Local man in Hot water for 24 years

In celebration of its 25th year in South Africa, Solahart South Africa, the makers of Solahart solar water heaters, recently tracked down one of the very first residential units it installed. The Solahart, which was installed in 1983 on a house in River Club, Johannesburg was still going strong and reliably producing hot showers and baths with energy free from the sun. The current owner, Mr Sivland, says the unit was a real bonus when he bought the house 10 years ago. Over the years the only work that was ever required was the routine replacement of the sacrificial anode, a device designed to avoid corrosion of the tank.This system has long since paid for itself as there are sometimes up to eight people staying on the property. Over the past 24 years this Solahart will have reduced greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80 tonnes!

That is a lot of air pollution all of us have never had to breathe.South Africans will soon not have much choice but to start reducing the amount of electricity we use. Eskom will be implementing a 17-18% tariff increase and some cities are considering bylaws that will make it compulsory to install solar water heaters for new buildings. An effective solar water heater, like a Solahart, reduces your electricity consumption by almost half. Apart from the cost savings in electricity and greenhouse gas, the convenience of having hot water when the electricity supply fails, makes this a no brainer purchase decision.

Solahart South Africa has installed in excess of 15 000 systems in Southern Africa since 1982. Solahart Australian has been manufacturing since 1905, introducing its first solar water heater in 1953. Solahart is a trans-national organisation operating in all continents (with installations in over 110 countries). There are over 1 million Solahart hot water systems installed worldwide. Solahart solar water heaters are available with a 10-year warranty. Solahart was the first solar water heater in South Africa to be awarded the SABS mark.

Madiba in Hot Water

Former President Nelson Mandela is in hot water, but this time it is for a good cause. He is having three Solahart solar water heaters installed on the roof of his Houghton home as a birthday gift from the entire South African energy industry. Eskom, the largest supplier of electricity in Africa, and the National Energy Efficiency Agency (a division of CEF (Pty) Ltd),

are supplying Mr Mandela with two of the Solahart systems as part of their Demand Site Management (DSM) process. The third system is jointly donated by Solahart Australia and Solahart South Africa and installed at no charge by Hinana Solar Services and Terry Moyo.

The gift forms part of a joint initiative to encourage consumers to use electricity more efficiently. This initiative is being driven by the National Energy Efficiency agency, Eskom’s DSM process and various suppliers of energy efficient products and services. Solar water heaters, like the Solahart system, can reduce domestic electricity consumption by as much as 45%. About half the electricity used by a four member family goes towards heating water for showers and baths. Solar water heaters use the sun’s energy to heat either circulating water or a heat transfer agent (in areas where it gets cold enough to freeze water). The heated water is then stored in an insulated tank that replaces a standard geyser.

In cases of prolonged overcast conditions, most systems have ‘back up’ electric elements.

The system is able to save an average family about 45% of their monthly electricity bill or about R280 rand per month on a R700 account. The other major benefit of solar water heaters is a cleaner environment. Efficient solar water heaters reduce the greenhouse gas produced by a family of four by as much as 3.7 tonnes every year. That is about the equivalent of taking a small car off the road every year.