Sunamp Blogger

[Nickfromwales]

This would only be practical if you envisage using all, or more than the SAPV's can store, with any real frequency. 

If you estimate you will have excess pv then maybe your a candidate for one x SAPV and 1x SA Stack ?  

Preheat is deffo a good idea as long as you'll actually need it, so maybe consider a bigger vessel and a PHE as @JSHarris has done, and maybe just one SA Stack for eg. Another consideration is do you need the extra flow rate that 2 x SAPV's will give ( 2 x 15mm outlets combined to a 22mm delivery setup ) or can you manage with only a 15mm supply? Bearing in mind that the Vaillant 938 heat store combi chucks enough water out of its 15mm connection to get you adequately showered ( with 2 showers running simultaneously ) if the cold mains will support it of course. 

[Nickfromwales]

3 hours ago, SteamyTea said:

Has that always been the case, how much does it cost and do many home owners get it done?

In all reality not many.

However, we do tend to have a more aware, and conscientious crowd here so my assumption is that if someone spent their life savings building their dream home, they'd ensure these things were serviced and maintained accordingly. 

If they choose not to, then they have themselves to blame when it goes wrong, but we will have shown due diligence in stating that not only is it a requirement, but it's also just plain good sense to keep such system/s looked after accordingly. 

G3 has always required initial commission and sign-off by a G3 qualified person, and, afaik, has always required susequent annual inspection and testing of the safety devices etc. 

A lot of cylinder replacements and failures could have been avoided by this annual check. Not to mention the damage to property from such failures. Good luck claiming on your insurances if they can prove you've been negligent.

 

[ToughButterCup]

23 hours ago, Onoff said:

Can I have the Sunamp salt recipe please? 

 

Oh Christ. No. He's going to start making one for himself. Please tell me I'm wrong. Please

[PeterW]

6 hours ago, Nickfromwales said:

G3 has always required initial commission and sign-off by a G3 qualified person, and, afaik, has always required susequent annual inspection and testing of the safety devices etc.

 

Its also a requirement of the warranty on most tanks. Telford insist on it, although they seem to sell on the details of purchasers to a company that offer to come and do it ... 

[Triassic]

Has anyone done the G3 course, how difficult was it? 

 

I see see that some cylinder suppliers are offering the course for free and £150 off your next cylinder purchase.

[PeterW]

1 hour ago, Triassic said:

Has anyone done the G3 course, how difficult was it? 

 

I see see that some cylinder suppliers are offering the course for free and £150 off your next cylinder purchase.

 

Usually have to hold a minimum of NVQ1/2 in plumbing or extensive experience of heating systems - some also need you to be HETAS/GSR registered. 

 

Not much to the course according to my mate - it's more about understanding the building regs and the rules on safety valves etc. 

[Triassic]

The reason I asked is I worked for around 18 months servicing safety valves, so wondered how difficult the course would be.

[SunampBlogger]

On 15/07/2017 at 12:19, JSHarris said:

It stores thermal energy in phase change cells, a bit like thermal batteries.  These use a compound very similar to that used in the "jelly bag" hand warmers you can buy, the ones that you charge up in boiling water to make the solid content into a liquid, and that you can then later use to release the stored heat by clicking a small actuator that initiates a phase change, from liquid to solid, so releasing the stored heat.

 

Think of a Sunamp PV as a combi boiler or instant water heater.  It doesn't store water, but will instantly heat water that flows through it when a tap is opened, just like a combi boiler, thermal store or instant water heater.  It normally runs at mains water pressure, perhaps with a PRedV if the water pressure at the main is too high.

 

No it won't work as a buffer for an UFH system, as it delivers water at typically around 55 deg C (before the supplied TMV), plus it's designed to be a domestic hot water unit, not a central heating unit.

 

If it's not sunny then you can charge a Sunamp PV up from the mains.  Our system is set so that the Sunamp PV is boosted by the mains at 4 am, for two hours, using a time switch, so that it is always charged for morning showers.  If the Sunamp PV thermal cells are already charged up from the previous days excess PV, then no power is drawn during this boost period.  If the thermal cells are discharged, or partially discharged, then they will draw power from the boost system until they are fully charged, then stop drawing power.

 

Spot on JS Harris. You have also given me some acronyms to research!

 

One other thing is that there is a central heating product aimed at bigger energy requirements. It is called the SunampStack and provides both hot water and space heating. The CEO, Andrew Bissell has one and it has been installed in larger buildings too. For example it was installed in my town hall (Gullane village hall, East Lothian Scotland) to replace the boiler system. It is also compatible with both air source heat pumps and solar panels and can be charged by both simultaneously.

 

I will leave it there as I don't want to sound to sales-ay.

