Apricus Solar Water Heating

Apricus Solar Water Heaters let you make use of the free energy of the sun to supplement your hot water needs and save money on your hot water heating bill either gas or electric.

When buying an Apricus solar water heating system from Justa Plumber Ltd, you can be confident that you have selected a high quality system from an established, trustworthy, and certified supplier.

Apricus water heaters meet, and often exceed, all New Zealand building regulations and are manufactured to AS/NZS2712 standard, making them the perfect choice for both household  and commercial installations.

solar water evacuated tubes

Installing an Apricus Solar Hot Water System is not only a  simple and cost effective way of reducing your energy consumption for water heating, but it also increases the capital value of your house.

Apricus is a superior performance system. Its excellent evacuated tube solar collectors are grouped in arrays which can be configured in various numbers to ideally suit the needs of each installation.

You will not regret installing a solar hot water system once you have experienced the regular supply of hot water and the associated cost savings.

solar water heating system

Apricus Solar Hot Water systems are suitable for both new and existing homes.

When building a new home, installing an Apricus system will add very little to the overall cost of the project, but will add considerable value to the property, and to your lifestyle as well. By including solar water heating into the initial design of your new home you can optimize the location of the solar collector and therefore the performance as well as the cost effectiveness of the installed system. Apricus Solar systems can be used to simply heat the household hot water demands of a family, or be fully integrated to also support underfloor space heating.

Retrofitting an Apricus System to an existing home is very easy as the whole system is designed to be ‘plug and play’. What this means is that the system can usually be just ‘plugged’ into your existing hot water system without difficulty. Once you decide to get into the cost saving benefits of using a solar hot water system, you might decide to also upgrade your hot water cylinder to a better insulated type, or perhaps a larger cylinder for a increased supply capacity, or just take the opportunity to change your supply over to a  mains pressure model.

Whatever your situation, Justa Plumber Ltd will be able to guide you towards the optimal solutions to suit your home and lifestyle.

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On Demand Hot Water

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Is a Tankless Hot Water Heater Right For You?

Your Whangarei plumber knows that tankless instant water heaters do offer an energy saving advantage. You might be surprised to know this is not new technology as this type of system has been used for decades in Europe as well as on board planes, ships and trains. Instead of heating a 100 litre or more supply of water and then maintaining the temperature regardless of the amount water actually being consumed, tankless systems only heat what is really necessary. They are sometimes referred to as instant because they use very high heat, they are capable of heating water for three showers simultaneously. A continuous water flow when hot water is required, they do not even need a pilot when not actually in use. This saves a significant amount of energy and therefore money over the course of a year.

hot water, plumber, whangarei

Tankless hot water technology is available for both gas and electric installations. There are some obstacles to simple installation in both types. When purchased by a householder at a home improvement store, the electric and gas usage requirements are sometimes not calculated correctly. Without the right amount of energy supplying the system, they are going to be inefficient and may not give you the system performance you expected to have.

Let your Whangarei plumber take a look at your individual situation to see what works best for your home or place of business. Craftsman plumbers are properly trained to enable them to make accurate calculations for any specific installation, so they can offer you options that will work properly for you on your existing gas line or electricity supply service.

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Solar Water Heating

Most homes in Northland are well placed to utilise the sun’s free energy by means of solar water heating.solar water heating

Solar water heating uses the sun’s abundant energy to heat water, which is stored in an insulated hot water tank much the same as a conventional electric system.  On a cloudy day, the system may need some extra heating, usually provided by gas or electricity.

What’s good about solar water heating systems

  • Properly designed and installed systems will meet most or all of your hot water needs using the sun’s free energy. Use this solar calculator to estimate how long it will take for a solar water heater to pay for itself.
  • Solar systems produces lower greenhouse gas emissions than straight electric water heating.
  • Solar systems work all year round with an electric or gas booster for times when the sun can’t heat enough water to meet all your needs, so you’ll always have ample hot water.
  • The ENERGY STAR® mark tells you which systems will save the most energy
  • ENERGYWISETM funding of $500 or $1000 may be available in some cases to install a solar water heating system in your home.

What to be aware of

  • The upfront capital cost can sometimes be relatively high.
  • Not all properties are suitable for solar water heating systems – discuss with your supplier to find out.
  • If you intend to use an electric back-up, your electricity retailer may offer a cheaper night rate tariff to reduce costs. If so, get your cylinder sized so you can best use the lower tariff.

Your Whangarei plumber is qualified and ready to advise on all solar water heating matters.  Call them today.

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A Little About Tap History

The earliest screw down tap device was patented and produced by the Guest and Chrimes, brass founders of Rotherham, Sth Yorkshire in 1845. Most older taps use a neoprene or soft rubber washer that is screwed down onto a valve seat to stop the water flow. This is known as a globe valve in engineering and while it gives a fairly reliable seal and good adjustment of water flow, both the washer and the valve seat are subject to wear over time, so that eventually no tight seal is no longer formed, resulting in a dripping tap. The washer can be replaced and the valve seat resurfaced, but globe valves are never maintenance free.

Additionally, the tight S shaped route the water is forced to follow gives a significant obstruction, slowing the flow. For high pressure water systems this does not really matter, but for low pressure systems where flow rate can be important, such as a shower fed from a storage tank, a gate valve is typically preferred.

Your plumber understands all tap types and can offer expert advice to meet any specific need.

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Five More Plumbing Trivia Bits

11.The American terms faucet and spigot were once used respectively only in the Northern and Southern U.S.   These terms have now come to be used interchangeably, although spigot is more commonly used for outdoor fittings.

12.There are more than ten different types of common end user plumbed in fixtures.  They include at least, toilets, urinals, drinking fountains, dishwashers, sinks, bathtubs, ice makers, humidifiers, plumbed in coffee pots, showers, eye wash stations, washers, and fountains.

13.The famous Chicago Water Tower was one of the few buildings to survive the Great Chicago fire of 1871. Now a protected historical site, it is the only building from that time still standing in the district.

14.The installed fire sprinkler system was invented in 1864 by Henry Parmelee to protect his own piano factory. He patented the idea, but over the following 20 years had only successfully had the system installed at ten other  factories.

15.At 140 degrees F, it takes five seconds for water to burn skin. At 160 degrees F, it takes just half a second.  Therefore domestic hot water systems should be set to be no hotter than 125 degrees F.

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Another Five Plumbing Trivia Bits

6.By 2004, there was over 91,000 miles of water distribution piping (4? or larger pipe) in the U.S. 78% of that pipe is manufactured from PVC.

7.The most recognized video game character in the world is a plumber. Nintendo’s Mario of Super Mario Brothers, was created by Shigeru Miyamoto, and has been included in more than 200 games.

8.In Japan, some urinals are fitted with voice activated flush devices. These urinals recognise as many as 30 different languages and several terms, including “fire”.

9.During 1929, a series of sewer explosions rocked Ottawa, Canada. Contrary to first reactions, it likely was not caused by methane gas build up, but rather by workshop owners disposing of waste flamable oils down sewer drains as the then unregulated automobile industry took off.

10.Hot water heat recycling is the process of recovering waste heat from used water sources – primarily from sinks, showers, dishwashers, and clothes washing machines. Heat exchangers are able to recover up to 60% of the heat that normally goes down the drain and reuse it elsewhere.

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