Do geyser timers save you money?
I was asked by a client if geyser timers really worked. The answer is it depends. First off I would ALWAYS advise installing geyser timers, they are not that expensive and can be bought and installed for under R1000. If you are installing multiple timers then that price decreases to as little as R600 per timer. So why do I say always install a timer?
Let’s take a worst case scenario. The geysers are depleted often and need constant refilling AND! This is a big AND. There is no solar system. This means that there is not much a timer can do to save any money on a day to day basis. So why bother? First off you get highly valuable, highly accurate power consumption data from the apps. With this you can tell exactly how much your geyser is costing you and how much a solar system will be able to save you. The next reason is that it can be operated remotely and set to switch on and off automatically. This means that when you are away you can switch your geyser off and then set it to switch on an hour before you arrive home ensuring you don’t forget and hop into a cold shower.
The next case is if you do have a solar system. If you have a solar system we now look at geysers in a very similar light that we look at Lithium batteries. The water heated from the panels during daylight hours is stored energy. That energy ‘dissipates’ at roughly 1 degree per hour. Most residential solar systems have charged their batteries up to 100% by 10 to 11am every morning. The solar panel production drops off as the load no longer pulls any energy from the inverter. This is when we set geyser timers to be on and set to as high as possible. The goal is the same goal as using batteries. Charge up during the daylight hours and deplete at night using as little grid as possible.
Part of Sundial Solars installation packages is free system optimisation which means we monitor your system, time of use as well as grid usage and make sure you are getting the most bang for your buck.
Contact us if you would like a free quote or to see how we can optimise your existing system.