CASE STUDIES

Portable Campsite Solar Water Heating Showers – Gravity Fed No Electricity Required Thermosiphon Geyser solar water heating systems are a very cost effective way of producing hot water due to their simplicity in design and installation requirements. Usually more common in hotter climate countries a typical system will involve a standard solar panel, hot water cylinder and connection pipes. We have developed a system which can now be used in Northern Europe. This system takes full advantage of heat energy and convection movement (hot water rises and cold sinks). Convective movement of the liquid starts when liquid in the solar panel is heated, causing the liquid to expand and become less dense, and thus more buoyant than the cooler liquid in the bottom of the solar panel. Convection moves heated liquid upwards in the system as it is simultaneously replaced by cooler liquid returning by gravity. Hot liquid from the solar panel rises into the flow connection pipe, gravitates in to the cylinder and flows back through the return at a much lower temperature. This process continues naturally until the temperature of the water reaches an equilibrium with solar radiation input. Early in 2016 Highwood Camping took delivery of two Thermosiphon Geyser systems which provide Free Hot Water.

A Thermosiphon Geyser hot water 150L tank system that would supply 2 showers (1 solar panel supplied) A Thermosiphon Geyser hot water 300L tank system that would supply 2 showers and wash up sink (2 solar panels supplied) Our local plumber fitted the units on to the frames with the panels. The showers were fitted with blending valves and low flow shower heads to reduce water use. The system was tested and pipe work approved by Wessex Water before the grand opening of Highwood camping. Because of the field use for agriculture for the main period of the year the Thermosiphon system and showers are mounted on trailers, this makes them very portable, easily towed into the field and plumbed in to the mains water supply.

The following are the actual results and performance of the first year use of our fully sustainable system, set against a back drop of the wettest year on record and low summer temperatures 1110 people stays over 28 days in late July and August (50% capacity) Used 22000 litres of water, which is an average of 20L of water a day. For water consumption this fares very favourably against the average household daily use per person of 130L. Of the water used approx 80% would be hot water presuming the hot/cold ratio on the blending valve would be 80/20, hot water would have been used for washing up, and cold water for washing/brushing teeth' The Thermosiphon systems produced enough warm water to satisfy demands every day except one. The blending valves on the back of the showers were turned down on 3 days as the water was too hot. To note – Campers have a variable habit with regards to showers, from observations we would guess if you had 100 people on site 3 in 4 would shower every day. Campers welcomed the sustainable ethos at Highwood Camping and were all very impressed with the performance of the Solar Showers, feedback on the campsite listing sites have all been scored at 100% satisfaction. In conclusions we saved considerable electricity expenditure, the exact amount is to be worked out as we have to find a like for like small site (TBC). For a small site such as ours the solar water heating units more than serve our purpose, if we were to double our capacity to 4400 person stays we would need to replace the 150L shower unit with a larger capacity unit. Probably the largest plus point when running a service business is that the sustainable nature of the campsite attracts a niche family market that want to stay on a site with Eco credentials, this leads to great feedback and happy clients.

 Plettenberg Bay, towards the eastern end of the Garden Route, is a playground for South Africa’s wealthy holidaymakers. There are many   activities available as well as lots of great restaurants. Plettenberg Bay spreads across the hills, overlooking the bay of the same   name, and steep streets lead down to cliffs with spectacular views: whales   (in season) and dolphins cruise the waters between white sandy beaches   and the plunging cliffs of the Tsitsikamma Mountains. A very specialist project for a Solar Swimming Pool Heating system at a Hotel in Plettenberg Bay, South Africa. We deployed our specialist mechanical engineers to install 20 award winning LSP20+ Premium Commercial (super hot 190⁰C) solar water heating panels to heat the outside swimming pool and hot water cylinder for showers. The installation was over a 2 week period in summer. Once the outside pool was filled with water the solar system started to heat the pool instantly providing all round pool heating for the hotel guests.

We installed horizontal solar water heating panels at Birks Hall of Residence at Exeter University, Devon. Plenty of panels have been installed at Universities in many countries, but what makes the installation at Exeter unusual is that the solar panels are not mounted in or on the roof, but have been built into the walls of the building, as the picture shows. As you can see the building is in a modern style and the solar water heating panels add to the architectural unity of the design of the building. In case you cannot spot the panels, I should explain that the panels are mounted in the wall either side of the central windows. Two panels are mounted together making a black square of solar thermal framed by windows on either side.

We installed solar water heating in (x14) apartments built within this prestigious development adjacent to the Falmouth Maritime Museum at  Discovery Quay, Falmouth, Cornwall. Each of the apartments in this prime location were installed with a twin solar water heating panels serving mains pressure cylinders for domestic hot water. Working closely with the main contractors, New Cornwall Developments Ltd., Celtic RE completed the solar installations within the prescribed time schedules and to the highest standards accepted as best practice within the solar thermal  industry.

