Solar panels

keith


Joined: 03/04/2007
Posts: 272

Message Posted:
25/11/2007 15:26

Any one got any knowledge on solar panels like how often they should be cleaned and what with

Cheers Keith

JamesB


Joined: 07/02/2007
Posts: 450

Message Posted:
25/11/2007 17:31

As often as possible Keith, any dust, dirt or pidgeon s**t will reduce there effectiveness. I would just use soapy water and rinse it with clear water. If it has rained chances are it will have swilled the dust off.

orangekazzie



Joined: 31/07/2007
Posts: 1091

Message Posted:
25/11/2007 21:46

We just use a damp cloth every couple of weeks during the summer months.



Karen

TonyH


Joined: 22/11/2007
Posts: 107

Message Posted:
27/11/2007 20:38

are solar panels in wide use in NC?

JamesB


Joined: 07/02/2007
Posts: 450

Message Posted:
28/11/2007 09:37

Yes - Only really for hot water - but everybody has it!

orangekazzie



Joined: 31/07/2007
Posts: 1091

Message Posted:
28/11/2007 10:59

A house in our village has eight sets of panels on its roof as they are trying it out to see if they can run central heating from it, can't see how its going to work myself because when you need the heat ie mornings and late evenings there won't be much sun around to heat the water, unless I suppose you have the pump running all day and that will take the chill off the inside of the house (just thinking out loud here).



Karen

ukturk



Joined: 01/09/2007
Posts: 1974

Message Posted:
28/11/2007 13:32

hi guys

firstly like what james has said to clean the panels just use warm soapy water and rinse with clean water but be carefull dont be to heavy handed when washing them, you dont have to this all the time most of the time rain water will clean them

tony everybody in north cyprus and turkey use solar energy to warm water because it is cheaper to run this system compared to just using a boiler this way can be quite expensive on your electric bill in theroy the boiler is a over sized kettle heating up your water!!! and is great if you have a power cut because you still get hot water cos it is stored in the depot which comes with the solar system

karen the house you see with loads of panels is prob because they have either a few bathrooms and they want to store a lot of the water this way, you cant use solar to do your central heating this only works with diseal or lpg (liquid petroluem gas) used a lot in turkey not so much in n cyprus

and how the solar system for the water works is when there is sun this warms the water and is then stored in the drums next to the panels so come the night time or when it is not sunny you can always have hot water and is great when the power is off because if you did not have solar and just had a normal boiler the boiler would not work cos of the power to warm the water

regards

erkan

grahamlil


Joined: 10/10/2007
Posts: 143

Message Posted:
28/11/2007 15:56

Common lads and lasses,

With all the members there must be some experts out there, back here in the UK my brother has solor panels for hot water and they work all the year round even in the UK, granted you do not get the temperatures as high in the winter, but they still work, another favorite is for heating swimming pools.

tecnoledgy moves on all the time and I believe there are quite a few differant types of panels.

Where are the experts?

Regards to you all grahamlil

TonyH


Joined: 22/11/2007
Posts: 107

Message Posted:
28/11/2007 18:21

good to hear solar panels are widespread, I looked at them as a possibility for my house in UK, but the initial outlay was too great as we don't plan to stay in the house for the length of time to make them cost viable - 17 years.



James B - good to hear hot water is abundant



Kind regards Tony

orangekazzie



Joined: 31/07/2007
Posts: 1091

Message Posted:
28/11/2007 20:17

Hi Uturk



You say its only possible to run central heating from either gas or diesel. Sorry but I have to disagree with you because in theory anything that pumps hot water around a system of pipes via radiators can be used for central heating.

We have a cast iron wood burner which includes a back boiler, at present only running one radiator and heats the water when the fire is lit. The back boiler itself is capable of giving out 6kw of heat which is enough to run about 4 or 5 radiators if a pump were fitted. We bought a wood burner with a back boiler as we thought if we are using the fire we may as well heat some water at the same time and save electricity as it'll be another form of 'free' hot water.



The house I mentioned as having multiple panels is only a very small village house and I don't think they have more than one bathroom.



Karen

JamesB


Joined: 07/02/2007
Posts: 450

Message Posted:
28/11/2007 20:39

Is the your heating system in Nc or uk orangekazzie?

just wondered if it is tank fed or a sealed system?

Its not just the amount of panels you have but the amount of storage for the hot water,as I presume you wouldn't be using the heating until the sun had gone down. I suppose it would work for central heating but it's not ideal. As the hot water (and heat) was pumped to the radiators the water would return to the storage cylinder (cooler) and the cycle repeated until all the heat from the cylinder was gone. (unless you had a twin coil cylinder, (other coil linked to a boiler ) or an electric element.

JB

ukturk



Joined: 01/09/2007
Posts: 1974

Message Posted:
28/11/2007 22:41

hi karen

in theroy you might be right but i was just responding to the question that was asked if solar can do central heating, and the ways i have personally heard people including myself using in cyprus and turkey for central heating with rads is by gas or diseal, and i must admit ive never heard of anyone using the method that you said you use and that can be used with a pump, like james is asking is this the sytem you use in cyprus or the u.k, another way i have heard of people using is a stove that you put in the living room and you put wood in it and it has its own flu directed out of the house but this gets hot aswell so acts like a rad and it also has rings on it so you can cook this system is used by most locals in the villiage or people have not got air cons or central heating

your villiage house with multiple panels is prob because their panels and system they have got are old and their load of panels are doing the same job as what the up to date 2 or 4 panel systems are doing, (check to see if they have got big cylinder depots next to the panels, like james said its not just about the amount of panels its also about the depots)what ill do is ask my mate who is in the trade if this therory is correct and ill post you

take care

regards to all

ukturk

JamesB


Joined: 07/02/2007
Posts: 450

Message Posted:
28/11/2007 23:04

You can have rads running off a wood burner Ukturk, (or coal, as in the Uk years ago) but because its not easy to control the heat, and the water expands as it gets hot - you must have somewhere for the water to go - as in an expansion vessel on a sealed system or a vent pipe back upto the tanks. if you dont allow for this on a home made system it could blow like a bomb. Thats why i was asking Orangekazzie.

