Hot water systems

[Stu]

Currently have a 20 yr old solar hotwater system that has an electric booster. Have just noticed that one of the tanks has started to leak. Was wondering whether it was viable to get it fixed or is this the life of these type of systems??
Was otherwise considering getting gas onto the property and putting in a gas cylinder but unsure how much that would cost.
Was just wondering if anyone had any thoughts on this or any other options.
Cheers Stu

[spartan]

Hey Stu,

A couple of years ago I had an old gas storage 'tank' based system. It was leaking and costing us an fortune to run, as it was continually keeping the water at the preselected temparture.

We decided to install a continous flow hotwater system, a Bosche to be precise. This turned out to be the best decision we made. We went from about $200 per quarter in gas bills to about $80 per quarter and we never run out of hotwater. We have individual controllers in each of the bathrooms and kitchens that allows you to set your desired temparature.

Typically with normal water storage systems you end up using additional water as you cool your water down from about 50c to a more comfortable temparature - so you can save water with these. The flipside is it is very tempting to have longer showers, although with ours we have set a flow control alarm to let's us know when a certain amount of water has been used.

Set up we have 3 45KG gas bottles that get filled every 3 months typically though they are no where near empty. Also they are used for our gas cook top so the $80 mentioned per quater covers daily use of the gas cooktop.

Actual unit cost was about $1000, with a about $200 extra for the controllers (which are optional). Standard installation is about $250. Although with our we wanted the pipers to go a particular way.

You will need a licensed electrician to install an external weatherproof gpo and also the controllers if required.

So all up I think it was about a $2000 transition for us, but this was only slightly more costly than the electric or the gas storage proposition. I'm sure we are getting a good return on the investment with lower running costs, a reduction in water use, and the convenience of always available hot water.