I have a gravity fed shower with a pump to boost the flow which works fine but my problem is that I get my hot water in the summer from a solar panel and hot water during the winter from my wood burning stove. What I didnt think about was the days inbetween when its raining and no sun and the whether is too mild to get my wood burner going. Is there a solution such as installing a electric shower too as a back up that can be fed through my existing shower unit posibly out of sight in my loft with a swith in the bathroom?
I have one but because the water cylinder is larger than the normal size because of the solar panel it takes ages to warm up
If you think about it what you've just said doesn't make sense. Your solar thermal will always heat your water but on some/many occasions it's not enough (no surprise there then, this is England not Turkey). At this time of year you don't want to use your log burner to heat the water so the answer is to use electricity to make up the difference. Presumably you don't have a gas/oil boiler. This is the sort of calculation you should have made before being seduced by the blandishments of the Solar Thermal salesman. Solar Thermal in the UK is simply a con, it will never, ever pay for itself so why would you install it? Your cylinder will be well insulated and your immersion heater has a thermostat so once it's up to temperature you'll only pay to heat the hot water you use as losses will be relatively low. Alternatively, if you're a bearded greenie you could always frolic naked in the herb garden and hose yourself down instead. Me, I prefer my gas boiler and 300l unvented!
haha thanks for that but Ive had the solar panel in for over 10 years and it works fine and wood burner in for over 6 years. both have been running great and still are. The problem started last year when I had my bathroom fitted and opted for a gravity fed shower instead of an electric one. Nothing to do with the solar pane or woodburner. just looking for an option to back my system up for a few days a year when I dont have enough hot water not a lecture. oh and by the way my gas bills per quarter are about 5 quid and my whole energy bill for electric and gas around 250 per year. keep paying the utility companies sucker.
Silly boy, you're still not getting it are you? You have a gas boiler and you bought solar thermal? Don't lecture me!
Silly boy haha is that you or me? What am I not getting? If you can actually read you'll see that I said my solar panel works fine and combined with my wood burner I get near on free hot water and heating to my house at 250 quid per year.I dont think thats silly. My gas back boiler was removed because of its age and seeing as I get free wood fuel then getting a wood burner to go with my solar panel which was already installed was a no brainer. Im afraid some people have to be lectured if they are thick. no offence but you are just not getting it are you
I would suspect it would be difficult / expensive to do what you are asking. To instantly heat enough water to keep up with a pumped shower would be a challenge. You could consider a secondary smaller hot tank that is controlled via motorised valve and use an immersion heater in that.
Thanks, that sounds a good idea. Ive only been without hot water for two days out of the whole year so far so im not looking at spending a lot but that seems a possible solution. Thanks
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