[SunampBlogger]

Hey guys,

 

Just had a look at the post today. I am blown away by the number of responses I have received (in a good way ). I have replied to the first question because I knew that one off the top of my head but I will start to work through them in earnest tomorrow. 

 

Hopefully I will be able to answer all questions but obviously as a small to medium enterprise Sunamp will be careful about releasing technical information regarding research and development.  An example of this would be a question asked by @Dudda who asked if Sunamp were going to expand the feed from the SunampPV from 15mm to 22mm. 

 

As such, anything I post will need to be reviewed by the powers that be which might take me a bit longer to reply. This may also mean that I won't answer everything in order but I will endeavour to answer all questions.

 

Thanks again

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Onoff]

21 minutes ago, SunampBlogger said:

Hey guys,

 

Just had a look at the post today. I am blown away by the number of responses I have received (in a good way ). I have replied to the first question because I knew that one off the top of my head but I will start to work through them in earnest tomorrow. 

 

Hopefully I will be able to answer all questions but obviously as a small to medium enterprise Sunamp will be careful about releasing technical information regarding research and development.  An example of this would be a question asked by @Dudda who asked if Sunamp were going to expand the feed from the SunampPV from 15mm to 22mm. 

 

As such, anything I post will need to be reviewed by the powers that be which might take me a bit longer to reply. This may also mean that I won't answer everything in order but I will endeavour to answer all questions.

 

Thanks again

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm not getting the recipe am I?  

[Jeremy Harris]

@SunampBlogger, Andrew was very helpful on this forum's (now closed to posts) predecessor, Ebuild, so it might be worth reviewing Andrew's posts there (they are still there, as read-only, in these threads mainly:

 

http://www.ebuild.co.uk/topic/15853-they-are-here-place-your-order-batteries-then-moving-on-to-phase-change-material-storage-units/page__st__120

 

http://www.ebuild.co.uk/topic/17614-sunamp-pv-vs-thermal-store-heat-loss-comparison/

 

http://www.ebuild.co.uk/topic/17641-sunamp-stack/

 

Pretty much every member of Ebuild is now a member here, so will be familiar with the content of those threads, so the links above will most probably give you the information most of us already have about the Sunamp PV and the Sunamp Stack.

[Nickfromwales]

6 hours ago, Onoff said:

 

I'm not getting the recipe am I?  

You on a strict "no distraction" diet . 

[Onoff]

5 hours ago, Nickfromwales said:

You on a strict "no distraction" diet . 

 

Lucky we've not got an au pair then I guess...

[SunampBlogger]

Thanks @JSHarris. This information will help me greatly! 

 

P.S. Sorry @Onoff think Andrew is a bit secretive about his recipes, although I hear Himalayan salt is all the rage these days 

[jack]

@Onoff, I seem to recall that there are patent applications in train for this technology. At least some of what you're after will be published in those (assuming they've yet been published)

[Guest Alphonsox]

4 hours ago, jack said:

@Onoff, I seem to recall that there are patent applications in train for this technology. At least some of what you're after will be published in those (assuming they've yet been published)

 

Try this one

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2016/0102232.html

 

EDIT :- Actually a very interesting read 

[jack]

The corresponding European application is undergoing examination at the moment: https://register.epo.org/application?number=EP14732596&lng=en&tab=doclist

[SunampBlogger]

On 15/07/2017 at 12:35, Tennentslager said:

In that spirit...

1) Can you get 'Sunamp care' like you can with a gas combi boiler?

2)Whats the after care engineer network like for speed of response etc.

3)Would repair insurance cover the PV system too or would a chap buy a separate product to cover this?

4)I understand the phase change salts last for gazillions of cycles but how much *ballpark* if you had to change these and what about disposal of the old salts. 5) Can you dust these on a bit of good fillet steak from Aldi for your Friday night dinner?

There, that's a meaty question @Nickfromwales

 

1) SunampPV does not require the same maintenance as a combi boiler. Currently there is no formal care package in place but it is something that could be arranged.

 

2) Currently we are still building up our installer network. We are currently asking for a 24 hour call out service. Furthermore some diagnostic checks can be done remotely.

 

3) SunampPV is separate from solar panels. I have been advised that it is possible for an installer to supply the same service agreement under the same product. 

 

4) 30, 000 cycles is the current number of the rapid cycle machine and still no degradation. As such, it is difficult to predict when things will start to deteriorate. However lets say that 30, 000 is the number of cycles before the machine is caput and you cycle it twice a day. That would give you 38.5 years of use. You would then call us and and we would dispose of it for you. If you wanted a replacement we would do this too and it would cost around £400 to replace.

 

5) Haha, I am not actually sure about how much you can put on a steak. However I know that sodium acetate is used in salt and vinegar crisps as flavouring. Could be a way to dispose of the salt, let me know how it goes