Apricus 400ltr Tank

Could be a good product – Similar stories from a lot of customers. Poor after sales service, almost impossible to contact. Brush off issues and don't deal with the problem. My system worked well for 6 months. Then spent next several years trying to get it fixed. Finally had a plumber contact them and had tubes replaced. Again worked well for a couple of months then failed… Read more

again, back to using gas backup. Now looking to get it removed and replaced with different brand. What a waste of time and money.

Prompt customer service once you contact them under warranty – Solar worked well for 6 years, now in warranty reparir mode. If you cannot get through via the online form or telephone, email warranty@apricus.com.au That worked for me. I had some trouble contacting the company ( called half a dozen times over 2 days but no message service available; online form would not submit; enquiry email bounced)) but… Read more

when I did get through they reponded immediately to my claim for warranty repairs. My system began leaking after 6 1/2 years

Disappointing After Sale Service – System is about 7 years old. Over a year ago we had some power lines cut in our street. About that time the quantity of hot water started to decline. The off-peak electric booster was continually on - 58 hours every weekend, and all night every weekday night - costing a fortune in electricity each quarter. We sent to Apricus temp figures for one… Read more

cloudy day. They immediately said the that the roof heat pipes inside the evac tubes were gone and sent out replacements at no charge. I asked why the off peak should be continually on if the heat pipes were not working when the booster is not related to the roof heat pipes as it heats the tank directly. There was no adequate reply to that; just that the pipes need replacing. The plumber I contacted would not put in the pipes because he said a customer of his had his system buggered by a power outage that stuffed the settings. He suggested an electrician. I got back onto Apricus about that - and was told that was not the issue. An electrician said there were no issues with the thermostat or anything else he could check. Rang the plumber to install replacement pipes. He couldn't make it, so I called in another. The new plumber informed these systems have an array of issues that can go wrong (sensors, control panel, tubes, pumps), and he did not want to charge me half a leg for something that may not be the cause of the problem. He suggested I turn off the pump to see what temp the roof top collector got to. It got to 110 deg. So clearly not a heat pipe issue. I notice that when the top of the tank reaches above 50 deg, the pump - which kicks in and out every 5 minutes or so during the day, all day - never allows the tank to get to 60 deg to safeguard against legionnaires. If the tempering valve then adds cold to that (which it shouldn’t as the temp is already at 50 deg – but who says it doesn’t?) then that may explain our lukewarm water. The plumber said you can spend a fortune replacing every part until you fix the problem, but it is better just to decommission the HW solar and connect it to the roof top panels that supply the house. He even said there was a bloke in town who specialises in the task such is the amount of work he has due to failing solar HW systems. The unit was beaut before the issue, but having to rely on guess work to find the cause of the issue is primitive. To make matters worse, I have read this in my investigation into trying to solve the problem: “The controller might be damaged due to voltage surges, short circuits, lighting, or corrosion.” Apricus insisted the issue is the heat pipes, that will take two plumbers a few hours to install into the 40 tubes. If the issue really is the controller, or the pump, or the sensors, then how do I receive back the plumbers' wages for an unneeded heat pipes replacement? Apricus need a better method to diagnose problems with their product to actually pin-point the issue. Big money was spent to lower electricity bills and to protect the environment, but the heavy reliance on off-peak electricity that runs non-stop, has cost even more money to operate than the old electrically powered tank - which at least cut out at night and weekends when the desired temperature was reached! With the extra electricity used, more CO2 is put in the air.

UPDATE About two weeks ago (around 15 Nov, 2022) the heat pipes were installed. Apricus relented on their earlier policy of having me pay for labour, minus $40. The water is heating well and we have not needed to turn the electric booster on - though we have not had a full household in that time to test it properly. The only issue since the repair has been the need to repalce the tempering valve - which is to be expected as it was at the end of its life (8 years old).

Replacement of Heat Pipes – I recently became concerned that my APRICUS solar HWS was not working (400 L installed in 2015). This was based on the high electricity consumption on my property (average occupancy 2), despite have solar HWS plus 7.5 kW of solar panels and a battery. I contacted my solar installer who contacted Apricus, who suggested we do a simple diagnostic… Read more ·  1

test which involved using up the hot water so that it was at low temp in the morning, and recording temperature on the roof, and top and bottom of tank (shown on the unit display) at 9 am and 4 pm. This confirmed that the HWS was not working. The diagnosis suggested by APRICUS was a problem with heat tubes, and the solution was to replace them at no cost to me, as the system was still under warranty. It took a little while for Apricus to find a service provider who could do the work (the original installer had retired), but once they did, the replacement was done promptly. It's too soon to know for sure if the problem has been solved, will need to wait for the next power bill (I'm currently unable to do another test).

The lesson I learned was to monitor my power bills more closely. I should have noticed that the proportion of total power consumption from the dedicated supply was very high - I should have noticed this 2.5 years ago, I believe the problem happened about 2.75 years ago, based on review of my past power consumption. There were also other observations that should have twigged my brain - I had noticed that night time power consumption was much higher when my great nephew was staying, and it couldn't have been simply due to having one light on overnight - the difference was his evening bath, which ran the hot water down (with no power going to the HSW during the day time); the HWS was boosted on night tariff (thank heavens) hence the high consumption at night whenever my great nephew was staying.

