What to look for in a solar thermal installer
Here is our guide to selecting an installer for your solar thermal project: there are a number of companies in the renewable heat market but not all of them provide the same quality of service and workmanship.
Obviously we would like you to choose Spirit Solar to install your system. Even if you don't choose us, please have a look at the following things that you should consider before choosing an installer for your system.
There are two important things to consider when looking to install solar thermal technology:
- Your installer should be MCS certified. Unless you use an MCS certified installer your system will not be eligible to claim the Renewable Heat Premium, nor any potential tariff payments under the Renewable Heat Incentive.
- The solar thermal system will only work efficiently when sized exactly to your house and your water usage requirements. The system will be able to provide a higher proportion of your daily demand when it has been designed to your exact specifications.
Once you have checked the installer is fully certified, here are the other issues to consider:
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- Will your system be designed and sized to your requirements?
- Will the installation company use in-house staff or sub-contractors?
- Are the flat plates and evacuated tubes on offer from established and well-reputed manufacturers?
- Does the company thoroughly explain the difference between flat plates and evacuated tubes and help you to decide which option would be best for you?
- Does the company recommend and install any necessary accessories?
- As well as being MCS certified, are the installers knowledgeable on the technology and accredited with the manufacturers of the products on offer?
- Can they provide you with testimonials? Or put you in contact with previous satisfied customers?
- Your roof may need some strengthening before thermal collectors can be put on the roof. Does your quote include a structural report?
- Is shading an issue and what shading analysis does the installer carry out?
Will your system be designed and sized to your requirements?
It is essential the system is accurately sized to your property. Solar thermal technology is most cost-effective when it has been designed to meet specified hot water requirements. To determine which type and size of thermal unit would be best for you, an installer will need to know several things. These include the orientation and pitch of your roof, any risk of shading and an understanding of your daily hot water requirements. These factors enable an installer to approximate how much sun your unit will be exposed to, and subsequently, how much energy the unit can be expected to produce.
If an installer has attempted to offer you a final quote or a provisional contract, without conducting a site visit and/or taking detailed information about the building and your hot water requirements, it is doubtful whether they have considered all of the factors which affect the sizing of the system.
The solar thermal department at Spirit Solar take great care over sizing and designing the layout of a solar thermal system and have specialist software to estimate unit productivity. Our chief installer initially became involved in solar thermal technology more than 8 years ago and has been working in renewable energy installations ever since.
Will the installation company use in-house staff or sub-contractors?
Some renewable energy companies may specialise in one technology and use external contractors for other aspects of the business.
We have a dedicated office team who co-ordinate all of the solar thermal projects and ensure that our trained in-house contractors are fully briefed on each individual project. Spirit Solar does not use subcontractors (except to install any necessary scaffolding).
We keep things in-house because we know it's the only way to maintain quality. From the customer's point of view, it means that we take full responsibility for all aspects of the installation. If you have any problems we deal with them; if you have any questions, we answer them. When the sale and installation of a system are completed by two separate parties, neither is likely to want to take responsibility for any mishaps.
Are the flat plates and evacuated tubes from established and well-reputed manufacturers?
It is very important that you feel fully assured about the products which will be installed at your property. You should feel confident that you can rely on them to work productively and consistently every day.
There are a range of different products on the market and we recommend that you research any manufacturers that are not well-established, household names.
We have great confidence that our selected products provide reliability, high-performance and an excellent customer service; all at reasonable cost.
Click here to visit our products and accessories page to read more about the manufacturers that we are happy to recommend and install.
Does the company thoroughly explain the difference between flat plates and evacuated tubes and help you to decide which option would be best for you?
There are a number of things to consider when choosing between the two main solar thermal technologies. You should ask the installer to explain the difference between flat plate units and evacuated tubes so that you can work out which option would be best for you.
Flat plates will cost less on average, but tend to take up a larger surface area to produce the same amount of energy. At very cold temperatures, they will not maintain efficiency levels as well as evacuated tubes. They have the benefit that they are more easily disguisable and will raise fewer objections with planning officers.
Evacuated tubes cost slightly more, but thanks to the internal vacuum they suffer only minimal heat loss, making them very efficient. They are also significantly lighter than the flat plate alternatives and can be placed in a wider range of locations.
At Spirit Solar, our solar thermal department will look at your property and available budget and explain which option would suit you the most. If you have any questions about how each technology works or what the different costs might be, give us a call or request a free no-obligation quote by clicking here.
Does the company recommend and install any necessary accessories?
In most cases, it will be necessary to combine your solar thermal collectors with a new hot water cylinder in order to make the most of the thermal energy produced. When looking for an installer, make sure that you also look into which add-on products they provide. If you install a thermal collector and then find out that you should have also replaced your existing cylinder, you may need further building or plumbing work. Disruption will be minimised and savings can often be made when installing the solar thermal technology as part of an overall hot water package.
We have selected a range of products which complement our chosen collectors perfectly. Not every customer will need to replace their existing cylinders and nor will every customer want the same hot water storage unit. If you need to replace any component, we will remove and dispose the original unit as part of our installation.
If you request a no-obligation quote from us, we can suggest what additional items you may need and what options we could offer you. Click here to visit our product and accessory page which provides more information on our product packages.
As well as being MCS certified, are the installers knowledgeable on the technology and accredited with the manufacturers of the products on offer?
As we have mentioned, it is of the utmost importance that your installer is MCS accredited. This acts as a guarantee to consumers that installation standards are met and is also an essential eligibility criterion for claiming government grants or qualifying for tariff payments.
We are also fully accredited by the relevant manufacturers to install our selected products. Always check with a potential installer that they are trained to install the products they offer, if not it can sometimes void the manufacturer warranties.
Our installers will ensure that upon completing the installation that they talk you through all of the different components and explain how to control the system so that you can run the system in the most cost-effective manner possible.
Can they provide you with testimonials? Or put you in contact with previous satisfied customers?
Installing solar thermal collectors is like any other building work - it can be done properly using quality components or it can be done in a shoddy manner using cheap components.
The best way to determine the standard of a company is to speak to previous customers. They will soon give you an idea of what you can expect from the company you choose to install for you.
Spirit Solar will always find two or three customers for you to ring and / or visit to discuss the work that we have done for them. You can also see our testimonials on our website. We have testimonial after testimonial from satisfied customers over a range of technologies. You can speak to our customers to prove we didn't make them up!
Your roof may need some strengthening before thermal collectors can be put on the roof. Does your quote include a structural report?
Our prices include provision of this structural report from a qualified structural engineer (and member of the Institute of Structural Engineers).
The report looks at whether the roof is strong enough to take the additional load introduced by the collectors. There are in fact two loads - one being the down weight of the collectors and the other being an upward force on the roof resulting from the potential for the wind to get under the collectors and lift them and / or the roof off the house. Some roofs need strengthening against this uplift.
We do not provide a "generic" report to cover lots of roofs; we provide a specific report, to cover your roof. We have found there are too many combinations of rafter size, spacing, truss manufacturer, roof covering and wind zone to produce "generic" calculations.
Is shading an issue and what shading analysis does the installer carry out?
Shading is the enemy of solar systems and can have a significant effect on energy yield. It is very important that the system is designed to optimise return on investment and minimise losses. In considering the impact of shade on a solar system, three questions are relevant:
- Is there shading and if so at what time of year will it occur, which parts of the array will it shade and for how long each day?
- What impact will shading have on system performance?
A good installer will position the collectors to minimise shade and will probably use software to simulate the loss in output resulting from shade.