About Solar Collectors

What does a Kedco Solar Hot Water System consist of?

Kedco's Solar Hot Water Heating system consists of a high quality solar collector in the form of evacuated tubes, a heat transfer circuit that includes the fluid and the means to circulate it, and a storage system incorporating a heat exchanger.

What is a solar collector?

A solar collector is a device for extracting the energy of the sun and converting it into a more usable or storable form. Kedco supply 3 different sizes of collectors, 20 tube, 30 tube and 60 tube.

Can I use my existing hot water cylinder for the solar system?

The standard hot water cylinder in most houses is normally unsuitable for solar systems because dual coil cylinders are required for solar heating. Kedco supply a pre-insulated solar dual coil cylinder (either stainless steel or copper) in a variety of sizes. 

Cylinder Volume	Cylinder Dimension
	Copper	S Steel
200 litre	550 x 1600	650 x 1200
300 litre	550 x 1900	630 x 1540
400 litre		760 x 1610
500 litre		760 x 1830

The SEI Grant is for €300 per m2 of aperture size,what is the aperture size for the different number of tubes?

Collector Aperture Area Grant

20 Tube 1.75 € 525

30 Tube 2.62 € 786

40 Tube 3.49 € 1,047

50 Tube 4.37 € 1,311

60 Tube 5.24 € 1,572

70 Tube 6.11 € 1,800 (Maximum Available)

Note:There is a maximum of €1,800 per dwelling.

Do I need planning permission?

The installation of solar panels up to 12 m² aperture area, or 50% of total roof area, whichever is less, will be exempted development subject to the following conditions:

• A 150 mm maximum distance between the plane of a pitched roof and the solar panel

• A 500 mm maximum distance between the plane of a flat roof and the solar panels, and

• That panels should be at least 500 mm from the edge of the roof.

The exemptions provide for the same 12 m² aperture area in respect of free-standing arrays as applies to building mounted panels. Therefore, and as is the case with building mounted panels, arrays of this size and under are exempt from planning permission requirements, subject to some conditions. These require that:

• Stand-alone panels must be no more than 2m in height,

• Such panels must be located behind the front wall of the house, and

• A minimum of 25 m² of usable space must remain for householders own private use.

What size solar panel and cylinder do I need?

It is estimated that you use an average of 35 litres of water for a 5 minute shower and 80 litres of water for a bath (Source: www.taptips.ie). This is of course a mix of hot and cold water. It is essential to consider how much water you will use in a day to make sure you have enough hot water to cater for this.

A solar collector will only heat your cylinder once, during the daytime when the sun is out, so it is essential to provide the largest possible store of hot water for use at night and in the early morning. For this reason, there is some logic in having a slightly larger cylinder on a solar system. If you regularly need two baths a night and use a lot of hot water, get a larger cylinder, and a larger panel to match.

Evacuated tube solar water heaters are far more efficient than flat plate collectors, especially during cold weather. For this reason, the panel size required for vacuum tubes is somewhat smaller.

Is it feasible to purchase a small panel and large cylinder?

Getting the sizes of the cylinder and solar collector right is important - a small panel and large cylinder will give you a huge amount of lukewarm water while a small cylinder and large panel will regularly over-heat, wasting valuable energy. The recommended size of panel required is in relation to the size of cylinder provided, as outlined below:

No of Users	Cylinder Volume	No of Tubes
3-4	200 litre	30 / 40
5-6	300 litre	50 / 60
7-8	400 litre	80 / 90
9-10	500 litre	110 / 120

Do the above facts stand if my house is not south facing?

These are based on a South facing roof. If the roof is not south facing, you will need to provide more panel area to accommodate this.

Does the cost of my solar system increase if I double the number of collectors?

Because you have certain fixed costs (controller, pump, fittings, labour etc.) doubling the size of your solar system does not double the price. The SEI Grant is based on the size of the solar collector, so quite often, the larger the system installed the sooner the payback time.

My house is east facing,does that mean I can't use a solar thermal system?

To gain maximum efficiency from your solar collectors we recommend that you place your collectors on a South facing roof as they receive the most hours of sunshine during the day.

If your roof faces south-east or south-west then the efficiency will be reduced by approximately 10%. Any further deviation from a southerly direction leads to less efficiency. East or West facing roofs may require a number of solar collectors to perform the same job which one south facing panel will do.

Besides the direction my house is facing, is there any other considerations that I should look out for?

Look at the area around your house and consider if there is a possibility that a wall, an adjoining house or vegetation could cause the panels to be shaded during the day. This will reduce the efficiency of the solar collectors, so careful consideration should be given when deciding where to place your collectors.

Can I install the Kedco Solar System myself?

We offer our customers the opportunity to avail of a choice of either purchasing our DIY kit or purchase our product and full installation package. We recommend that people use our installers,as they are fully qualified installers .If a customer choices to install the system themselves,as with all of our products,it is essential that the solar panels are fitted correctly, and we recommend that you use a qualified plumber to carry out the installation. You should ensure that you use roof fitters with correct Health & Safety procedures in place for working at heights. You should also ensure that roof ladders and safety harnesses are used.