06-18-2008, 07:34 AM
StillHope,
As a Hawaii plumbing contractor I would recommend a propane on demand water heater. The SolaHart system is good but for your limited use I think you are better off with the on demand. One of the drawbacks to solar panels is that the hotter the water gets in the panel the faster the panels deteriorate. Since your hot water use will be somewhat limited the panel life will be affected by the infrequent use of hot water. Perhaps cutting the panel life from 15 years to 12 or so. Currently, there is one on demand tankless unit that uses no electricity at all, not even for ignition. This may be a nice option for you and would help with some energy savings.
scott@windwardplumbing.com
As a Hawaii plumbing contractor I would recommend a propane on demand water heater. The SolaHart system is good but for your limited use I think you are better off with the on demand. One of the drawbacks to solar panels is that the hotter the water gets in the panel the faster the panels deteriorate. Since your hot water use will be somewhat limited the panel life will be affected by the infrequent use of hot water. Perhaps cutting the panel life from 15 years to 12 or so. Currently, there is one on demand tankless unit that uses no electricity at all, not even for ignition. This may be a nice option for you and would help with some energy savings.
scott@windwardplumbing.com
scott@windwardplumbing.com