How does HotPV™ work?

The following description shows how the EasyWarm HotPV™ system works, based on an example of a household with a 200L domestic hot water tank with a 2 kW heating element and a nominal 2 kW PV array on the roof:

Two people each have a shower before work starting at 6:30am for 10 minutes; using 5 litres per minute of hot water, which means 50 litres per person used. This uses 100 litres of hot water, or half the tank's capacity

Recovery energy required = 5.25 kWh (100 litres raised from 15 to 60 degrees C)

If it is connected to the grid, the 2 kW element will take 2hr 37min (6:30am to 9:07am) to recover

This is shown by the red outline in the picture below: in a normal cylinder, the 2kW element starts heating once you start using water, because the cylinder thermostat turns the power on once the cylinder gets cooler

The EasyWarm HotPV™ system stops the cylinder element kicking in - instead, with this solar PV hot water system the element waits for the start of the solar day, when there is sunlight available to heat the water: the blue curved line below shows the PV (photovoltaic) generation curve from a nominal 2 kW solar array

This is accomplished with our unique VOV™ or "variable output voltage" inverter

Our VOV™ inverter sends the element whatever power is produced by the solar panels once they start generating - 50 Watts or 1000 Watts or 2000 Watts - whatever the amount, the power is directed to the element and starts to heat the water until the water is hot

The EasyWarm VOV™ inverter is not connected to the grid, and is supplied with the HotPV™ system exclusively from EasyWarm

In the picture above, the blue curve shows the cylinder being re-heated gradually by this unique solar PV hot water system until the preset thermostat temperature is reached - around lunchtime in this example - the heating is achieved by the PV panels, not from grid power. If more hot water is used during the day, Hot PV™ will continue to reheat the cylinder while there is sunlight available

Looking at the red column in the picture above, without the EasyWarm HotPV™ system, 95% of the energy would come from the grid (at utility pricing), while only a small fraction will be supplied by a normal grid-connected PV array - this is shown by the small triangular area under the blue curve starting at around 8am and going to just after 9am

With the HotPV™ 2kW PV rooftop generation system in this example, 100% of the energy used to reheat the water that you used in the morning would come from your own PV system (if the sun is shining)

The EasyWarm HotPV™ system is normally supplied with our HotPV™ controller which ensures that on days where there is not enough sunlight to heat your water, your cylinder is able to be electrically boosted from the grid, which means that you will have reliable hot water even on cloudy or wet days

 That's HotPV™ - Solar Hot Water made Easy!

 EasyWarm HotPV™ - contact us today..