The Pros And Cons Of Gas Boosted Solar Hot Water Systems

As solar hot water has been an attractive alternative to traditional gas and electric water heaters for decades, you’d think it couldn’t get any better. Well, it can!

By boosting your solar hot water system with a continuous flow gas hot water system (gas booster), hot water will always be readily available, come rain, shine, or night time, as it acts as a supplemental water heater booster to ensure you get the most out of your solar hot water system.

However, before looking into replacing your existing gas or electric water heater, or upgrading your current solar hot water system, do yourself a favour and get to know the benefits of gas boosters. You won’t regret it!

To help you make your decision, we’ve compiled the most notable pros and cons of gas boosted solar hot water systems.

The Pros of Gas Boosted Solar Hot Water System

Significant savings of solar

As solar hot water systems use the sun’s natural rays as a source of free energy, installing one could significantly slash your monthly energy bills. In fact, modern solar hot water systems can pay for themselves within six to ten years! Even less in some cases.

Better together, whatever the weather

Whether you’ve used up your sun-heated water or there was no sun to begin with, with a gas booster you’ll always have hot water on tap. Once your gas booster detects a drop in water temperature, it’ll automatically ignite to provide instantaneous and continuous flow heating.

Therefore, no more remembering to turn on the electric booster and waiting hours for a “cold” solar water heater to heat up enough water for a hot shower, or number of hot showers. A continuous flow gas booster can be turned on at the “flick of a switch” at any time and hot water is immediately available.

Environmentally friendly

Going solar helps you protect our planet, as it can offer 70-80% of your hot water needs from free renewable, clean energy. On the other hand, conventional hot water systems have to generate all their heat by combusting fossil fuels (gas or electric). This produces harmful greenhouse emissions, pollutes the air, and contributes to climate change!

The best part?

Gas boosters are easily retrofitted to existing solar storage hot water tanks to increase their effectiveness and convenience. And in the long run, your gas boosted solar hot water system will also pay for itself.

The Cons of Gas Boosted Solar Hot Water System

Initial Upfront Installation Costs

The costs involved in adding a gas booster or installing a complete gas boosted solar hot water system can make most homeowners think twice about outlaying the cost of getting the system installed.

Efficiency Rating

Nowadays the STC energy rating of most gas boosted solar water heaters is the same as for electric boosted solars, and even less for some brands. Therefore, they are tested and deemed by the Clean Energy Regulator (CER) to be no cheaper to run than an electric boosted solar water heater. Why? Because solar gas boosters have to be set to heat the water coming from a solar HW tank to 70C and use considerably more gas, than when used as a dedicated and separate stand-alone continuous flow gas HWS, which can be set as low as 42C (the temperature at which most adults shower).

Fossil Fuel Combustion

Unfortunately, a gas booster involves fossil fuel combustion and may not be the best choice for die-hard environmentalists. But, all is not lost! Natural gas is one of the cleanest fossil fuels available, producing 50-60% less greenhouse gas emissions than the rest.

Decision Time

Now that you’ve seen the evidence, you can make an informed decision for yourself!

Whether you choose an electric, gas, heat pump, electrically boosted solar, or gas boosted solar hot water system, our team at Kalamunda Plumbing has the expertise you need. We offer all manner of hot water system services, while specialising in the sale, service, and installation of solar hot water systems for over 30 years!

Visit our website for more information or call us on (08) 9291 6000 – we’re happy to help.

