The Solaplug is designed to enable solar hot water heating to be installed into an existing hot water cylinder & plumbing system, with minimal disruption, interference & cost.

Solaplug is intended to reduce the cost a solar installation  & to optimize the financial savings & to maximize
CO2 emission reduction per £ spent.

It is designed to give many years of trouble free solar hot water.

Solaplug is not intended to be used in a new dwelling or when a new hot water cylinder is going to be installed in an old dwelling.

For an installation using the Solaplug & retaining the existing cylinder, the sizing & design must start with the cylinder.

The collector aperture area can be up to 1square meter per 50 litres of cylinder/tank capacity.

Note: For flat plate collectors, aperture area, absorber area & gross area are usually very similar. For vacuum tube collectors, it pays to check the technical specifications of the proposed collector.

(Allowances can be made for collectors oriented significantly from due south.)

The heat exchanger area in the primary circuit must be at least 0.2 square meters per square meter of solar collector net absorber area.

(Domestic Heating Compliance Guide, Table 31. http://www.tehva.org.uk/downloads/PartL_Compliance_Guide.pdf)

The Solaplug heat exchanger is 0.6 square meters.

The existing hot water cylinder must be well insulated:
It must comply with BS1566-1:2000.

(In practice this means that the insulation must be at least 40mm thick, for cylinders with thinner insulation, this can be remedied easily & cheaply with an additional jacket.)

Pipe insulation:
All pipes of a solar primary circuit must be insulated throughout the length of the circuit.

All pipes from the hot water cylinder should be insulated for at least 1m from their points of connection to the cylinder. Or they could be insulated up to the point where they become concealed.

The auxiliary hot water heating must be programmed to come on at the end of the day, once the sun has had a chance to heat the water. Auxilliary heating must also be thermostatically controlled.

(Domestic Heating Compliance Guide, Table 31.)

For optimum efficiency of the solar circuit, the solar heat exchanger should be placed as low as possible in the cylinder/tank, where the water is coldest. Auxilliary heating must be thermostatically controlled & be timed to come on at the end of the day.

The Domestic Heating Compliance guide recommends:

The solar preheat volume , Vs, should be at least 25 litres per net square meter of solar collector absorber area.

Or. Vs should be a volume equivalent to at least 80% of the daily hot water demand, Vd.

Example

Cylinder 1050mm X 400mm            120litres.

Maximum Collector Aperture Area 2.4sqm

2 people using 33litres of warm water per day each. Total Vd = 66litres.

Solar Preheat volume Vs = 80% of Vd = 53 litres.

Cylinder volume must be at least Vd + Vs = 119litres.

The installer must be Microgeneration Scheme Approved.

The system must be installed in compliance with Domestic Heating Compliance Guide (DHCG).

Solaplug is a new product, and approval has not yet been confirmed, however we believe that if the installation satisfies the 4 points below, the installation will be eligible for grants.

Solaplug heat exchanger is 0.6sqm. Can take collector up to 3sqm aperture area.

Solar preheat volume & tank size. Many houses have fewer full-time occupants than the living space permits, so hot water consumption is low & can be met by a modest size collector matched to the existing cylinder

Control: Auxilliary heating must be programmed to come on at the end of the day only, giving dedicated solar preheat volume at the required time.

Existing cylinder/tank must be well insulated. This can be achieved easily by fitting a jacket, if necessary.

Solaplug Connections

The Solaplug has ½” parallel male thread connections. These are intended to be used with DN12 flexible insulated stainless steel hose connections.

Solid copper could be connected by screwing onto the same ½” nipples.

Solaplug Electric Immersion Heater.

The immersion heater has an incoloy element, suitable for hard water. The power is 2KW. The immersion heater has a thermostat & high temperature cut out, & is ROHS compliant, satisfying all UK regulations.

Vented Cylinder Dimensions & Volumes

1600 x 300mm                           97 litres
900 x 350mm                             73 litres
900 x 400mm                             97 litres
1050 x 400mm                         120 litres
1200 x 400mm                         135 litres
1500 x 400mm                         172 litres
675 x 450mm                             85 litres
750 x 450mm                             96 litres
825 x 450mm                             108 litres
900 x 450mm                           117 litres
1050 x 450mm                         144 litres
1200 x 450mm                         168 litres
1500 x 450mm                         216 litres
1200 x 500mm                           195 litres
1500 x 500mm                           250 litres