All components required for integration of solar to nearly any heating system, in one unit
- Full system control built in
- Reduced Installation Costs
- Can be fitted to new or existing cylinders
- Suitable for vented or unvented cylinders
- Instant Hot Water - As soon as the sun shines you will have usable hot water at your taps!!!
In response to a growing demand for solar technologies in the market, Nutherm have developed the Retrotherm Solar, a flexible module which facilitates the installation of solar panels to most standard heating systems.
In general solar installations require the installation of a new twin coil, triple coil or combi cylinder to separate the water and glycol mixture in the solar/oil boiler/stove/heat pump from the pure water in your cylinder. However these tanks are often expensive and the installation involves removing some of the existing pipework.
The Retrotherm Solar is fitted directly to the bottom of your existing cylinder and then simply tees into you hot pipes. No changes are made to your existing system and in nearly all cases, the cylinder installed will be suitable with no alterations.
The Retrotherm Solar uses a high efficiency heat exchanger (exchange area - 3.5m2) to transfer heat into your tank and comes complete with all the controls, pumps and valves required for your solar installation. The only separate items which you require to complete the installation are the solar panels, some stainless steel flexi-pipe and a small tank of anti-freeze.
Another major advantage of the Retrotherm Solar over a conventional solar installation is the use of a thermal siphon to draw water up into the top of the cylinder. Using a coil, the hot water must travel up through the tank and this results in the whole tank being heated to roughly the same temperature. However using the Retrotherm Solar allows the hot water to stratify, giving you a small volume of useable hot water (> 37oC) almost as soon as the sun starts to shine. As you can see from the diagram below, even though the same amount of solar energy has been added to both tanks, the Retrotherm Solar produces more usuable hot water, in much less sunlight.
