The Pros And Cons Of Gas Boosted Solar Hot Water Systems

As solar hot water has been an attractive alternative to traditional gas and electric water heaters for decades, you’d think it couldn’t get any better. Well, it can!

By boosting your solar hot water system with a continuous flow gas hot water system (gas booster), hot water will always be readily available, come rain, shine, or night time, as it acts as a supplemental water heater booster to ensure you get the most out of your solar hot water system.

However, before looking into replacing your existing gas or electric water heater, or upgrading your current solar hot water system, do yourself a favour and get to know the benefits of gas boosters. You won’t regret it!

To help you make your decision, we’ve compiled the most notable pros and cons of gas boosted solar hot water systems.

The Pros of Gas Boosted Solar Hot Water System

Significant savings of solar

As solar hot water systems use the sun’s natural rays as a source of free energy, installing one could significantly slash your monthly energy bills. In fact, modern solar hot water systems can pay for themselves within six to ten years! Even less in some cases.

Better together, whatever the weather

Whether you’ve used up your sun-heated water or there was no sun to begin with, with a gas booster you’ll always have hot water on tap. Once your gas booster detects a drop in water temperature, it’ll automatically ignite to provide instantaneous and continuous flow heating.

Therefore, no more remembering to turn on the electric booster and waiting hours for a “cold” solar water heater to heat up enough water for a hot shower, or number of hot showers. A continuous flow gas booster can be turned on at the “flick of a switch” at any time and hot water is immediately available.

Environmentally friendly

Going solar helps you protect our planet, as it can offer 70-80% of your hot water needs from free renewable, clean energy. On the other hand, conventional hot water systems have to generate all their heat by combusting fossil fuels (gas or electric). This produces harmful greenhouse emissions, pollutes the air, and contributes to climate change!

The best part?

Gas boosters are easily retrofitted to existing solar storage hot water tanks to increase their effectiveness and convenience. And in the long run, your gas boosted solar hot water system will also pay for itself.

The Cons of Gas Boosted Solar Hot Water System

Initial Upfront Installation Costs

The costs involved in adding a gas booster or installing a complete gas boosted solar hot water system can make most homeowners think twice about outlaying the cost of getting the system installed.

Efficiency Rating

Nowadays the STC energy rating of most gas boosted solar water heaters is the same as for electric boosted solars, and even less for some brands. Therefore, they are tested and deemed by the Clean Energy Regulator (CER) to be no cheaper to run than an electric boosted solar water heater. Why? Because solar gas boosters have to be set to heat the water coming from a solar HW tank to 70C and use considerably more gas, than when used as a dedicated and separate stand-alone continuous flow gas HWS, which can be set as low as 42C (the temperature at which most adults shower).

Fossil Fuel Combustion

Unfortunately, a gas booster involves fossil fuel combustion and may not be the best choice for die-hard environmentalists. But, all is not lost! Natural gas is one of the cleanest fossil fuels available, producing 50-60% less greenhouse gas emissions than the rest.

Decision Time

Now that you’ve seen the evidence, you can make an informed decision for yourself!

Whether you choose an electric, gas, heat pump, electrically boosted solar, or gas boosted solar hot water system, our team at Kalamunda Plumbing has the expertise you need. We offer all manner of hot water system services, while specialising in the sale, service, and installation of solar hot water systems for over 30 years!

Visit our website for more information or call us on (08) 9291 6000 – we’re happy to help.

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Head Office & Warehouse Address: 13 Godfrey Street, Walliston 6076

Office Hours: 7.30am – 4.30pm Monday – Friday

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Shop 5B Kalamunda Glades, 121-123 Canning Road,
Kalamunda 6076

