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  • Solar hot water heater help

    Hello,
    I recently moved into a house which had an existing thermal solar water heating system. The system has both a thermal panel and small PV panel on the roof. The controller is a Heliodyne Delta-T controller. What is strange about this system is the pump is connected directly to the controller and the controller is plugged into an AC wall outlet. There is a spare, larger diameter, grey wire coming out of the conduit which goes up to the roof, but it is wound up and taped off. I'm assuming that is what is connected to the PV panel. Am I missing something or shouldn't the controller/pump be connected to the PV? Furthermore, if this is the case, how would I go about making that happen?

    Thanks in advance for the help.

  • #2
    Originally posted by Trevor View Post
    Hello,
    I recently moved into a house which had an existing thermal solar water heating system. The system has both a thermal panel and small PV panel on the roof. The controller is a Heliodyne Delta-T controller. What is strange about this system is the pump is connected directly to the controller and the controller is plugged into an AC wall outlet. There is a spare, larger diameter, grey wire coming out of the conduit which goes up to the roof, but it is wound up and taped off. I'm assuming that is what is connected to the PV panel. Am I missing something or shouldn't the controller/pump be connected to the PV? Furthermore, if this is the case, how would I go about making that happen?

    Thanks in advance for the help.
    Sounds like it may be a PV powered pump that's disconnected. Any pumps running when the sun shines ?

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    • #3
      The pump is connected to the controller which is plugged into the AC wall outlet. Yes, the pump runs when the controller is on. I know this wasn't the original installation as the previous owner replaced the tank, controller, etc recently. Makes me wonder if they didn't hook it up correctly.

      On a sidenote, the temp sensors are probably bad because the pump runs 24/7 when the controller is in the auto position, which according to the manual shouldn't be happening. Gonna have those replaced soon.

      Is this setup ok, or should I look to have the PV panel connected in?

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      • #4
        This sounds like there was once a PV powered pump that has been removed and replaced with a 120V AC pump and control.
        Test the sensors and wiring before replacing. a loose connection can cause the same thing to happen.
        NABCEP certified Technical Sales Professional

        [URL="http://www.solarpaneltalk.com/showthread.php?5334-Solar-Off-Grid-Battery-Design"]http://www.solarpaneltalk.com/showth...Battery-Design[/URL]

        [URL]http://www.calculator.net/voltage-drop-calculator.html[/URL] (Voltage drop Calculator among others)

        [URL="http://www.gaisma.com"]www.gaisma.com[/URL]

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        • #5
          I won't be doing the replacing, it's still under warranty. Do you think there's any way to power the controller/pump with the PV? I'd need some type of inverter I imagine. Don't like the thought of a PV panel (however small) on my roof not producing electric for me...

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