Logierait(Scottish Gaelic: Lag an Ratha - 'Hollow of the Earth') is a village and parish in Atholl, Scotland. It is situated at the confluence of the rivers Tay and Tummel, west of Perth & Kinross. Scotland is very receptive to solar water heating systems with the systems working very well all year round. A similar latitude to Germany where millions of solar water heating systems are installed in very harsh cold conditions. The LSP20+ Award Winning panel as supplied by Hot Solar Water Scotland ( will heat up to 190ºC to transfer the energy to the heat exchanger in the household immersion tank. The two panels systems shown here are feeding 210 L tanks to generate approx... 70% of the hot water required in the home. Above the village is the site of a major early royal castle, perhaps the 'rath' of the place-name, still marked by a large ditch. This was probably the seat or caput of the mormaers of Atholl. The ancient promontory fort is marked by a huge 'Celtic' cross, a monument to the 6th Duke of Atholl. The church is of early Christian origin, as shown by the presence of two Pictish cross-slabs: one in the churchyard, discovered in or before 1878; the other, identified in 1989, in the church. Both are classified as Class II Pictish stones (dressed stones, relief carving). The church's dedication is to Coeddi, Bishop of Iona in the early 8th century, perhaps the founder of the church here. The present church building, however, dates from the early 19th century, and is protected as a category B listed building.

The energy generated by this installation is a substantial saving on fossil fuel and carbon emissions. This Commercial Solar Swimming Pool Heating system is providing 100% of the required energy for the swimming pool with a payback of less than 2 years. We are very proud to be associated with this project. The people of Malta and the Malta Football Association are rightly proud of their New stand built on sound environmental foundations with the solar swimming pool heating system.

Sport is important to millions of people throughout the world. In every country and at every level we organise ourselves into clubs and compete. Sometimes the competition is for reward, and then the rewards can be astronomical, but more often than not we play for the sheer fun of attempting to beat our opponents.

In Malta, they love their sport as much as anywhere else and in Malta they have a stadium at Ta'Qali in Valetta. They call it the National Stadium and it is used by many sporting people although it operates under the auspices of the Malta Football Association. The Maltese celebrated the Millennium by building a stand for the National Stadium, so that Ta'Qali can now hold 17,000 spectators. The Millennium Stand covers a foot print of around 5,000 m².

It was critical to the Malta Football Association that the stadium was not used for one or two matches a week but as often as possible and by the whole community. You can swim there, play squash there or even practice your small arms shooting. If you are so inclined, you may use one of the state of the art gymnasium. There are catering facilities so you can enjoy some food and perhaps a bottle of wine. When designing the new stand, it was felt important to address the environmental issues by incorporating sustainability into the project. They chose the Award Winning LSP20+ engineered flat plate premium commercial solar swimming pool heater panels to heat all their water including the Olympic sized swimming pool. Engineers from Germany installed over 70 flat plate panels, making a total solar absorber area in excess of 120 m². Engineers carried out the finishing and commissioning work in December.

In the part of London made famous by the film "Notting Hill" is an oasis of calm and contemplation it was nice to be invited to install a renewable technology such as solar water heating in the heart of this trendy London area. In the midst all the London life, near the Portobello Road street market, schools, homes factories and businesses and all the other hurley burley of London, there exists a Victorian built monastery where the Carmelites pray and contemplate. The Caramelizes are a catholic order of nuns, friars and lay people who trace their roots back to the ancient hermits who prayed on Mount Carmel in the very early thirteenth century. The order has been established in England since 1241. Prayer and contemplation is central to the order and although they, like other religious people of all creeds, do good works, prayer is central. The order comprises friars, nuns and lay people. The nuns are contemplative and live in monasteries, of which there are two in London. Their web site points out that the nuns "…do not forget our needy brothers and sisters in the world outside the monastery walls. We pray for their well-being always and try to live simply so as to have something to give away; we are concerned with the trials and sharing in the sufferings and crises of the modern world."   Our task for the Carmelite nuns was to provide their monastery with solar water heating and replace a gas boiler which was beyond repair. They were also very concerned about the spiraling hot water bills that they were receiving. The Mother Superior and Sister Mary, the Bursar, showed me around the monastery and told me about the life of nuns in their order, so that I could get some insight into the way in which they used hot water and the amounts they used. I was struck by the simple and peaceful lives that the nuns lived, so unconcerned with materialism, so ordered around the concept that the less that you consume the better and yet in their commitment to the environment they are so very well informed of the issues that affect us and so willing to play their part. There are many ways that people can make a contribution to the well being of the world and the Carmelites have chosen their way. The common thread that runs through all people who are committed to improving the environment is the understanding that consumers consume too much and we must work together to reduce consumption of every material resource. We installed six of our KSA Sea Sand Resistant Solar Water Heating panels linked together on a slate south facing roof. As you can see, the colour of our panels against the slate blend well together and the whole picture is nicely framed by the red roof ridge tiles., as you can see from the pictures. The small square structures below the panels are Velux style roof windows. The Nuns have a very beautiful building and I do not think that our solar water heating panels have damaged its architectural integrity. They have made a statement that sustainable solutions can be integrated into many types of buildings. Of course no thermal solar technology can provide a 100% solution in this country and so it was important to back up the solar water heating with a fossil fuel powered water heating system. Using a modulating condensing boiler that operates at more than 95% efficiency provides the best solution. The Carmelites are a good example of how all kinds of organisations can make a contribution to the environment and in doing so make a contribution to society as a whole. Over the longer term their system will pay for itself and should provide several decades of trouble free service. Many people spend much time in contemplating sustainability; the Carmelites have achieved it.

