On 14/10/2012 15:25, geoff wrote:
In message , Martin Brown
writes
On 05/10/2012 11:58, mark wrote:
"Dave Liquorice" wrote in message
ll.co.uk...
On Thu, 4 Oct 2012 19:06:28 +0100, mark wrote:

What my leaflet describes is something different to solar thermal, it
has panels and works 24/7 in all temps above -26 deg.

Scan (photograph) and post somewhere or is there a website? My
curiosity
has been tweaked. It could be air source heat pump but they have
"boxes"
with absorbers and fans rather a "panel".


Here it is:
http://www.prosolarpower.co.uk/free-hot-water

mark

Looks and smells like snake oil. CAVEAT EMPTOR!

Something along the lines of an air source heat pump combined with a
solar panel by the looks of it. Be interesting to see the graph of
power output as a function of insolation and air temperature.

How many kW does the "control " electronics take?

Compared to the power that the compressor takes any control electronics
will consume negligible power 100W at most done badly and perhaps only a
few watts or less in standby. The unit is almost certainly useless but
not for this reason. Pinching the name "Thermodynamics" like this should
ring alarm bells as it is clearly done to confuse the public.

Some fairly clever combined solar PV and water heating panels are on the
market which use waste heat to warm up water. This has the bonus that it
helps keep the PV array cooler and more efficient. The kit is obviously
heavier as a result and I would worry about the additional complexity
but at least it has genuine benefits.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown