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Sealed system evacuated Thermomax tube type installations comprise of A 20 or 30 tube manifold fitted on a south facing roof.
A pump station and expansion vessel along with a solar compatible cylinder and a solar controller are installed in the attic and airing cupboard.
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Because the fluid tubes run inside a vacuum there is very little heat transfer.
The system works entirely on light. This means that if it is a cloudy day or it is very cold there will still be solar gain
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The Pump Station and Expansion
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We use a purpose built solar pump station because the temperatures generated can get very high.
If we use any inferior parts they can be damaged by the heat that is produced
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The expansion vessel(A) (the blue cylinder) attaches to the pump station(B), along with the safety blow off(C), filling points(D) and pressure gauge(E)
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We only use McDonald cylinders as they are tailor made for each job. We fit a larger cylinder than a standard to utilise as much of the suns energy as possible,
They come in three types. Open-vented, un-vented and thermal store.
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The open-vented cylinder is the most commonly installed. Most homes in the UK have an open-vented cylinder already fitted, so it’s just a matter of changing it.This open-vented cylinder was purpose made for this job.
This installation required a much larger than usual cylinder (54”x24”), as it had to be heated from three sources.
An Aga cooker, an open fire and the solar panel
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The un-vented cylinder is becoming more popular as it removes the necessity for stored water tanks in the loft, they also give mains pressure hot water at the taps.
This picture shows a new un-vented cylinder (A) as a pre-feed to an existing un-vented cylinder (B). This means that water is pre-heated by the solar in cylinder (A) which then feeds cylinder (B)
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Thermal store cylinders are used when mains pressure hot water is required and there is more than one heat source including an open fire or an Aga
The cylinder can be fitted with indirect coils for modern gas or oil boilers. The design of this system means that the hot water and the central heating can be heated from many heat sources.
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This is a thermal store installation that had a wood burning stove, a Parkray cooker and solar to heat it. The immersion heater can also run the whole system as a back up, we can have more immersion heaters fitted as required
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Systems Layouts |
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The Standard System is the one installed on the majority of houses. The panel is fitted on A south facing roof and connected to a new solar cylinder in the airing cupboard.
A system can be installed for combi-boilers as well to pre-feed the boiler with hot water. (Click Here for combi-boilers)
(click on the pictures for a larger view)
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The East West system is installed when there isn’t A south facing roof. A panel is installed on the east and west sides of the roof so that the suns rays can be captured at sun rise and sun set.
(click on the pictures for a larger view)
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