Solar Electric Question

[terracore]

If you are running out of solar hot water check to make sure your controller is heating the water to the temp you want (instead of reaching a lower temp and then just stopping to circulate through the panels) and that whatever system it uses (temp gauge, timer, whatever) is functioning properly so it's not trying to circulate the water at night or when the sun isn't out. We have 3 people in our household, shower every day, etc and have never ran out of hot water even after several days of cloudy weather. I've never seen the gauge below 125 degrees in the 80 gallon tank. It was heating the water to 170 and I lowered the setting to about 155 to increase tank life. Maybe we'll have a different story in the winter.

We love our solar system and I've never turned the backup electrical breaker on. Its great to not have to scream at the teenager for using up all the hot water.