, if the immersion heater is switched on at full power by an intelligent immersion they would take in more electricity than the surplus from the PV panels. This could easily negate the monetary conserving. This can be dealt with in either of two ways. One is to fit a transformer to make the immersion work at 1 kW. The other is to replace the immersion with a Solaplug immersion, a conventional heater and solar coil in one system. Some systems have an every year repeating cost of approximately ₤ 48 for remote monitoring. Whether to buy a smart immersion system inevitably boils down to balancing the monetary investment versus forecasted savings on one's fuel costs. If the innovative features of the more sophisticated systems are appealing, the longer pay-back times may not matter so much. For those systems which do not have variable control of the immersion heater, if the immersion heater is changed on at complete power by an intelligent immersion they would consume more electricity than the surplus from the PV panels. The other is to replace the immersion with a Solaplug immersion, a traditional heater and solar coil in one system. It has actually been exposed through analysis that the factor for the explosions is the quantity of liquid within the tanks and the immersion heater. Every immersion heater maker provides suggested heat levels that the immersion ramacorporation.com heater produces. Electric tank immersion heaters can produce disastrous consequences if not used properly.