The Largest UK In Roof Commercial Solar Water Heating array at Chase Farm Hospital North London The psychiatric medium secure unit at Camlet 3, Chase Farm Hospital was destroyed by fire late in 2008.  During the rebuilding works, local planners advised that a renewable technology should now be installed to minimize the Hospitals Energy costs. LSP20+ Premium Commerial Panels were chosen based on their provenance in Industrial/Commercial Thermal Heating Systems. Thermosolar advised our client, JCW Air-conditioning on the type of system required and offered initial design input on how best to design a system which ensures virtually zero Legionella risk and controls this in the most efficient and cost effective way. Our solution was to provide a plate heat exchanger system removing the need to replace and reheat thousands of litres of preheated buffer water each week.  The use of plate heat exchanger systems are considered on larger sized solar systems or where Legionella risks have to be aggressively managed. On larger systems with array sizes of 75m² and above plate heat exchanger systems are used to keep energy transfer between glycol and water high. Over the past ten years we have developed controls which can be integrated fully into BMS systems.   We tailor make controls for each project depending on our client’s requirements.  We use lead and lag pumps to ensure continuous running of the System.  Information is displayed clearly on the front of the control panel for easy identification of potential faults and system information. We provided examples of both a solar tube and flat plate collector during the decision making process with the Hospital Trust.  The Award Winning engineered flat plate to be installed as an in-roof system won over the tube type collectors.   The result is an array that looks like it’s meant to be there! We believe that at 80m² this array is the largest single system in-roof array in the UK.  It is unfortunate the collectors can only be seen from within the secure unit courtyard and as it is a little tricky to gain access to the site, our final photographs had to be linked together to display the array fully.

Kathmandu, Nepal's capital, is set in a valley surrounded by the Himalayan mountains. Founded in a vast valley after draining a large lake, legends abound in this remarkable city and every street  has a shrine or two. Kathmandu is an incredibly diverse, historic city with amazing architecture, exquisite wood carvings and metal craft which showcase the skills of the Newar artisans of centuries ago. Hinduism and Buddhism have co-existed in Kathmandu valley from time immemorial and the valley residents make little distinction as they worship in both Hindu and Buddhist shrines. Thermosolar installed the LSP20+ Premium Commercial Solar Water Heating panel  for a major pharmaceutical industrial building manufacturing medicines across Asia. The Solar Thermal application is to heat water which in turn will be circulated through a circulation pump to Air Handling Units to control the humidity and temperature in storage and production areas. The project was scoped by Technical Associates Services P. Ltd. to provide not only the high quality thermal award winning panels but also the know-how to deliver the solution through on-site training, management & support. Total Heat Requirement : 470 Kw Average Requirement : 200 Kw Minimum Requirement : 60 Kw Total Number of Solar Panels : 50 Numbers (Make : LSP20+ Premium Commercial Panel)

London now has a New B&Q store that will benefit from having 10% of its energy needs catered for by renewable energy sources on site. These include Commercial Solar Water Heating and thermal piles that will help to heat the building. Alan Leighton (Hull) Ltd installed the solar panel for B&Q and Simons Construction.

The B&Q store will generate the hot water for use by customers and staff. The award winning panels are expected to generate up to 70% of the stores hot water for FREE saving energy and carbon. The panels were installed onto a living grass roof area, the grass roof supports and encourages local wildlife.

The thermal panels heat the water within a newly installed 250 Litre hot water cylinder located within main plant room.

The system also incorporates a smart energy meter that logs and displays the gains generated in KW’s for B&Q to note energy savings.