Hello, I would be very interested in hearing how the fothermo photovoltaik boiler performed in real world. Any chance you can do your part 3/3 on this? Greetings from Germany, Christiane
Thanks for watching. First month on the solar panels.. Normally 135kw of gas, now 35kw Energy for the month, £63 to £35 for our gas and electric.. Only a month of testing, not used the boiler yet.
Really useful and helpful video Chris - thanks for doing it. Have DMd you a question - interested to know how it has been over autumn/winter etc. Thanks
Add a charge controller and battery since you'll be wasting 500 watts during the summer. Not really sure how you piped the heater but just put it in series with existing boiler. It would have been better to have the solar below the gas one. Thanks for video.
Thanks for watching. I don't use the gas boiler. The solar heater does my hot water. I do have the option of flicking a tap, to divert gas or solar hot water. I've not put a battery in and a solar charge controller in, because I have something else lined up.
actually fothermo just released a switching device where you can connect a second priority device like a small inverter (Hoymiles HM600, NEP...) which can feed into your home when the fothermo Water Heater is "charged"
Hello, nice video. I have a question about the connected solar panels. According to the data sheet, only 36 amps Impp may be connected. The 420W panel or similar have significantly more with 3 pieces. Won't the boiler break?
Hi - did you ever do the 3rd vid giving feedback of actual results from using the water heater, as I’m just on the brink of buying one and would love to know how it performed👍👍
Hello, no I've not done a 3rd. I won't lie. But yes, mine is still working. Going into my 3rd summer. Finding it goes from April to end of October. Then back on the gas boiler.
Hello and thank you for watching. Your right video 3 is not out yet. I'm just waiting for it to stop working for this season but it's still going! The gas boiler has been off since April and is still not on. The Fothermo has been faultless and provided me and my family with plenty of hot water. Only thing I would suggest is fit an expansion vessel on the cold inlet to prevent the pressure release valve from dripping. Yes I would recommend this product. If you wish to support my channel, I would appreciate it if you could use my link in the video description. I may have a 4th video out on this product in the next 5 months. That's all I can say so be sure to subscribe as the video maybe of some interest. Thank you.
This is something I have thought about. Reason I did not do it. I wanted to test as a stand alone unit for the channel. But yes a pre heat would be good. I am finding the heater is working fine as it is on it's own on the panels.
Hello Chris, Managed to fix the broken connector and installed the water heater successfully this weekend. yesterday was a completely full sunny day and it managed to heat the water up to 63 degrees by nightfall after 2 showers and heavy dish washing use. So I'm quite pleased. I was wondering if there is any way the PV panels could be redirected to add power to an inverter when the boiler is not heating the water. Do you know of any sort of controller which could do this?
Hello, this is great. It's a wonderful feeling to be heating your own water. I wish we could upload photos to youtube as I would love to see your setup. I am not aware of anything just yet about transferring to an inverter.
@@SolarPowerChannelwithChris if you ever find any sort of controller for such redirection, i'd love to hear about it, a youtube video on this would also be very interesting as I've not seen anyone tackle such topic
@@ioandruga7420 I may have something.. Something has just dropped into my email inbox. Feel free to subscribe to my channel so you don't miss anything. Should I forget to reply back to your comment.
Hi, why don´t you use that after heater with the external dc power supply instead of that switch with your gas boiler ? I am thinking about installing that fothermo, and i would use that dc power supply for the case, that the solar panels don´t produce enough energy in the winter. As in germany it only allowed to install a 600 Watt Solar System on your own, it makes sense tou use the fothermo, so i don´t have to bother with the energy company, the autority and the electrician.
At the moment I've not needed to use the DC power supply. Reason I'm not using the power supply over the winter, I will be heating water and not using all of it. It will then be cooling down and a waste of energy and money. I had a system like this with a hot water tank when I bought my house. I ripped it all out. The reason I will use the gas boiler as it's a combo boiler. So I will just be heating the hot water I need. I won't have excess hot water stored which will be cooling. It's about being as efficient as possible. My energy bills have really dropped since using the fothermo product. Gas and electricity is £36 a month, I have a good sized house too. Let me know if you have any questions, I have a link to the products in the video description. Thanks.
@@SolarPowerChannelwithChris Thank you for your answer...I am thinking about getting all out of gas, because the government makes it really hard to use gas in the future and the prices are extremly high....I guess it is always a comprise...the perfect solution ist not available..or maybe it is better to install a big solar system that has enough power in poor weather conditions. Besides, I don´t know to pronounce the company name too....and I am german :-D :-D
mine just arrived yesterday, though one of the mc4 connectors on it was damaged (guessing from transport). Do you think it's worth trying to repair/replace? or should I just return the unit?
