{"id":3863,"date":"2014-08-06T11:34:23","date_gmt":"2014-08-06T02:04:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?p=3863"},"modified":"2024-10-02T12:23:49","modified_gmt":"2024-10-02T02:53:49","slug":"solar-hot-water-vs-solar-panels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-hot-water-vs-solar-panels\/","title":{"rendered":"Solar Hot Water vs Solar Panels. Which should you buy?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Poor old Solar Hot Water.<\/p>\n

The concept of heating water directly from the Aussie sun with a solar hot water system<\/a> like this…<\/p>\n

\"a<\/a>

The humble solar hot water heater<\/p><\/div>\n

…really seems to have gone from hero to zero over the past 3 years.<\/p>\n

Both homeowners and solar companies have been seduced by the siren call of these:<\/p>\n

\"solar<\/a>

Solar PV panels like these are now a much more common sight than solar hot water panels<\/p><\/div>\n

Solar PV panels are sold on the promise of cheap electricity, quick installation and low maintenance. And most companies that specialise in solar PV will claim that PV has a\u00a0 faster\u00a0payback compared to solar hot water.<\/p>\n

In fact, over the last 3 years the solar hot water market has shrunk by two thirds<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Why?<\/p>\n

Well, the unexpected scrapping of the $1,000 solar hot water rebate in 2012 didn’t help. But the bigger nail in the\u00a0coffin has been the reduction in cost of solar PV\u00a0systems .<\/p>\n

How so?<\/p>\n

To illustrate the shifting economics, let’s take a typical Aussie home with a standard electric water heater.<\/p>\n

To heat enough hot water to keep a 3-4 person household happy will need about 3,000kWh of electricity per year. Or about 8kWh per day. Here are the homeowners’ 2 options if they want to join the 21st century and heat their water with the sun instead of dead dinosaurs:<\/p>\n

Option 1: Use a solar hot water system to heat the water directly <\/strong><\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

A\u00a0solar hot water system will\u00a0typically cut your water-heating energy bills by\u00a070-80%.<\/p>\n

The price of a suitable solar hot water system is about $4,000 installed.<\/p>\n

[That’s for a flat-plate thermosiphon (tank on roof) style system like the one in the first pic above. I struggle to recommend that people shell out $7,000 or so for a fancy evacuated tube system with remote tank and pumps. Flat plate tank-on-roof systems really are good enough in most of Australia (with the possible exception of chilly Melbourne and Tassie) and damn reliable to boot]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Payback for this option:<\/strong><\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

The payback for this option depends on what\u00a0you are replacing with the solar hot water heater.<\/p>\n

a) Replacing\u00a0an electric heater on a regular\u00a0tariff<\/strong><\/h4>\n

If you are replacing a conventional electric hot water system, expect savings of about\u00a0$700 per year<\/strong> if your heater is on the same tariff as the rest of your appliances .\u00a0Payback will be \u00a0about 5 years (assuming 7% electricity price inflation).<\/p>\n

b)\u00a0Replacing\u00a0an electric heater on an off peak tariff<\/strong><\/strong><\/h4>\n

If you are lucky\u00a0enough to have access to off peak electricity for water heating, then this drops to about $250 per year in savings. And therefore payback stretches out to 10 years (assuming 7% electricity price inflation).<\/p>\n

c) Replacing a gas water\u00a0heater.<\/strong><\/h4>\n

A typical Aussie home with a gas water heater uses about 14,000MJ of gas per year to heat their water. This is about $420 worth of gas. Saving 80% of this is worth $336 per year. But… gas prices will\u00a0to go through the roof over the next couple of years for these reasons<\/a>. I expect residential gas prices to double. So you could well be looking at savings closer to $700 per year with if replacing a gas heater with solar hot water. This would give\u00a0a 5-6 year payback.<\/p>\n

So that’s the costs and paybacks associated with a conventional solar hot water heater. How does that compare to\u00a0a 100% PV based system? Let’s see…<\/p>\n

Option 2:<\/strong> Use solar PV\u00a0to generate the electricity to\u00a0heat the water.<\/h3>\n

To reduce your water heating energy using only solar PV, you are obviously going to need to install solar PV panels instead of a solar hot water system. Combine those PV panels with a timer that only allows water heating during the day and you can make the same savings with a 2kW solar PV system.<\/p>\n