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Excellent4.9★★★★★ Based on 458 reviews from review us onDerek Smith ★★★★★ Cameron turned up on time & had the problem found & sorted out quickly , great friendly & knowledgeable service 🙂Response from the ownerThankyou Derek for the great review. We strive for great service. carole trivett ★★★★★ Very happy with everything and the way things were explained and cleaned up. Thank you.Response from the ownerThanks Carole! We always strive for the boys to be as neat and tidy as possible, so it's reassuring to hear they they are! Marie Pooley ★★★★★ Excellent service, communication and staff interaction.Rachel Smith ★★★★★ Great service and expertise. Highly recommend. Thanks David for your service and positive attitude.Have been a customer for over 15 years.Response from the ownerThank you, Rachel, for your longstanding loyalty. We sincerely appreciate all your support over these years. It’s truly gratifying to know that you have consistently had a positive experience. David excels at delivering exceptional service, and we look forward to continuing to provide you with great experiences in the future. ursula smith ★★★★★ Great fast service, on time, good communication, good honest knowledge.Thank youResponse from the ownerI am pleased to hear about your positive experience. It is truly rewarding when service aligns so well with expectations. Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. Glenn Woodward ★★★★★ Prompt on time , great serviceResponse from the ownerThank you Glenn, for the great review! Sam Bird ★★★★★ Had Cameron out to replace our shower head and vanity sink Tap and handles. Very professional and friendly and did a great job!! Highly recommend.Thank youResponse from the ownerThank you, Sam! Cameron is truly outstanding, and we are confident he will appreciate this excellent recommendation as much as we do! james mcmillan ★★★★★ Efficient smooth process thanks for all your help JimResponse from the ownerAbsolutely! 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I am confident that the entire team will greatly appreciate your kind words Phillip Wilson ★★★★★ David arrived so positive and accommodating. Very timely, diagnosis was done quickly, yet nothing was found. Was happy to service the unit, and thankfully, the issue appeared, and he was quick to show me his luck to spot the and fix straight away.So happy with his work I asked for them to schedule annual servicing . Thanks Heaps Kalamunda PlumbingResponse from the ownerThank you Phillip for the excellent review. We understand the value of having a knowledgeable, positive, and friendly professional available to assist with any issues that may arise. Additionally, scheduling annual servicing is a wise decision to ensure that your unit remains in optimal condition. Donna Grafham ★★★★★ Fast and efficient up front cost and photos to show damage doneResponse from the ownerThank you, Donna. We sincerely appreciate your positive feedback. Norma Hurley ★★★★★ I was very satisfied with the service provided by Kalamunda Plumbing and would have no hesitation in recommending them.Regards NormaResponse from the ownerThank you very much, Norma. Your recommendation is greatly appreciated, and we are pleased to hear that you were satisfied with our services. Aleksander Smith ★★★★★ Great company to go with. All the team are extremely professional and have so far had them three times for separate issues/installs. Prompt service and I highly recommend!Response from the ownerWe are delighted to learn about your positive experiences! Our team is committed to consistently providing professional service to support wonderful customers like you. Thank you for sharing your recommendation! Ian Shackleton ★★★★★ Very professional with great communication about status of job.Response from the ownerThank you, Ian, for your positive review. We sincerely appreciate your feedback. Graham Carver ★★★★★ Barry was prompt & professional. Have used Kalamunda Plumbing many times.Response from the ownerThank you for your continued support. I am confident that Barry will greatly appreciate the positive feedback. J ★★★★★ Thank you for the opportunity to post a review.Kalamunda Plumbing has never let me down and on this occasion KP has excelled. Right from booking the job to meeting Barry the plumber on this job. Barry serviced the air conditioner and moved on to the other problems. The problems were explained and fixed. What impressed me was KP’s communication throughout to whole job.ExcellentJeff NiehusResponse from the ownerThank you, Jeff. I am confident that Barry will appreciate the positive feedback regarding his exceptional work. We greatly appreciate your thoughtful review and assure you that we will maintain your trust in our team. Terry atterton ★★★★★ Absolutely happy with Anthony’s job that he did for us. Was quick, polite and informative throughout the time he was on site.Gave us an idea of what the job would cost before he started.Excellent service, couldn’t fault it.Response from the ownerAnthony will be pleased with this review and will undoubtedly appreciate hearing such a positive evaluation. Thank you, Terry. Rita Laurance ★★★★★ Barry from Kalamunda Plumbing installed new panels on my evaporative airconditiner. He was efficient, polite, easy to talk to and completed the job in a very good time. If you want a great job done, I recommend Kalamunda Plumbing ....ask for Barry.Response from the ownerThank you, Rita, for the exceptional review. we are delighted to hear about the outstanding job Barry has done for you. 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