Solar heating for hot water

[Paul Bradford]

Hi,

My apologies if this has been covered, but I could not find the information that I was looking for using the search facility.

Two other families along with us are looking to install solar panels for our hot water. I have seen the posting about Navitron and DIY and that is something that I will consider. We live in Monflanquin (47) now so will also be looking at the possibility of grants etc. I am also considering windpower and photovoltaic panels for electricity in the future, but would prefer to keep this post solely for solar heating.

I would like to compare costs. We have a large house with five bedrooms. Although most of the time though there are only be four of us, it would probably be best to look at a system that would provide hot water for the maximum capacity of the house.

Do you have to have additional protection for the solar panels in case of hailstorms? We have had pretty powerful ones with quite large hailstones in this area. I have seen two cars with smashed windows due to this.

What I would like to know is if anyone has had a system installed for their hot water supply and how much it actually cost? This posting will hopefully be of use to many people. I realise that some people will have paid more than others to have their systems installed. This could be due to a number of factors, including location and age of system, so it would be helpful if people could keep unhelpful comments such as 'You were done there, I only paid... etc' to themselves. Once we have decided which way to go, I will post the costs and details of installation, time etc. If you would prefer not to advertise how much it cost, but are happy to pm me with those details, I will not publish them, other than to say that installations cost from, to, etc.

Thanking you in anticipation.

Paul Bradford

[Clair]

Hello Paul

Here are some threads which cover some of your questions:

www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/776234

www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/752003

www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/656932

The cost side of things will vary according to whether your qualify for grants. The grants themselves vary according to the regional councils.

As for the panels being damaged by hailstones, I would suggest checking with your house insurer before committing yourself.

[Meg]

I have Pm'd you Paul.

[zeb]

Hi - friends had solar panels installed by a local contractor last year and a tank with electric backup (which they never use) for their large farmhouse. They paid 6K euros and claimed the tax credit back on the panels. I've house sat there in late autumn and also early January; the water wasn't hot hot, but OK for a bath!

[Bob T]

I have been trying to find installers in the Dordogne for 2 years now. I considered going down the DIY route, but I don't fancy leaping about on the roof to install the panels. I am going to contact a local plumber and see if he will give me a quote.

Considering the sunny summers here there seem to be very few solar panels on houses.

[Mikew]

Try google.fr with...."energies renouvelable dordogne", this seems to bring up some interesting sites. Remember - a french vat registered firm must supply and install in order to qualify for 50% tax credit on material.

[tracteurtom]

Also interested in this.  As far as I can see the solar water heating system is quite simple and should be easy to DIY install for all us jack of all trades. 

I cant understand why the costs are so high.  Maybe the pros are keeping this to themselves with high  markups knowing that the grants will attract all the customers they need?

Links to DIY web sites anyone?

[zeb]

Look in www.pagesjaunes.fr at chauffage in your area and then look for energie solaire/geothermie/aerothermie etc and get someone round for a chat and a devis.

There are several listed in our area (16).

PS I think you get what you pay for. The solar panels and tank at our friend's house are large and, like anything related to heating in France, look industrial (but luckily their roof is positioned in such a way that they are only visable from their own garden and not from the hamlet). They had to get permission to install the panels.

Since then they have had a air/heat exchange pump installed to heat the pool and run the central heating in the house. The electricty used costs little, and again, a grant from the region and tax credit on the system. Yes, installation cost a lot but running costs are minimal (it's a big house) and is guaranteed for 10 years. This winter they have only kept one woodburner going and that was really unnecessary.

If a comparison is useful my oil fired heating (including water) costs for a much smaller house have been around 1350 euros plus wood (this is double what oil cost when we installed the system). If I renovate again, I'll certainly go for solar power.

[Paul Bradford]

Thanks Mikew,

An interesting point, however, I was speaking to an expat this morning who brought his components for his system over from the UK when he moved. He had them installed by a French plumber, submitted his UK receipts for his French tax return and got a rebate.

Paul

[mmaddock]

I would urge caution on installing these sort of thing - if it is anything to do with saving money (i.e. reducing household bills) forget it.  The systems are nowhere near as good as the manufacturers claim - there was some report on this somewhere recently criticising them for making wild claims.  The best use of these systems are for swimming pools where the water doesn't need to be anywhere near as hot as tap water.  I'm not saying they don't work for domestic water, but you'll always need an electric backup to it.  I looked into it myself, but just couldn't make it stack up, either financially or environmentally - since most of France's power is Nuke it is effectively 'carbon neutral', and it doesn't cost much to run a Chauffe-Eau - we have ours on a timer for an hour a night and we've never had to run it longer than that for a family of 4.

Matt