The going rate for a good 2kW solar system is about $4,000 installed. Same as the hot water heater. So the paybacks are exactly the same as the ones I went through for Option 1 above. Interesting…<\/p>\n

But now let’s consider a house that (very sensibly) is already buying a solar PV system to cover its other\u00a0electricity needs and\u00a0instead of\u00a0buying a solar hot water system, is considering\u00a0simply getting a bigger PV system:<\/p>\n

Option 3: Increase the size of the solar system you were\u00a0going to buy anyway<\/strong><\/h3>\n

As mentioned, a\u00a0good 2kW solar system will cost around $4,000. But if you have already decided to buy solar for your home, then increasing the size of the\u00a0system by an extra\u00a02kW (to offset the water heater’s energy needs) will only cost about $2,500 extra. Almost half the cost (and almost double the payback) of buying a solar hot water system.<\/p>\n

In this case you can see that, if you are already buying a solar PV system for your home, adding 2kW to that\u00a0PV system is potentially a much cheaper way to heat your water\u00a0than buying solar PV plus solar hot water.<\/p>\n

So why does anyone buy solar hot water these days?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Good Question. I am actually still a firm believer in the humble solar hot water system. I have one on my roof next to a\u00a06kW PV system. Here’s why I bought a separate solar hot water heater (thermosiphon with instant gas boost) instead of getting\u00a0an 8kW solar system.<\/p>\n

Reason 1 – I crave a simple life.<\/strong> A good solar hot water heater is set and forget. Once it is on you can rest easy, knowing\u00a0that if there is sun shining – it will heat as much of your water as possible – and the booster will only fire up\u00a0when necessary. I like that. I don’t want to worry about timers or other fancy controllers that try and sync my PV production with my water heating. I want to live in a dumb home<\/a>\u00a0that just works and is comfortable and efficient.<\/p>\n

Reason 2 – I like elegant solutions.<\/strong> A solar hot water system is a much more elegant (and thermodynamically efficient) way to heat water than the rather convoluted process of turning sun to electricity and then turning that electricity back to heat. Hey – I’m an engineer and I appreciate the simplicity of putting the sun’s heat straight into the water. Also despite\u00a0environmental reasons for buying solar being rather\u00a0out of fashion in these days of brutal economic rationalism\u00a0– \u00a0I still give a shit about these things. The embodied energy of the solar water heater is much less than that of 8 solar panels. And it’s made in Australia. Yes – I care about Australian manufacturing too.<\/p>\n

Reason 3: Roof space is valuable.<\/strong>\u00a0My solar hot water system\u00a0takes up a quarter of the space of 8 more PV panels. North facing roof space is going to become a very valuable asset in the years to come as solar continues to reduce in price. I want to have some roof left so I can add more panels in the future to power batteries, or that Yorkshire Bitter microbrewery I dream of starting in my garage\u00a0or whatever else I might need extra solar electricity for in an uncertain future.<\/p>\n

So yes – if you want to be totally economically rational about the thing and\u00a0you are buying a solar PV system at the same time\u00a0and you have an existing electric water heater which is too good to replace. then you can certainly save a couple of thousand dollars by adding 2kW to your PV\u00a0to cover your water heater’s usage instead of a solar hot water heater. (Just be\u00a0sure your installer knows\u00a0how to set up your hot water system to draw 70-80% of its electricity from the solar panels, by installing the requisite control electronics or timers.)<\/p>\n

But if you are building a new home, or replacing your whole hot water system, a good old fashioned flat plate thermosiphon solar hot water system is definitely worth considering. Especially if you are an old fashioned, greenie engineer with romantic notions about thermodynamic efficiency and Australian manufacturing like yours truly.<\/p>\n

