I shopped for 8 months ,educated myself on SDHW systems and decided on the purchase of this system.The $$#s $3941.00 system cost w/ xtra sensors etc. $331.00 Freight Misc.=1,000.00 TOTAL= $5200.00 MINUS $1040.00= 20 % SOLAR REBATE FROM MD energy Admin then 30% from FED 4160 X 30% = -1248= bal=2912 then 1600 Har .Co tax write off in 2009 =MY FINAL COST $1312.00 SYSTEM COST after incentives 2.3 yr pay back period and I'm in the BLACK.The Self-Installation went very well (although very time consuming it saved me Thousands in contractor fees). Use A DRILL PUMP for filling, A Tip: (Upon advice from a good freind) I pressured up my system W/ AIR, 30 PSI Air press. for 2 days and monitored the pressure to leak test in a dry mode,(plumb it to your fill valve) Beleive me If it'll hold air it'll hold water. If it leaks test w/ water next Not anti-freeze ,then drain and fill ( I used $3.48 a gallon premixed RV ANTIFREEZE ( it's Propelyene GLYCOL also) from WALMART you don't need to spend 30-40 $ a gal for the FANCY Stuff . And I am VERY impressed w/ the performance of the system thus far (45 Degree tilt S facing) And it has RUN FLAWLESSLY. A month ago I Turned off my gas heater for the summer and until, Nov. I hope ??I had to buy quite a few copper fittings, valves and Pipe/insulation, Expansion tanks,T&P valves ,Tempering valve, ETC ,ETC , ETC to Customize the installation to suit my particular Layout and needs of my Domestic hot water. As will everyone due to every install being different. The Glycol loop was easy though. Do your homework and talk to your local inspectors and incentive contacts, about what they look for .Fortunately I got Homeowners Plumbing and electrical permits.(And Harford county said I did not need Permits but I insisted For all of the rebates State, Fed and Co. taxes written off for a year required inspecions) Make sure you are proficient at plumbing or else get a plumber. I did wire my 240 volt 4500 watt backup element, but have only used it to test drive it for 2 hrs on a cloudy rainy day it worked great also. Make SURE YOU PLUMB IN A MIXING VALVE ,As my 120 gal tank has gotten up to 175 degrees F on a # of days. I am very pleased w/ my system ( my home has 2 adults /1 child in main house and 1 adult in adjoing Apt. that we rent out, We have yet to run out of Solar heated Water in 2 months). I would recomend upgrading to the EAGLE 2 Controller (differnce $48.00 xtra well worth, it but they sent the crappy eagle 1 by mistake , then they fixed it /exchanged it ) as I did and get a few extra strap on Thermistors for diagnosis/initial startup and set up monitoring . I wired one to the discharge of the HEX to monitor heat transfer, and one up at the top of my tank also to tell me the Real Temp fo the water coming out of tank. But you can put them where ever you desire, The EAGLE 2 has the DIGITAL display and 4 thermistor inputs and 2 outputs one NC one NO.
Enough I going to shower W/ my solar water, now 138 degrees in tank on a mildly cloudy day ,My Wife and Son Love it
PS IT only cost 8 cents a day $2.00 a month to run it (controller and pump) ,per my KILL A WATT EZ p30 meter ($40.00 on AMAZON.com ) 'GO GREEN MAN" ,It's the RIGHT Thing to do, And you'll see more GREEN!!!
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