Solar panels on side of house to heat water

paultheheating · 2025-11-10T09:42:59Z

One side of our house gets lots of sun and was thinking of having solar panels on the sde wall mounted vertically, then sending generated energy straight to our hot water tank via an imersion heater. The concept is to raise the water temperature as much as panels can and then use normal gas boiler to to the rest. Is anyone out there doing something similar? And if so what equipment would I need?

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Solar Photovoltaic (PV)

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Batpred

(@batpred)

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Joined: 12 months ago

Posts: 349

04/12/2025 12:03 pm

Posted by: @paultheheating

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Thank ou all for comments, just to refocus I am not looking to install anything complicated that needs certification, maintenance, am not fixed to 4-6 panels could put in one or two panels if that is enough to bring cold water up to 20-30.C In reflection I should have said

does anyone have a dc immersion running off vertical panels to reduce gas consumption, is there a switch that can turn off panels if they produce too much heat energy.

Just a quick note, as this system would not even connect to anything outside your home and makes no use of grants, I cannot see any need for notification let alone certification..

PV panels that are not supplying anything just sit there, so when the tank is warm enough, the heating element just needs to switch off. I imagine all hot water tanks have a thermostat for this.

16kWh Seplos Fogstar battery; 8kW Solis S6-EH1P8K-L-PLUS hybrid inverter; Ohme Home Pro EV charger; 100Amp head, HA lab on mini PC

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Transparent

(@transparent)

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04/12/2025 12:39 pm

Posted by: @paultheheating

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just to refocus I am not looking to install anything complicated that needs certification

My solar panels (both PV and thermal) have not required paying for professional installation.

What I'm telling you here has been achieved on a DIY basis, and I can provide you with suppliers' details.

@batpred is right.

- You only require permission from the DNO if you require a grid connection which can export power

- You only need MCS-accredited installers if you want to sell your electricity and obtain income via the SEG (Smart Export Guarantee)

- You only need a qualified electrician if you're installing mains wiring and devices within the fabric of the house (above 75v AC)

For everything else, you only need to obey the Safety at Work regulations for 'working at height' (yes, that applies to home-owners too)
and make sure you're not invalidating the terms of your home insurance.

Just think about this on the basis of 'common sense'.
You don't employ an electrician to run a 4-way mains distribution lead for example, but you might want some advice about the capacity-rating of that cable in amps.

That's where this forum can help

This post was modified 3 weeks ago 5 times by Transparent

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