A footnote about a wildcard fourth option: A Heat Pump hot water heater<\/a>. If you are keen to use PV to power your hot water heater then you don’t have to use a conventional style electric hot water heater (which has all the technological sophistication of a bloody big kettle). In fact most states won’t actually let you install a conventional electric water heater any more because they are so damn inefficient. A Heat Pump electric hot water system uses a little built in air conditioner on its heating cycle to heat the water. For thermodynamic reasons that I won’t go into here, they are\u00a03-4 times more\u00a0efficient than a standard electric water heater. So why doesn’t everyone have one? \u00a0Mainly because they are expensive. Fully installed expect to pay $3-4k for a good one. And they are high maintenance and noisy. This means that in the “Solar Hot Water vs Solar Panels” debate in Australia they have really struggled to get a mention, because\u00a0\u00a0you can get a silent, low maintenance, more efficient solar hot water system for about the same money.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Note:<\/strong> July 2016, I’ve written a new article on choosing solar hot water with more up to date info\u00a0here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Poor old Solar Hot Water. The concept of heating water directly from the Aussie sun with a solar hot water system like this… …really seems to have gone from hero to zero over the past 3 years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[112,19],"class_list":["post-3863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-solar-hot-water","tag-buyers-guide","tag-cost","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSolar Hot Water vs Solar Panels. Which should you buy?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How should you heat your home's water? Solar Hot Water vs Solar Panels? Which ones will give you the hot water your family needs for the least cost?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-hot-water-vs-solar-panels\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Solar Hot Water vs Solar Panels. Which should you buy?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"How should you heat your home's water? Solar Hot Water vs Solar Panels? Which ones will give you the hot water your family needs for the least cost?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-hot-water-vs-solar-panels\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SolarQuotes Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SolarQuotes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-08-06T02:04:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-10-02T02:53:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/shw.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Finn Peacock\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@FinnPeacock\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@solar_quotes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-hot-water-vs-solar-panels\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-hot-water-vs-solar-panels\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Finn Peacock\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/495c35fb3086e6ef93220dcf2472b178\"},\"headline\":\"Solar Hot Water vs Solar Panels. Which should you buy?\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-08-06T02:04:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-10-02T02:53:49+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-hot-water-vs-solar-panels\/\"},\"wordCount\":1581,\"commentCount\":73,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-hot-water-vs-solar-panels\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/shw.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"buyers guide\",\"cost\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Solar Hot Water\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-hot-water-vs-solar-panels\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-hot-water-vs-solar-panels\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-hot-water-vs-solar-panels\/\",\"name\":\"Solar Hot Water vs Solar Panels. Which should you buy?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-hot-water-vs-solar-panels\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-hot-water-vs-solar-panels\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/shw.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-08-06T02:04:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-10-02T02:53:49+00:00\",\"description\":\"How should you heat your home's water? Solar Hot Water vs Solar Panels? Which ones will give you the hot water your family needs for the least cost?\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-hot-water-vs-solar-panels\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-hot-water-vs-solar-panels\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-hot-water-vs-solar-panels\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/shw.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/shw.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-hot-water-vs-solar-panels\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Blog\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Solar Hot Water\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-hot-water\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Solar Hot Water vs Solar Panels. Which should you buy?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"SolarQuotes Blog\",\"description\":\"An independent reckoning of the Aussie solar scene\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"SolarQuotes\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/solarquotes-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/solarquotes-logo.png\",\"width\":592,\"height\":600,\"caption\":\"SolarQuotes\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SolarQuotes\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/solar_quotes\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/solarquotes\/\",\"https:\/\/au.linkedin.com\/company\/solarquotes\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/SolarQuotesAustralia\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/495c35fb3086e6ef93220dcf2472b178\",\"name\":\"Finn Peacock\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6416cde752d8e0b695acfadb239ba7b7026ae219306ca29f9eb28780087cbcbf?s=96&d=monsterid&r=r\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6416cde752d8e0b695acfadb239ba7b7026ae219306ca29f9eb28780087cbcbf?s=96&d=monsterid&r=r\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6416cde752d8e0b695acfadb239ba7b7026ae219306ca29f9eb28780087cbcbf?s=96&d=monsterid&r=r\",\"caption\":\"Finn Peacock\"},\"description\":\"I'm a Chartered Electrical Engineer, Solar and Energy Efficiency nut, dad, and the founder of SolarQuotes.com.au. I started SolarQuotes in 2009 and the SolarQuotes blog in 2013 with the belief that it\u2019s more important to be truthful and objective than popular. My last \\\"real job\\\" was working for the CSIRO in their renewable energy division. Since 2009, I\u2019ve helped over 800,000 Aussies get quotes for solar from installers I trust. Read my full bio.