HomeSolar geysers

Solar Geysers
in Krugersdorp

Solar geysers in Krugersdorp, supplied and fitted, or added to the electric geyser you already have. The system is sized to the people who use the hot water, and every new pipe run is planned on paper before anyone climbs onto the roof.

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Looking into an evacuated solar tube: the dark absorber fin and the copper heat pipe inside the glass

Two ways to go solar, and what decides between them

A new system and a conversion both work. Which one suits your house comes down to these.

  • A complete new system. Collectors and a solar tank together, either close-coupled on the roof or with the tank inside.
  • A conversion of your geyser. Collectors added to the electric geyser you have, which keeps working as the tank and the backup.
  • Roof direction and shade. Collectors want a clear, north-facing roof for most of the day. Trees and neighbouring walls count.
  • Where a tank can sit. On the roof, in the roof space if it is strong enough, or in a garage, which brings a longer pipe run.
  • High or low pressure. High pressure gives mains-pressure showers and needs the right valves; low pressure is simpler and gentler.
  • How the house uses hot water. The number of people and when they shower decide the tank size more than the size of the house.

Every new pipe run has to suit the ground

A solar installation adds pipe: roof to tank, collectors to cylinder, sometimes a run out to the garage. On a dolomitic erf, where those runs go is not a free choice.

Most solar work happens on the roof, but the pipework that comes with it does not always stay there. A conversion adds a flow and a return between the collectors and the cylinder. A system with its tank in a garage or outbuilding needs a buried run across the yard. Every new length of pipe is one more place a leak can start.

On an erf in Mogale City's Dolomitic Overlay Zone, set up by clause 23 of the Land Use Scheme, the minimum precautions for dolomite land say how buried services are laid. Trenches fall away from the buildings. Water pipes get at least 500 mm of cover. Service trenches are not dug along the length of a house within the first 3 m beside it, wherever that can be avoided. Every water-bearing line has to be able to take some ground movement without its joints leaking.

On paper that sounds technical; in the yard it changes the layout. A tank in the garage is fed by a run that leaves the house and crosses straight to it, rather than one that follows the wall for several metres before turning. Collector pipes come down through the roof and walls in sleeves, never under the slab. None of it is unusual work. It just has to be decided before the trench is dug.

The other rule worth knowing is about cold rather than ground. SANS 10252-1, the national standard for water installations in buildings, asks for a water heater's safety valves to be protected from freezing, and for indirect systems in freezing conditions to carry anti-freeze in the heat-transfer fluid. How the system you are quoted deals with a freezing night belongs on the quote, not in the guarantee small print.

Before accepting any solar quote, ask to see where every new pipe will run and how the system is protected from freezing. On a dolomitic erf, the route matters as much as the brand on the tank.

Plan of a house with a 3 metre strip around it. The new pipe run to a tank in the garage leaves the house and goes straight out across the strip; a run laid along the wall inside the strip is crossed out. A section below shows the pipe at 500 millimetres deep in a trench that falls away from the house. house collectors on this roof garage tank straight out not along the wall, inside the 3 m strip 3 m strip beside the house In section at least 500 mm of cover the trench falls away from the house
A plan sketch of the layout rules, not a drawing of any property.

How a solar geyser is priced

No package prices, because the roof, the pipe runs and the existing geyser change the job. This is what goes into the quote.

Always part of it

  • A look at the roof, the existing geyser and where pipes would run
  • Sizing for the household, explained
  • A written quote listing collectors, tank or conversion parts, valves and labour
  • A pressure test and first heat-up on the day it is fitted

What moves the number

  • New system or conversion
  • Tank size, and high or low pressure
  • Roof type, pitch and access
  • How long the new pipe runs are, and how they must be laid
  • Whether the existing geyser is fit to keep

Worth asking before you sign

  • Where every new pipe will run, drawn on a sketch
  • How the system is protected when it freezes
  • Which manufacturer's guarantee applies, and its terms in writing
  • What paperwork you get afterwards for your insurer

From the first look to the first hot shower

The order things happen in, so nothing is ordered before the routes are agreed.

  1. Ask for a look

    Use the form below. A look at the roof and the current geyser settles where the tank and the pipes can go.

  2. Sized and sketched

    The system is sized to the household, and the new pipe routes are drawn before anything is ordered.

  3. One written quote

    Every part and the labour on one quote, with the conversion and new-system options side by side where both fit.

  4. Fitted, filled, tested

    The installation is pressure-tested and heated, and you are shown how the backup element and timer work.

Solar geyser questions

Cost first, then the choices that decide it.

What does a solar geyser cost in Krugersdorp?

It depends on three choices more than anything else: a new system or a conversion, the tank size, and high or low pressure. The roof and the pipe runs add to it. That is why the price comes as a written quote after a look at the house, with each part listed, rather than as a figure on a web page.

Is it cheaper to convert the geyser I already have?

Usually, because the tank is already there. It only makes sense if that geyser is sound and not near the end of its life. If it is, a complete new system can be the better buy, and both are priced so you can compare.

High-pressure or low-pressure: which do I need?

A high-pressure system runs at close to mains pressure, so showers and taps behave as they do now, and it needs pressure-rated parts and valves. A low-pressure system is simpler and suits homes already on low pressure. The choice is made with you on site, once the existing plumbing has been seen.

How big a solar geyser does my household need?

It is worked out from how many people live there and when they use hot water, not from the number of bedrooms. A household that showers mostly in the evening needs more stored water than one spread through the day. The sizing is explained on the quote.

Does a solar geyser work in winter?

It collects less on short, cold days, so the electric element or a timer-controlled backup tops it up. The system also has to cope with freezing: safety valves protected, and on indirect systems a heat-transfer fluid with anti-freeze in the collector loop. Ask how the quoted system handles both.

Where can the tank go if my roof space is small?

On the roof as a close-coupled unit, or in a garage or outbuilding with pipes run to and from the collectors. A garage tank means a longer buried run, which on a dolomitic erf has to be laid to the rules described above.

What changes if my erf is in the Dolomitic Overlay Zone?

Mostly the pipe routes. Buried runs fall away from the house, have at least 500 mm of cover and stay out of the 3 m strip beside it where they can. Joints must take some movement without leaking, and pipes through walls are sleeved. Tell us before the quote and it is drawn up that way.

Can I keep my old geyser as a backup?

With a conversion, the old geyser stays and becomes the tank, with its element as the backup. With a new system, the solar tank carries its own element, so the old geyser is usually removed.

Related work on the hot water side

If the current geyser has a fault, or the old pipes are suspect, sort that first.

Ask for a solar geyser quote

Your name, a number and the suburb are enough to start. We phone you back to hear what you have now and to arrange a look at the roof.

We use these details only to answer this request. See the privacy notice.

Where we come out

We come to the house: there is no counter or yard to visit. Krugersdorp and the suburbs around it are the core of the area, with the outlying parts of Mogale City by arrangement.

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Krugersdorp and close by

  • Krugersdorp North
  • Krugersdorp West
  • Monument
  • Noordheuwel
  • Kenmare
  • Rant-en-Dal
  • Silverfields
  • Mindalore
  • Wentworth Park
  • Dan Pienaarville

Further out in Mogale City

  • Muldersdrift
  • Featherbrooke
  • Cradlestone
  • Kagiso
  • Azaadville
  • Magaliesburg