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Excellent4.9 Based on 542 reviews from review us onKevin Chennell ★★★★★ Kalamunda Plumbing (Adam) quickly replaced our leaking gas water heater with a modern heat pump and even sorted out a temporary water heater for us so we always had hot water. Quick, courteous service and professional advice. Highly recommended.Peter Allen ★★★★★ Efficient professional service. On time and prompt availability.Xanthus Bornman ★★★★★ Expert help, efficient, quick, and friendly - thanks Adam and AlexLinda Harris ★★★★★ Always prompt and efficient serviceS A ★★★★★ Tidy work by Trent. He deserves a pay rise. Great communicator and solid job each time.KP were onto it from the first call and ensured i was updated throughout.Adrian Scott ★★★★★ Great service Jamie did a great job definitely recommend 👌👌Linda Duffield ★★★★★ Very impressed with service given by Adam & his apprentice. Kept me informed of issues & took great care of mg new flooring.Thank you.William Yates ★★★★★ Dave on time, straight into it and rapid fix along with helpful advice and a very personable manner , finally providing a complete clean up of the area. Highly recommended professional service.Joshua Sherlock ★★★★★ Great people with great service. Highly recommended.Rob Bennett ★★★★★ Great service and communication top work, efficient and friendly to deal withTyrone Arps ★★★★★ The team at Kalamunda Plumbing were friendly and efficient. They exceeded our expectations in every stage of their service and we would recommend them to anyone. Well done!Michael Harris ★★★★★ Very friendly and professional service. The breakdown job was prioritised and completed in 2 days.michael liddle ★★★★★ The guys turned up on time, gave a time period for the job and completed all work nearly taking away any rubbish after.Very happy with the new hot water systemSarah Andros ★★★★★ Kalamunda Plumbing were so easy to deal with - from my initial enquiry to the day of the job. I even received a phone call letting me know the tradesperson was on his way! The work was completed quickly and efficiently - there was no call out fee and the cost was reasonable. I’ll be using them again! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ROLLERRAMA Kalamundagolden minty ★★★★★ Barry, Cam, Alex and Elliot did a fantastic job finding and fixing a leak I had under my driveway. They were very professional and took the time to explain to me all aspects of the job and provided me with upfront quotes before the work started. As a single mum it was reassuring to deal with such a trustworthy and respectful company and I couldn’t recommend them highly enough.Darren Bennetts ★★★★★ Fast Efficient polite and reasonably priced!Absolutely recommend Kalamunda PlumbingThey have set the bar very high for customer service. Love living in the hills and love Kalamunda Plumbing.Response from the ownerThank you for your positive feedback, Darren. And yes, living in the hills is the best! Laura Sherman ★★★★★ Within an hour of ringing Kalamunda Plumbing to report that our Solahart Hot Water system not producing hot water we had a technician on our property .he got us immediate hot water and diagnosed the faulty issues which were later repaired .More than happy with the service .Johnathon Casserly ★★★★★ Tradie was prompt, knowledgeable and ready to answer any questions we asked. A very happy customer with hot water within hours. Happy to refer to friends and family.Response from the ownerThank you for your feedback, John. We're glad that Clayton was able to get your Beasley SHWS heating as it should be again. Morgan Venables ★★★★★ Excellent service from calling them to finishing the job. Excellent communication,straight forward and honest. The tradesmen were excellent,friendly and did a clean,professional installation ,leaving the site clean and tidy.Highly recommend.Response from the ownerThank you for your feedback, Morgan. We're glad to hear that our team was able to get you back into hot water with no fuss. jeff stone ★★★★★ Adam and the staff did a great job sorting our problem, will definitely use this company againResponse from the ownerThank you Jeff, Were happy to help repair your leak. John Sneddon ★★★★★ Job WELL doneResponse from the ownerThank you John, Were happy to help! Linda Bailey ★★★★★ The guys were friendly, did a good job with no mess left. Thanks guysResponse from the ownerThank you Linda for your positive feedback Alan Puckey ★★★★★ All the installers were friendly and professional. Clayton who provided the original quote was also professional, informative in his approach.The only time i didn’t like him was when he visited and asked for the balance owing 😂😂. Joking!Vicki on reception was also a delight to deal with and managed to handle my terrible sense of humour.Just waiting for a quote for the evaporative systemResponse from the ownerThank you, Alan. We are pleased to hear that you had a positive experience with the team. It seems that Clayton and Vicki made a strong impression with their professionalism, informative approach, and contributions to a pleasant interaction. We hope that your upcoming experience is equally smooth and enjoyable. js_loader

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