Posts Tagged ‘solar hot water’

If you are renting out a property to a tenant, you may be eligible for Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) and the Federal Rebate.

The REC’s are deducted from the cost of the system, so you do not have to pay upfront. However, you need to apply for the $1000 Federal Government solar hot water rebate directly. It is designed for a principal place of residence. That means you cannot claim it if your property is used for holiday rental.

It us up to you to decide whether you are going to claim the $1,000 yourself or if you want to let your tenant do that.

Why would you let the tenant claim the rebate?

One of the criteria to receive the federal rebate is an income test. If you and your partner have had more than $100,000 taxable income in the last financial year, you will not be eligible for it.

That is the ideal opportunity to pass that rebate on to your tenants and let them claim it. You are not losing out, they are winning and it will be a lot easier to increase their rent by $10 a week.

That increase would repay you for putting solar hot water in. Your tenants are better off, because they receive the full rebate as cash now ($1,000), have the reduced energy costs and only have a rent increase of $500 per year.

Find Out Whether You Can Benefit From Solar Hot Water.

You can get an instant quote right now. There are 23 simple questions that lets our online calculator work out the best solution for your situation. That way you know exactly whether you can benefit from solar hot water.

Start with 1. Find System.

The main difference in solar hot water heating systems is where the tank is located.

On-roof Solar Hot Water Heating Systems

With on-roof or roof mounted systems, the tank is directly above the collector panels.

Hot water is lighter than cold water, so it naturally flows up into the tank (or rather gets pushed up by the colder water sinking down).

Water flow happens through the mains pressure. As hot water is taken out (from the top), new cold water flows in and gets heated up in the panels.

Using these natural physical laws makes it reliable and cheap to run.

The disadvantages: You might not like the look of the tank on the roof.

There are also some situations were the hot water would need to travel too long before reaching your shower. In such cases, a lot of water is  wasted and we recommend the split systems.

Split Solar Hot Water Heating Systems

A split system only has the collector panels on the roof. The tank is located where your current tank is.

A small electrical pump is necessary to pump the hot water down from the panels into the tank. However, the energy for the pump is offset in reduced heat losses, as the tank is more protected.

If the ideal location of the collector panels is far away from the location of the old hot water tank, a split system will result in better water usage. The reason is that the hot water is stored closer to where it is used. That means you do not have to wait for the hot water to reach your shower.

An added advantage is the in-built frost support. If the temperature falls below 0 degrees the pump automatically starts circulating the water. That brings warmer water back up to the panels so that the chances of it freezing are reduced.

The disadvantages, slightly more expensive to buy and install.

How to Decide?

When you go through the quoting process for your solar hot water heating systems, you get a choice between the two kinds of systems (where your situation makes that possible). To make the right decision, consider:

• The distance of the collector panels to the old tank (the further away, the more it makes sense to get a split system, e.g. two-story house)
• Your aesthetic preferences
• Your finances (how quickly you want to be paid through your investment)
• Future value of house. Whoever purchases the house might prefer a split system.

Some of the answers you give might rule out an on-roof system anyway, then you just need to decide on tank size.

World Environment Day was a great success. The SolarPay team spoke to more than 2,000 people about solar hot water. Many were astounded at the general environmental benefits as well as the personal financial benefits.

As part of the day, we conducted a survey to see what stops people from purchasing solar hot water. The positive result: 70% had considered solar hot water. However, only one third had actually taken action.

Cost was by far the biggest reason cited as to why they had not gone ahead. 55% thought it was too expensive. However, they did not realise that the current rebates are at an all-time high. And when they heard about the partnership with NAB for finance with no upfront payment, many pledged to check out this website for their options.

Visitors were intrigued with the possibility of solar hot water without any upfront costs and then using the electricity savings to repay it.

Now I am hoping that the buzz we created on the day, flows out into our community. On the Sunshine Coast there are 52,000 freestanding houses that are owner occupied. If every one of those took action, we could avoid 3.1 Million tonnes of CO2 (see solar hot water facts).

And that without spending a single additional cent, in fact each individual who gets solar hot water will be better off financially (up to $12,000) and have the full convenience of hot water.