Homeowner FAQ
ENERWORKS FAQ
1) Could you describe how the enerworks system works and why you’d want one?
The enerworks solar hot water heating appliance is a system that’s been designed by a company called Enerworks, which is located near London, Ontario. It is Canadian designed and built to work here in our climate. How it works is we install a couple solar collectors on the roof of your building, your home generally. There is a heat transfer fluid that runs in a closed loop system, so the water you are using inside your house doesn’t actually go up through the panels, there’s a seperate fluid that does that. At the hot water tank there’s a heat exchanger that transfers the energy from the solar collectors into your water and it heats your water. We put in a pre-heat water tank before your existing hot water tank or heating appliance. You might have a tankless water heating system and that’s fine, this works with that. We add another tank before that so when the water comes out of the ground, it goes first through this pre-heat tank that is heated by the solar, and from there it goes to your heating appliance and out to your house. This allows you to take advantage of any solar energy that will benefit you and still ensure that your water is heated up to your desired temperature by your existing appliance. In this manner, you will gain the highest return on the money that you spend.
2) Is the system safe?
Absolutely, it’s very safe. The whole system is CSA approved as a system, so that’s important. There’s a lot of rigourous testing that goes into getting that approval. There are fail safe measures everywhere. There are over heating protections built into the panels so once they get to a certain temperature there is a way that they can cool off. At the tank itself, once the water in the tank gets up to a certain temperature it shuts off so that it doesn’t boil over. The fluid that we use is propoline glycol and it’s actually a food grade anti-freeze, you eat it in a lot of different foods. Even if somehow there was a leak somewhere and you got the stuff on you or it got into your water system or something, it wouldn’t hurt you. There’s nothing in the system that is going to cause harm to you or the environment, which is obviously important to what we’re doing.
3) Will the water get as hot as with an electric water tank?
It can, it will just depend on how much sunlight there is outside, both the intensity of it and the length of time it’s out and the amount of water you are using. All those factors come into play. But the tank will heat up and will shut off at 180 degrees F, and that’s usually even hotter than you would run your tank on it’s own. So again that protection’s built in. Certainly it has the capacity to get there in a couple hours on a sunny day.
4) What percentage of my hot water will I use from this system?
We generally suggest that the enerworks system will provide about 60% of your hot water over the course of a year. In the summertime it can get upwards of 90% or 95%. In the winter it’s going to provide less hot water. That’s not because of the ambient temperature outside, it’s strictly because in Canada we only have a few hours of winter sunlight in a day. In the summer we have considerably more sunlight hours. This affects the amount of energy getting into the tank. That’s why it runs in conjunction with your existing water heating system, it doesn’t replace it, it runs in addition to it. It runs such that you will always get as much benefit as possible from the sun that’s out there. And if you’re not getting the water as hot as it needs to be, your water heating will top that up so the water will always be the right temperature coming out the other side.
5) What, if any, are the systems limitations?
I don’t usually recommend the enerworks system for a large heating application for a building. They’re very well designed for domestic heating, like what you use in your shower and dishwasher, that kind of thing. That’s really what I try to restrict my installations to. It works very well for that application, but it’s not the ideal product for some larger applications.
6) Will it freeze in the winter if it’s not pumping constantly?
No it won’t. The propylene glycol that’s in this system will prevent freezing so there would be no damage to the system in the winter.
7) Is there any maintenance involved?
None by the homeowner. Once we come and install the system it just runs. You won’t even know it’s there except that your heating bills will be less. But the system itself just runs. There’s a pump that runs anytime there’s a benefit to you. So any time the water at the solar panels is about 10 degrees warmer than the water that’s in the tank the pump will cycle. There is a sensor up there and a sensor at the tank, and it will determine what the temperatures are. As soon as there’s a differential it’ll start the pump and start to circulate. It will do that any time there’s a benefit to you. It is recommended that you get the fluid changed about every 3 years of use. This is done by your local dealer.
8) Is this an easy system to use?
It’s very easy. Once we come and install it, set it up, and leave there is really nothing else left for you to do. You just carry on about your day as you normally would.
9) How much does it cost to install?
It depends on the size of household that you have and how much water you want to heat. Typically for a one or two person household we go with a one panel system, where we just have one panel up on the roof. A three or four person household would have two panels up on the roof. We can go up to four panels depending on how much water you require. If you’re a heavy hot water user or have some odd needs, maybe you run a jacuzzi fairly often for whatever reason, we might add another panel. If you wanted to tie it in to supplement some of your space heating or pool heating in the summer time then we would take that into consideration. Generally speaking the average system installs for a little under $8000 for a two panel system, that would run a three or four person household. There are some really good government grants right now if you’re in Ontario. The government will cover at least $2500 of that cost, so the grant that’s available is very significant. And we have information on that so you could contact us if you want more information.
10) How much cheaper is it than electric and how long would it take to pay it off just by using the savings?
There is a software program from enerworks that suppliers can use to calculate your savings by putting in your current heating expense, how much water you are using, and what the temperature is coming out of the ground. People who have electric heating right now could pay back the cost of the enerworks appliance in about twelve years. The more hot water you use the faster that cost recovery will be because the system will be working more often. All of that is at full price. Once you consider the grant that’s available, you could be down to about six or eight years for recovering the cost of putting this into your home. After the cost of heating your home, heating your water is the largest consumer of energy in your home.
11) How do I get one?
When you are ready to get a system installed, simply contact us. We will go over any questions you have on the phone and then send out our installer to verify any installation details and pick up the deposit. We require 50% of the money up front and the rest is due upon installation.
sales@activeenergysolutions.ca
724-9571
