Solar hot water in Canberra?

The hot water service in our ppor has almost died. Any minute now it's going to meet its maker. Well almost. Not quite back to Mr Rheem.

We are looking at a new hws. Obviously.

I really like the idea of a solar hws. But our budget I quite limited

Our little research so far indicates that although the installation of solar is substantially higher than standard, rebates may bring it back to close to the cost of a standard.

Comments have been made that there's not enough sun in Canberra to make a solar hws worth while.

Any thoughts or experiences?

Thanks for any help or ideas!
 
acording to the" live in canberra campain," canberra has the most sunlight than all of the other capital citys in australia, :D

ask reece, or sothern plumbing , not the sales guys the guys that sell the fittings to the plumbers, they talk straight and get the dirrect feed back,
 
During the summer months it is great (about 3 - 4 months a year). It took us months to realise our booster wasn't working because the water was always hot.

During the cooler months it doesn't do much - even when you get alot of sun it may still be 4degrees outside... Without the booster the water may be lukewarm, but not hot. I think it does still save energy though, because the booster doesn't have to work so hard to heat the water as it would otherwise.
 
Just make sure you get a unit that can cope with frost.

I have a quote sitting here for one on a new house - almost $5000 and no freakin rebate. Very annoying. Although we've been here a full winter now with very few frosts vs my old house which had constant issues with things freezing solid and not thawing until midday (the drain on the bathroom sink being the most annoying - the pipe out is HORIZONTAL outside, sags, fills with water, and freezes) so I may be able to get the cheaper model here :D

Ice is dangerous stuff, mmkay?
 
Pipe with water in it at below zero = frozen. Not hard to work it out.

Everything with water in it freezes - the pipes to the house, water in puddles, the top layer of the water in the tanks, etc etc etc. You need a couple of buckets inside in winter to wash your hands with, flush the loo etc before midday when it all thaws. Basically if you look out the window in the morning and everything is white, the taps probably aren't going to work.

Most of the issues with our pipes went away when we moved them closer to the walls of the house - the heat in the stone stopped them freezing so often. The offending stupid horizontal drain is getting made diagonal this afternoon.

We knew someone who lived in Melrose and he complained he had a glass of water on his bedside that froze overnight. Now THAT is cold.
 
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