Also, absolutely fabulous service from Ros, who kept me very well-informed throughout.

Replacement tank temperature sensor – Had a faulty water tank temperature sensor. Rang for advice, very professional, told me exactly the sensor I needed, ordered and paid online and delivered to Tassie within 48 hours. Impressive!  Show details ·  1

Installer and Repairer of Apricus Products, can not fault – Reading a lot of these reviews i would suggest most of them could be summed up by poor installation of the product due to poor quality tradesman who don’t know how the system works (extremely common) we have been installing and maintaining Apricus systems for 15+ years. I would suggest contacting a competent plumber or getting a second opinion on… Read more ·  1

the product before jumping to conclusions to slam the product. As far as Warranties we have been dealing with Ros who can be contacted via selecting the warranty option when calling Apricus, Ros has always had warranty’s shipped within a few days and very easy to deal with. Overall we have found 80-90% of solars are installed incorrectly or the owner has received miss information by the plumber installing the unit.

Excellent Customer Service – Our Apricus Solar Tank had started leaking and a replacement tank was efficiently sent to us in country NSW to be replaced. The customer service from Ros was outstanding,she is an asset to the company and went above and beyond to ensure that our problem was solved. Show reply

Bad choice – Had a unit for less than 2 years and controller has already gone. Looked them up and they say upto 15 year warranty. Be warned this is a hav! Now im up for $500 for a new controller. I dont believe its ever worked properly looking at my gas bill. At times in business we have to except th hat our products are not upto std and then we fix and everyone wins. These guys are out of touch with warranty and would not recommend to anybody.  Show details

Lazy – 6 times I've emailed these people with an inquiry about where I can purchase one of their systems. I get the automated response saying, 'Will contact you within 2 days', and then nothing. Even drove out to their place at 7 Hills, complained to the manager who said "Gee, that's odd. These are flicked to the sales and they should have got back to you." Well, guys, you FAILED!  Show details

Very happy – We are very happy that it was delt with quick & efficient covered by warranty & the new replacement came we had great customer service. From reporting the leak & damage caused we were fitting a new tank all within a week of the first phone call. Very happy with everything.  Show details ·  1

Fast & helpful service – We live in eastern Victoria , with cold winter temperatures & frequent frosts. When winter set in, we found that the hot water in our newly built house was sometimes going luke-warm, sometimes by mid evening. Being an electrician, I suspected the circulation pump may be at fault, by the fact that it was showing as running, yet made no noise… Read more ·  1

whatsoever & appeared to not be working.

I placed a warranty claim & was promptly contacted by Nick at Apricus. I was unable to talk with him on that day (Friday), but he made time to have me contact him next day on the Saturday. He was very friendly & explained to me that our unit may require some 'fine tuning' to be better suited to our colder climate. He guided me through the very user friendly Apricus control menu, & we changed various parameters that improved our solar gain throughout the day. It also proved that the circulation pump was in fact working, but was literally silent in its operation. He also advised me that the off peak boost temperature could be reduced from 70 to 60degC, which I did (obviously using less power), & still supply adequate hot water back-up overnight.

It's been just under 5 weeks now since now since the changes were made, & the difference was noticeable that night. Our system has simply not missed a beat since, providing piping hot water any time (day or night) without any sign at all of running out & going cold as it had been. I have to say that I'm very impressed with Apricus so far, both in operation & customer service. Couldn't have asked for a better result.

Faulty heating pipes should ALL be replaced! – Our system has finally been restored to what we imagined it would be like and in fact what it was like for the first little while when we had it installed in August 2015! ALL 44 pipes were replaced (probably out of warranty but with no quibbling because they knew there was a problem) and the sensor has just been moved to the correct end of the… Read more

system (fault of the original installers.....didn't allow enough wiring)

My concern is for all the other loyal customers out there who aren't aware that there was a faulty batch(s) of heat tubes manufactured about 2-3 years ago - 2014 was mentioned - and who's systems aren't functioning as they ought.

It bothers me that the company knows about this problem but hasn't been proactive in following up people like us who, in good faith, installed a system that was meant to save them power and money. It was only after an increasing amount of electrical boosting that we realised there was a problem. Kind of like the frog in the kettle.....you don't realise there's a problem because it's a gradual deterioration. A quick look at the graph of our power bills last week confirmed the true story!

To their credit, Apricus accepted there was a problem. Unfortunately it then took weeks to finally rectify.

Happy with the system and would've given it a 5***** rating if it had worked as it did in the beginning.

