Are Solar Diverters REALLY Worth It?

Just the right balance in presentation and stats. I am a subscriber. One point in a never perfect world. It may also be useful spending just £35 on a DIY swoop over of a fused spur connection to the hot water tank with a progammable controller where you have an off peak supply (Octopus-Go). Not as environmentally friendly granted but with a small PV array and larger battery storage capacity, this could be an initial approach. We are still trying to work out the export to grid issues when the battery is 100%. For us, this happens 1-2 hours during the day when the sun shines. Question for Octopus: Can you have an off peak tariff and still get paid for exporting? That sounds like having your cake and eating it.

I've had a Solar I Boost for 8 years now. I get the FIT so no need to worry about export payment calculations. In that time I've sent over 7000 kwh to my water tank from my 4kw solar PV array. Now I no longer use my oil boiler to heat my hot water but use Octopus GO cheap rate tariff to top up my tank overnight and then let the sun replenish it during the day. That cuts my CO2 by loads which is the most important thing to me!

Thank you Gary, another exceptionally good video that sets the standard for all things renewable here on YouTube. Thorough, clear and concise, a great help, thank you again.

Welcome back, Gary. Another great video. Thank you for sharing this great info!

What a brilliant little video. Excellent, you nailed the topic. Cheers from Oz

Wauw, this is wonderful (and new) information for me. Nicely done.

This is such a helpful video thank you. The calculator helped me put data to my gut feeling that an Eddi hot water diverter for me would never pay back. Cheers.

I have a very simple diverter. It's called the on off switch. Utterly reliable.

Hi Gary, great video! A tiny fly in the ointment is that in running a gas boiler, you are also running a pump (60 to 100 watts depending on size) as well as the boiler fan (30 watts) and associated controls. The pump runs continuously in the on timed periods. I have done some of my own calculations on power use for this, but in winter months, when the heating is on at the same time, these costs would be incurred anyway heating the house.

This diverter idea looks perfect for my plug-in Ioniq plus my new water heater. Having to fart about plugging in and out when the sun shines/doesn't is a bit of a bind. Not too sunny in Denmark. Thankyou Sir - I am now a subscriber.

We have a new water tank as part of a house refurbishment and were using Economy 7 to heat the water as we have no mains gas in the village. Just 2 of us in the house. Had solar fitted this week and have an Eddi fitted. I knew the payback should be good with current price of electricity (Octopus), but £196 (inc lost export when i get the smart meter) vs £477 is £281 annual saving - or a payback of 21 months! Great explanation and calculator!

Thanks for the video Gary .

Great explanation video Gary, much appreciated. Without knowing these automatic devices existed, I installed a more primitive, but far cheaper addition to our system. A high current smart switch on the immersion heater spur works via the Smart Life app and Alexa. On days with excess solar, when our battery is full, I can easily switch on/off the heating element. It also provides a timer routine for 7.5p Octopus off-peak as an alternative. The smart switch only cost £25 and has already paid for itself!

Excellent presentation, when doing the investigation on my Eddie system I found that our water tank was losing 71w per hour. This did make a big difference with only a couple in the house and low export payback. System well worth using.

I really enjoyed that thank you liked and subscribed

Really interesting video Gary. I’m just starting my renewables journey with an ESS system hopefully being installed in the coming weeks followed by solar PV as soon as I can get hold of some decent panels. After watching your video, I’m in no hurry to install a solar diverter! Thanks.

Gary, that is of course one if the concerns. We spend all the money to build a system of one type or another with a payback period of perhaps less than 10 years. However, after that policies and/or prices change and the consumer is often disadvantaged. It feels like the solar contracting/gov't policy in this area is still the 'wild west' and gives me pause due to the volatility.

One other cost to consider is the boiler start up and heating the water in the pipes. Heating the boiler mass and 60 feet of pipes (counting both ways) may be small, but not insignificant. My oil boiler has only been on for one day since May, when we had a cloudy week, the riveter has saved a lot of oil.

Thanks Gary. What a guy!

Hey Gary I am a big fan for diverters as they work well in OZ... 1.Our grid is garbage that can make exporting difficult. 2. Reliability, cost and simplicty is a word better than a heatpump. 3. Our export tariff is miserable. 4. Average array size is constantly rising and export in Australia is regarded as waste. 5. A diverter turns the water heater into a thermal battery. 6. I can use a diverter to help stabilise the local grid by creating a more gentle export and not drive the grid volts through the roof.