Has anyone got any experience of thermodynamic solar panels?

Stuart Wright

If they do what they claim to do, should they replace 'normal' boilers to generate all the hot water and heating of a household for a fraction of the traditional running costs?

http://www.greenserveuk.com/thermodynamics/

EarthRod

Buyer beware!

They are not technically solar panels but basic heat pumps. Works like a fridge or air-conditioning unit but the heat exchange is the other way round.

Note that heat pumps do not qualify for RHI and that is why they have been classed by the manufacturers as 'solar panels'. Iffy bit of advertising!

Also, this technology is useful in warm climates and not cold climates like the UK.

The governing body concerned should review this new product ASAP. Until then IMO stay well away!

IronGiant

Thanks for the heads up Alan, on a quick glance I had assumed that were a hybrid technology using PV panels to run heat pumps, on second glance, they clearly aren't

EarthRod

Looked into this stuff when buying a new house.

The advertising blurb gives the game away when they say it works at night - solar panels working in darkness! Silly buggers!!

usmc

There seems to be a very limited number of suppliers and very little real world evidence to back up the marketing claims. I received a quote from one firm for a 4 bed house with an 11kW heat load and it was going to be £6k for hot water and £15k for heating installed.

Stuart Wright

I've done more research.  The 'solar' claim got them registered with MCS for a while, but MCS withdrew the certification in September.  Until MSC accept thermodynamics, it won't be eligible for RHI.
Thermodynamics is the opposite of a fridge and theoretically can work day and night down to low temperatures.
The other snag with RHI is that heat pumps, which is what thermodynamic is, are currently only eligible for RHI if they do heating and hot water.  The currently sold thermodynamic systems are not being sold as heating and hot water solutions.

There is too little data, it seems, at the moment to justify the rather bold claims for thermodynamics and until some real work UK (Scottish) figures are in, it's very difficult as a consumer to make a decision.

baldrick

Heat pumps are increasingly popular here in the US in the right regions and from some of the reading I've done it's the pro-installers who favour them for their own homes. They look more like the conventional A/C units you see outside homes all over the US.

As for solar water heat it's something that interests me. I've seen one system that uses panels to heat a tank that feeds a 'tankless' water heater. This way the sun gets your water to  90f and a conventional gas burner does the rest to 120f or so.

Another option I can see would simply be to put a header tank in my loft. In the summer the temp up there can hit 130f so a tank of water would heat up during the day for use in the evening. You'd want to drain it in the winter as it goes below freezing up there.

Trollslayer

I was wondering - what happens if they get covered with snow? It's a pretty good insulator. Even a fairly thin coating could cause problems.

EarthRod

You've lost me - if what gets covered in snow?

Trollslayer

The 'solar panels' described above which are actually the condensors of the heat pump system being described.
If they cannot draw heat from the air the system cannot function correctly.