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/FinnPeacock\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Solar Hot Water vs Solar Panels. Which should you buy?","description":"How should you heat your home's water? Solar Hot Water vs Solar Panels? Which ones will give you the hot water your family needs for the least cost?","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-hot-water-vs-solar-panels\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Solar Hot Water vs Solar Panels. Which should you buy?","og_description":"How should you heat your home's water? Solar Hot Water vs Solar Panels? Which ones will give you the hot water your family needs for the least cost?","og_url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-hot-water-vs-solar-panels\/","og_site_name":"SolarQuotes Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SolarQuotes\/","article_published_time":"2014-08-06T02:04:23+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-10-02T02:53:49+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/shw.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Finn Peacock","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@FinnPeacock","twitter_site":"@solar_quotes","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-hot-water-vs-solar-panels\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-hot-water-vs-solar-panels\/"},"author":{"name":"Finn Peacock","@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/495c35fb3086e6ef93220dcf2472b178"},"headline":"Solar Hot Water vs Solar Panels. Which should you buy?","datePublished":"2014-08-06T02:04:23+00:00","dateModified":"2024-10-02T02:53:49+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-hot-water-vs-solar-panels\/"},"wordCount":1581,"commentCount":73,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-hot-water-vs-solar-panels\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/shw.jpg","keywords":["buyers guide","cost"],"articleSection":["Solar Hot Water"],"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-hot-water-vs-solar-panels\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-hot-water-vs-solar-panels\/","url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-hot-water-vs-solar-panels\/","name":"Solar Hot Water vs Solar Panels. Which should you buy?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-hot-water-vs-solar-panels\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-hot-water-vs-solar-panels\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/shw.jpg","datePublished":"2014-08-06T02:04:23+00:00","dateModified":"2024-10-02T02:53:49+00:00","description":"How should you heat your home's water? Solar Hot Water vs Solar Panels? Which ones will give you the hot water your family needs for the least cost?","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-hot-water-vs-solar-panels\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-hot-water-vs-solar-panels\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-hot-water-vs-solar-panels\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/shw.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/shw.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-hot-water-vs-solar-panels\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Blog","item":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Solar Hot Water","item":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-hot-water\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Solar Hot Water vs Solar Panels. Which should you buy?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/","name":"SolarQuotes Blog","description":"An independent reckoning of the Aussie solar scene","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#organization","name":"SolarQuotes","url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/solarquotes-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/solarquotes-logo.png","width":592,"height":600,"caption":"SolarQuotes"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SolarQuotes\/","https:\/\/x.com\/solar_quotes","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/solarquotes\/","https:\/\/au.linkedin.com\/company\/solarquotes","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/SolarQuotesAustralia"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/495c35fb3086e6ef93220dcf2472b178","name":"Finn Peacock","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6416cde752d8e0b695acfadb239ba7b7026ae219306ca29f9eb28780087cbcbf?s=96&d=monsterid&r=r","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6416cde752d8e0b695acfadb239ba7b7026ae219306ca29f9eb28780087cbcbf?s=96&d=monsterid&r=r","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6416cde752d8e0b695acfadb239ba7b7026ae219306ca29f9eb28780087cbcbf?s=96&d=monsterid&r=r","caption":"Finn Peacock"},"description":"I'm a Chartered Electrical Engineer, Solar and Energy Efficiency nut, dad, and the founder of SolarQuotes.com.au. I started SolarQuotes in 2009 and the SolarQuotes blog in 2013 with the belief that it\u2019s more important to be truthful and objective than popular. My last \"real job\" was working for the CSIRO in their renewable energy division. Since 2009, I\u2019ve helped over 800,000 Aussies get quotes for solar from installers I trust. Read my full bio.