Oh no! I would get in contact with them. They should be able to send you a new connector out straight away. I believe their assembly line is in Germany. It's all very close nit with the designers. I've had my gas boiler off since the end of April, it's been amazing! My gas bill has halfed as we pay monthly. Just gas for cooking currently.
@@SolarPowerChannelwithChris I've contacted fothermo and they suggested just to change the mc4 connecter would be the easiest way to go. I've gone and done that, hope to install it completely these next weeks
Hello and thank you for watching. Yes I find there is enough for hot water for kitchen washing and three for showering. Long as you are having a normal shower and not a power shower! The water takes a day to warm up. It's always ready for the evening. As per my video, I would go for the biggest panels possible, 1200w with lots of sun. I will be doing video 3/3 soon. If you do decide to buy, appreciate if you could use my link 😄. My videos are not sponsored. Thank you.
Hello, thanks for the quick answer, there is a power pack for the system, to support it. If it's not enough, have you tried it? sorry I can't speak English, I had to translate 😅 I may have missed something. Thanks for your info
Hello 😁 what do I have to pay attention to when buying solar panels? I would be happy if you send me a data sheet of panels, the page you have is in English, unfortunately I don't speak English, everything at Fotherma is sold out, so I have to look for something suitable, thanks for your effort
@@beks2451 I have not tried the power supply, I feel I have not needed to use it yet. I also did not buy one when I received the unit. The google translate works as the English looks fine.
@@beks2451 I have 420watt panels. These are split panels. If you google 420watt split panels you will see a suitable seller. These will work with the heater. Remember they need to be wired in Parallel NOT series.
Hello, I would be very interested in hearing how the fothermo photovoltaik boiler performed in real world. Any chance you can do your part 3/3 on this?
Greetings from Germany,
Christiane
can't wait for the third video
been looking for something like this for some time now
Thanks for watching. First month on the solar panels..
Normally 135kw of gas, now 35kw
Energy for the month, £63 to £35 for our gas and electric.. Only a month of testing, not used the boiler yet.
Have you done the 3rd video? I would really like to know wat you think. Thanks
Really useful and helpful video Chris - thanks for doing it. Have DMd you a question - interested to know how it has been over autumn/winter etc. Thanks
I've seen your email. Will reply soon.
hello greetings from finland . i have bught a boiler like you are taking about what kind of panels in your kit im searching for solerpanells
Add a charge controller and battery since you'll be wasting 500 watts during the summer. Not really sure how you piped the heater but just put it in series with existing boiler. It would have been better to have the solar below the gas one. Thanks for video.
Thanks for watching. I don't use the gas boiler. The solar heater does my hot water. I do have the option of flicking a tap, to divert gas or solar hot water. I've not put a battery in and a solar charge controller in, because I have something else lined up.
actually fothermo just released a switching device where you can connect a second priority device like a small inverter (Hoymiles HM600, NEP...) which can feed into your home when the fothermo Water Heater is "charged"
Hello, nice video.
I have a question about the connected solar panels. According to the data sheet, only 36 amps Impp may be connected. The 420W panel or similar have significantly more with 3 pieces. Won't the boiler break?
Hi - did you ever do the 3rd vid giving feedback of actual results from using the water heater, as I’m just on the brink of buying one and would love to know how it performed👍👍
Hello, no I've not done a 3rd. I won't lie. But yes, mine is still working. Going into my 3rd summer. Finding it goes from April to end of October. Then back on the gas boiler.
Hi Chris
would you recommend this boiler ... I am just thinking of buying it but the 3rd video is not out yet ;) ... really looking forward to it
Hello and thank you for watching. Your right video 3 is not out yet. I'm just waiting for it to stop working for this season but it's still going! The gas boiler has been off since April and is still not on. The Fothermo has been faultless and provided me and my family with plenty of hot water. Only thing I would suggest is fit an expansion vessel on the cold inlet to prevent the pressure release valve from dripping. Yes I would recommend this product. If you wish to support my channel, I would appreciate it if you could use my link in the video description. I may have a 4th video out on this product in the next 5 months. That's all I can say so be sure to subscribe as the video maybe of some interest. Thank you.
Why aren’t you using it to preheat the water before going through the combi?
This is something I have thought about. Reason I did not do it. I wanted to test as a stand alone unit for the channel. But yes a pre heat would be good. I am finding the heater is working fine as it is on it's own on the panels.
Like to see how long it takes to heat with the transformer. And the amount of energy is needed for this.
Thanks Alex, thank you for watching. Will try and get hold of a power supply for video 3/3. I have a meter which would record the power usage.