ukturk



Joined: 01/09/2007
Posts: 1974

Message Posted:
28/11/2007 23:31

james

i am not debating the fact that you can use rads of a wood burner, and i know this was the sytem used in the u.k many years ago and prob some to this day

i just simply said that i have never heard or seen anyone in turkey or cyprus i know use this system i have only seen them use gas or diseal or some cases like what i explained in message 12

i know that you are in the trade but dont you think this system is a bit of hassle for people and like you said a very old system (even thou cheap to run) people would just go for diseal or gas central heating or use a fireplace if have one or just use plug in electric heaters

regards mate

ukturk

JamesB


Joined: 07/02/2007
Posts: 450

Message Posted:
28/11/2007 23:46

Even though it may seem old fashioned I considered putting a wood burner in and for it to run the central heating - I mean If your going to light the fire you may as well use some of that heat to heat the rest of the house - why not. I decided against it because I think under floor heating is the way forward - probably run off an Air source heatpump - but this may change!

Cheers mate

JB

ukturk



Joined: 01/09/2007
Posts: 1974

Message Posted:
28/11/2007 23:58

defo mate

a lot of builders i know in turkey and some in cyprus are using the under floor heating system with its own temp gauge

in my house in turkey ive got diseal central heating the plumbers ran the pipes for the heating right under the tiles so i get underfloor heating aswell as rads great lol!!! but im stuffed if the system losses bar and its not down to air in the pipes but down to a hole the whole of the floors have to come up!!!!

this would never pass regs in the u.k but anything is possiable in turkey and cyprus lol

regards mate

ukturk

legin


Joined: 15/11/2007
Posts: 105

Message Posted:
29/11/2007 01:24

Shine up your panels with 'Panello'

It's only a shilling a tin

You can buy it or nick it from Asda

But I doubt if they've got any in!



Just a thought!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

orangekazzie



Joined: 31/07/2007
Posts: 1091

Message Posted:
29/11/2007 11:37

Hi ukturk/James



our system is in n.c. as mentioned we had to have a radiator to take off the additional water/steam or something like that anyway. I don't really understand the whole workings of a central heating system but am assuming its similar to an old steam engine whereby heat creates steam which then turns to water and if this isn't released it will eventually explode but if you add a pump and radiators it pushes it through a system where you are pushing old cold water and replacing it with hot.



We did consider under floor heating but when our house was built they'd not really heard of it, in fact gas heating wasn't really in use then either.



Cheers



Karen

JamesB


Joined: 07/02/2007
Posts: 450

Message Posted:
29/11/2007 14:00

Hi Karen,

I see they have used the radiator as kind of an expansion vessel I think, but I would hope they dont just rely on that. Do you have a (maybe) red canister type thing (like on some water pumps in N.c. ) and how do you fill the system.

In the uk any sealed system must allow for expansion with a vessel as described but also are prv (pressure releif valve) set at three bar to dump (safely) the hot water, so it doesn't blow. Most combis work that way. If you read the pressure gauge it should be on about 1bar when cold 1--2 bar when running - and then 3 bar is when the prv kicks in. I'm sure your system is safe Karen I'm just interested in other countries plumbing and ac. I know it sounds sad!!!!!

Cheers

JB

Scythian



Joined: 14/03/2009
Posts: 75

Message Posted:
08/05/2009 18:11

Hi ukturk,



Hot water is clear.



There are in N.Cyprus at the pump 24V for solar cells?



This is important. In Russia, you can manage a home through the Internet or SMS. And in N.Cyprus?



Kind regards Scythian

blinky



Joined: 07/12/2008
Posts: 187

Message Posted:
08/05/2009 23:37

http://www.cyprussunenergy.com/



read this for any anoraks like me who have to do this for a living....

Cyprusactive


Joined: 20/05/2008
Posts: 128

Message Posted:
09/05/2009 18:01

Solar panels can do domestic heating but there is the problem of heat storage. It really only works with under floor heating as the mass of the floor acts as a very large heat store. Rads would be hot in the day and cold by night.

We have done some of these installations but it will take a full season to see what the oil/gas saving over the year will be. This time or year it is nice as a bit of day time sun will gently warm the floor for the evening which can still be a little cool leaving the boiler off. It requires a small central heating circulator pump using about 48watts. Call John on Cyprus Solutions 0533 836 7094 cyprussolutions@hotmail.com

Regards

Nick

henrik



Joined: 01/10/2009
Posts: 314

Message Posted:
21/10/2009 13:43

the problem of heat storage? since when this is a problem? In all big solarthermal installations heatstorage is a must (unless its a cheap and easy to install daytime poolheating system). In Andasol (Spain) and California they even use liquid salt (above 250 degrees Celcius).. A heat storage should not be a problem.. this is solar energy basics...

MarkVPiazza


Joined: 14/08/2008
Posts: 530

Message Posted:
21/10/2009 18:48

Think like a Cypriot



In summer when the panels work too well and you water is scorching, you get a nice layer of dust to stop this happening

By the time autumn comes and the water is not so hot, it rains and cleans the panels, thus improving the temperature



i.e no action or cleaning required



Mark

henrik



Joined: 01/10/2009
Posts: 314

Message Posted:
22/10/2009 00:51

well said mark