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/","https:\/\/x.com\/FinnPeacock"],"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2FF2s-10j","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1959,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/what-should-you-buy-first-solar-hot-water-or-solar-pv\/","url_meta":{"origin":3863,"position":0},"title":"What Should You Buy First? Solar Hot Water or Solar PV?","author":"Finn Peacock","date":"September 21, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Solar Hot Water is fast becoming the poor cousin of Solar PV (AKA Solar Electricity). Consumers just seem to prefer solar PV to solar hot water these days. In fact solar hot water has gone from almost zero to 1,000,000 roofs in about 30 years, whereas PV has gone from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Solar Hot Water"","block_context":{"text":"Solar Hot Water","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-hot-water\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/jNyKnheMm5g\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":89937,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/end-of-solar-thermal-hot-water\/","url_meta":{"origin":3863,"position":1},"title":"Phase Shift: Why I Pulled The Plug On Solar Thermal Hot Water","author":"Finn Peacock","date":"March 1, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Two years ago, I ripped a perfectly functional solar thermal hot water system off my roof. It had been sitting there for a decade, dutifully heating about 70% of my water with the sun's heat (the rest boosted by gas). I removed it to use the precious north-facing roof space\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Solar Hot Water"","block_context":{"text":"Solar Hot Water","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-hot-water\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"A crane hoists a solar thermal panel","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/DBDA8DBF-DCC7-42F3-8064-CF147BEB8998_1_105_c.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/DBDA8DBF-DCC7-42F3-8064-CF147BEB8998_1_105_c.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/DBDA8DBF-DCC7-42F3-8064-CF147BEB8998_1_105_c.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/DBDA8DBF-DCC7-42F3-8064-CF147BEB8998_1_105_c.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":37723,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-hot-water-mb1421\/","url_meta":{"origin":3863,"position":2},"title":"The Best Way To Heat Your Water – Solar PV Or Solar Thermal?","author":"Michael Bloch","date":"February 26, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"From flat plate thermal systems to heat pumps and solar PV diverters,\u00a0 in this video Finn takes a look at your solar hot water options. Video transcript: Did you know that there are two fundamentally different ways to generate solar energy and therefore two fundamentally different types of solar panel?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Solar & Storage News"","block_context":{"text":"General Solar & Storage News","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-battery-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"solar hot water","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/solar-hot-water.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/solar-hot-water.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/solar-hot-water.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/solar-hot-water.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/solar-hot-water.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":93332,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/heat-pumps-win-the-hot-water-efficiency-war\/","url_meta":{"origin":3863,"position":3},"title":"Heat Pumps Win The Hot Water Efficiency War","author":"Max Opray","date":"August 5, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"When it comes to efficiency, hot water heat pumps have long had the definitive edge over alternative technologies anywhere south of Brisbane. Our latest analysis further upgrades this advice: heat pumps today are the most efficient way to heat your hot water, no matter what area of Australia you live.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hot Water Heat Pumps"","block_context":{"text":"Hot Water Heat Pumps","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/hot-water-heat-pumps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"A hot water heat pump","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/hot-water-heat-pump.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/hot-water-heat-pump.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/hot-water-heat-pump.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/hot-water-heat-pump.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/hot-water-heat-pump.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":14267,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/sun-flux-review-hot-water-with-dedicated-solar-pv-panels\/","url_meta":{"origin":3863,"position":4},"title":"Sun Flux Review: Hot Water With Dedicated Solar PV Panels","author":"Ronald Brakels","date":"August 25, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I recently wrote about solar hot water diverters[1. And only managed one major breach of the laws of physics in the process.] which use surplus electricity from an existing rooftop solar system to heat water. Another option for heating your water with solar electricity is to use dedicated solar panels.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Solar Hot Water"","block_context":{"text":"Solar Hot Water","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-hot-water\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sun Flux Direct PV Hot Water System","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/sun-flux-2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/sun-flux-2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/sun-flux-2.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/sun-flux-2.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":14357,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-hot-water-timer\/","url_meta":{"origin":3863,"position":5},"title":"Will A Solar Hot Water Timer Save Or Lose You Money?","author":"Ronald Brakels","date":"August 30, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Lately my life has been a lollapalloza of solar electric hot water heating.\u00a0 I've looked at more ways of heating water using solar electricity than you can poke a stick at.\u00a0 Or at least I have if your poking arm is weak and flabby and easily fatigued. Recently I went\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Solar Hot Water"","block_context":{"text":"Solar Hot Water","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-hot-water\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"hot water timer","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/hot-water-timer.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/hot-water-timer.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/hot-water-timer.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/hot-water-timer.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3863"}],"version-history":[{"count":29,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3863\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87211,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3863\/revisions\/87211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}