Leaking Tank – My tank started leaking from the lower senor port and a couple of weeks later started leak out of the return port. They came had a look. they thought it may be a slow leak from where the plumber connected the return to the tank. after replacing the fitting and and checking on it for a couple of weeks.so after determining it was the tank and not the fitting, they replaced the tank straight away.  Show details ·  1

Good service for replacement of faulty tubes – Our system didn't seem to be performing very well, but for a long time that was perhaps all we could expect for our location in southern Tasmania. When we realised it really was well under par Apricus were very cooperative in organising for someone to look at it, then they replaced all 30 inner copper tubes. All done at no cost to us and with no… Read more

further questions or quibbling. Only 3 stars because while the service was excellent the tubes should not have been faulty in the first place.

Quick and prompt service – We had a minor issue with the tubing for our apricus solar hot water system. I contacted apricus to see what could be done. Within the week, i had the local plumber replace the tubing under warranty and the problem was dissolved. These guys are quick, efficient and in my POV, very customer orientated. Great going guys!  Show details ·  1

Solar Water Heating not without problems but great support by Apricus – My wife and I researched all Solar Hot Water systems 6 or so years ago and decided on the Apricus based on extensive research. We found that all Solar Hot Water products had mixed reviews but in the end there seemed to be a common theme with these types of systems e.g. severe frost can be an issue, and that it highly depends on the quality of the… Read more ·  1

plumber that fits theses systems as well as owners having some knowledge of how to check the indicators on a semi regular basis for any issues before they become a major and expense issue ... especially if it's out of warranty.

At the time, overall Apricus came up the best option for us and I still stand by our decision... especially with the extremely responsive service from both Apricus and Simon from Macedon Ranges Plumbing recently.

After the severe frost we had here in Lancefield, the comments I made above hold true. We had very poor experiences with our 1st attempt to get a Apricus certified plumbers ( tried two) to come out and determine the cause of the water coming out of the manifold after the frost and 3rd time lucky with Simon. Simon was awesome with his responsiveness and dealing with our stress of the situation. He assessed the situation and advised that the frost had caused the manifold to crack and that the root cause was that the previous plumber, while assessing another issue we had 12 months ago had left the plug unplugged, causing the manifold not to cope with the frost.

After capping off the running water, Simon urgently took it upon himself to notify Apricus of the issue and like any Company that stands by their product, they offered to replace the manifold at their cost even though it was out side of warranty, considering the circumstances. Thanks Nick... outstanding service not being black and white on the problem considering the fact that it was out of warranty. We really appreciate it :).

So from our perspective, the key to getting the most out of an investment like this is to find a great plumber that knows the system, and as an owner, learn to understand the system indicators (which we didn't) and deal with a company that is not black and white on warranty issues when the circumstances warrant it. The product is an excellent product and has saved us big $ on our electricity bill.

Rick

Extreme disappointment – Just built a new house and was recommended to go with this system buy the plumber at the time (also the apricot rep in the area I later found out). Since instal the system has always had to use electric boost even after full day of sun. I have had a different plumber come in and assess the instal and he made some changes however the system… Read more

still failed to heat water anywhere near as expected.

I have a solar inverter app that provides me with minute by minute energy use and collection through my solar panels so I can see precisely when the apricus boost kicks in and for how long as well as all other household power usage. My 400L system sucks 6 to 12 kilowatts of power per day even when sunny.

There are only 3 people in the house and we wash all clothes with cold water and the electric boost is set at the end of the day.

I have contacted Apricus 3 times over the past 8 months and have no call back or help with the matter.

The system cost me $5900 plus instal so needless to say I am furious that I have no customer service and high running costs.

I would highly recommend to avoid purchasing this system for the reasons I have mentioned. I am now looking at what further advise I can get to replace the system and report the matter to fair trading.

Reliable and cost effective – I have 3 Apricus Systems on 3 properties and am truly impressed with them. The water is always hot. My electricity bill is down. I would gladly recommend this system to anyone. I can't actually remember a time where I have had to boost the system. I quite like the visual aspect of Apricus as well. I've had previous sytems in the past that looked big and ugly.

One Happy Customers – I purchased my system 5 years ago i have a family of three and sometime through out the year i have family from oversea come and stay. I have noticed a big drop in my running cost i have to say this has been the best investment i have done. I would recommend this product to all my family and friends go buy this product.

Keeps up with me and the family – I installed our Apricus 40 tube 400L system in the middle of winter last year... I remember the shortest day of the year here on the mid north coast NSW - we had a really nice clear day so I flicked off the booster to "test it out" and we had plenty of hot water for the 4 of us - We do use the booster after periods of extended rain / cloudy… Read more ·  1

weather - but our hot water bills remain minimal. Plumber did a great job installing which I believe is more than half the battle!

split tank, long wait for replacement – My system is just two years old and we came home one Saturday morning to find the tank had split and my rain water pouring out onto the ground. We live on a rural property so have no mains supply. It took three weeks for a replacement tank to be sent after Apricus demanded photos of location of installation conditions. The tank sits on concrete… Read more

under the veranda. Now I have a plumbers bill as Apricus won't cover labour. It's not my or the plumbers fault that the product failed, Apricus should cover the plumbers bill because if their product didn't fail I wouldn't have needed the plumber ! Good product, terrible back up support.