Solely solar hot water

I know this has probably been covered in the past but has anyone who has solar hot water system installed had difficulty over the winter solely relying on solar to produce it. I am interested in installing it but concerned that it will not be enough to cover long cold spells. I am researching solar with incorporated electrical heater as back and would be interested if it's needed.

Many thanks for you response.

Hi DJW,
I haven’t personally got solar hot water but I believe when it is fitted the tank is connected to the electric supply to compensate water temperature in the winter when the sun is not enough to produce the hot water you need
Hope this is of some help.
Regards Altos

We have solar hot water system, gives constant hot water in summer months, but winter we have to use the electric boiler for hot water

Hi solar hot water can give you hot water all year if you can use a heat despersal unit in the summer this can be quite complex but you can also backup with gas bottles making it cheaaper than elecricity.

I have solar water heating with electric backup. Over the winter the electric only comes on with a timer for only one hour in the morning and one at night. The thermostat cuts in when the water reaches temperature, so the hour at each end of the day is only if required. We have never had to put it on boost as the water has always been hot enough. It has certainly saved some electricity consumption for us.

Certainly sounds worth doing, price dependent! Any rough idea as to cost??

We have had solar water heating for a few years now and it provides all our hot water apart from in January when you get 3 or more cloudy days on the trot. This happens about once or twice per winter. The tank comes with an electric element which just plugs in to a standard electric socket so we just plug it in via a timeswitch. This reduces our overall electric load so we are able to use a reduced power supply which saves us money on our electric standing charge. Iberdrola changed this for us for free.

Thank you for your replies. I take it the tank you have electricity back up to is the one situated on the roof and not an extra tank in the property? I am looking at a system that needs no tank inside the property.

Please see also an Ariston Nuos EVO. I have half an year experians and this system is perfect. It’s a air-air Heat pump system.

That looks good but I am looking to remove my tank as it is ugly and there is no room outside to put one.