Solar Thermal Installation – London Case Study

Here at Cloverleaf, we are always looking for innovative ways to sneak some form of renewable energy/solar thermal onto your property.

On this particular property, the client was insistent on having solar thermal. This was mainly driven by the clients environmental and climate-conscious mindset. Also having two teenagers and two adults in the property equates to high hot water usage. This is perfect for solar thermal to work its magic.

Being a relatively small Victorian house, it did not lend itself to solar thermal immediately. After surveying in a bit more detail we discovered we could fit the Viessman tm-300 kit onto an A frame on the flat roof of the rear extension, this was only a small footprint of about 5x5m.

Generally, evacuated tubes perform better in colder and/or cloudier conditions than their flat panel counterparts. This is because of the vacuum in the glass tube. This allows tube collectors to retain a high percentage of collected heat. They work well in freezing conditions where flat panels will not work as well.

After ensuring the roof structure was strong enough to handle the weight and wind lift calculations, and they also met MCS criteria, the panels were installed.  They were virtually out of sight from the back garden! So win-win.

This particular set-up is combined with a 250L twin coil slim line cylinder as space was restricted on the inside. The cylinder is backed up by a high efficiency condensing boiler. This is carefully set up to only come on when the solar has not fully heated the tank. This is usually for one hour in the morning.

This ensures the client never runs out of hot water, therefore, achieving the best of both worlds.

We got round the issue of a slightly smaller capacity cylinder than what’s ideal by increasing the max temperature of the cylinder to 85 degrees.

This is then blended back down with a mixture of cold water to 55 degrees for bathing and showering by extracting more capacity from the free hot water generated from the sun.

After completing this project it occurred to me there may be lots of other potential customers living in London with similar Victorian property’s wanting a hybrid set up.

If this is YOU please do not hesitate to contact us for a free consultation about how you can combine energy sources and be an eco-warrior without completely ditching your natural gas boiler.

Using the sun is a no brainer as a renewable energy source. If solar thermal is designed and installed properly it can knock up to 30% off your gas bills. While the RHI grant is still live you can also receive quarterly payments from the government for reducing your fossil fuel output.

Call us now or use the contact form on our website for more info.

#Cloverleaf #Viessmann