Hello Chris,
Managed to fix the broken connector and installed the water heater successfully this weekend.
yesterday was a completely full sunny day and it managed to heat the water up to 63 degrees by nightfall after 2 showers and heavy dish washing use. So I'm quite pleased.
I was wondering if there is any way the PV panels could be redirected to add power to an inverter when the boiler is not heating the water. Do you know of any sort of controller which could do this?
Hello, this is great. It's a wonderful feeling to be heating your own water. I wish we could upload photos to youtube as I would love to see your setup. I am not aware of anything just yet about transferring to an inverter.
@@SolarPowerChannelwithChris if you ever find any sort of controller for such redirection, i'd love to hear about it, a youtube video on this would also be very interesting as I've not seen anyone tackle such topic
@@ioandruga7420 I may have something.. Something has just dropped into my email inbox. Feel free to subscribe to my channel so you don't miss anything. Should I forget to reply back to your comment.
@@SolarPowerChannelwithChris already subbed after the first fothermo water heater video :)
@@ioandruga7420 expect something in the new year..
Does it require an expansion tank, looks like a nice unit
Yes I think it does. This is something forhermo don't talk about. But I am going to fit one.
Hi, why don´t you use that after heater with the external dc power supply instead of that switch with your gas boiler ? I am thinking about installing that fothermo, and i would use that dc power supply for the case, that the solar panels don´t produce enough energy in the winter. As in germany it only allowed to install a 600 Watt Solar System on your own, it makes sense tou use the fothermo, so i don´t have to bother with the energy company, the autority and the electrician.
At the moment I've not needed to use the DC power supply. Reason I'm not using the power supply over the winter, I will be heating water and not using all of it. It will then be cooling down and a waste of energy and money. I had a system like this with a hot water tank when I bought my house. I ripped it all out. The reason I will use the gas boiler as it's a combo boiler. So I will just be heating the hot water I need. I won't have excess hot water stored which will be cooling. It's about being as efficient as possible. My energy bills have really dropped since using the fothermo product. Gas and electricity is £36 a month, I have a good sized house too. Let me know if you have any questions, I have a link to the products in the video description. Thanks.
@@SolarPowerChannelwithChris Thank you for your answer...I am thinking about getting all out of gas, because the government makes it really hard to use gas in the future and the prices are extremly high....I guess it is always a comprise...the perfect solution ist not available..or maybe it is better to install a big solar system that has enough power in poor weather conditions. Besides, I don´t know to pronounce the company name too....and I am german :-D :-D
Did you manage to do the 3rd video?
Not yet! It has been a year. So Its time.
mine just arrived yesterday, though one of the mc4 connectors on it was damaged (guessing from transport). Do you think it's worth trying to repair/replace? or should I just return the unit?
Oh no! I would get in contact with them. They should be able to send you a new connector out straight away. I believe their assembly line is in Germany. It's all very close nit with the designers. I've had my gas boiler off since the end of April, it's been amazing! My gas bill has halfed as we pay monthly. Just gas for cooking currently.
Cannot wait to see your third video and your experience with it
@@helmutdanninger1510 thanks, it will be a few months. I have already made a few pointers people should be aware of. Nothing major though.
@@SolarPowerChannelwithChris I've contacted fothermo and they suggested just to change the mc4 connecter would be the easiest way to go. I've gone and done that, hope to install it completely these next weeks
hello, how long does it take for the desired temperature to be reached? and is it enough for three people to take a shower, Greetings from Germany
Hello and thank you for watching. Yes I find there is enough for hot water for kitchen washing and three for showering. Long as you are having a normal shower and not a power shower! The water takes a day to warm up. It's always ready for the evening. As per my video, I would go for the biggest panels possible, 1200w with lots of sun. I will be doing video 3/3 soon. If you do decide to buy, appreciate if you could use my link 😄. My videos are not sponsored. Thank you.
Hello, thanks for the quick answer, there is a power pack for the system, to support it. If it's not enough, have you tried it? sorry I can't speak English, I had to translate 😅 I may have missed something. Thanks for your info
Hello 😁 what do I have to pay attention to when buying solar panels? I would be happy if you send me a data sheet of panels, the page you have is in English, unfortunately I don't speak English, everything at Fotherma is sold out, so I have to look for something suitable, thanks for your effort
@@beks2451 I have not tried the power supply, I feel I have not needed to use it yet. I also did not buy one when I received the unit. The google translate works as the English looks fine.
@@beks2451 I have 420watt panels. These are split panels. If you google 420watt split panels you will see a suitable seller. These will work with the heater. Remember they need to be wired in Parallel NOT series.
Any updates on this system
Yes all good! Working as it should. I know I've not done 3/3
Cor Christ you are dragging this hot water lark abit!!!!!
Fighting the TH-cam algorithms. They don't like long videos.