Solahart J Series

Cheap Rubbish !! – Replaced my 35yr old Solar Edwards with a Solahart J collector, it did work well and in lower sunlight conditions but the tank needs replacing after 8 years, warranty is only 5 years, Never again Show details

Solahart 302J 20 years - still going strong, – I have 3x 302J's, 1 on each of my rental properties in Karratha WA, never touched them, but I can expext something to go wrong now (Murphy's Law) sunshine 350 days a year, the boosters are seldom used, 1 at my home in Kalbarri WA, sunshine 330 days a year, the booster is used in the morning after a cold winters night or a few cloudy winter… Read more

days,

replaced the tank at 5 years, high salt content in town water, sacrificial anode had completely disolved,

Solahart replaced tank on warranty, had to pay change out expenses - can't have everything for free,

but heres a free tip, check anode often and replace when required, there are plenty of DYI videos on Youtube,

only downside I can think of - they expensive to purchase, not much to them, surely they should be cheaper,

Cheers,

Solahart has failed us – We bought a Solahart Solar Hot Water & Booster package - after 6 years, the Gas Booster just kept blowing continuously and the tank sprang a leak. The plastic cover over the LED had fallen off, letting water into the booster behind the cover. Solahart don't actually have a tech/ maintenance dept themselves like a normal company, they just… Read more

outsource

everything to different plumbers who are owner/ operators trading as

"Solahart" , who are resellers. So they just want to make money. They

don't really want to investigate and fix the problem with the units.

Without even trying to analyse the fault properly on the booster, they

just quoted $1500 to replace it. Same with leaking tank. Summary

assessment, quote for full replacement, $176 call out so far and nothing

achieved. Then they push you to make a decision. They know you need hot

water!

So I emailed Solahart (because you can't actually call them, you just get

diverted to a plumber/ reseller) and the "State Manager" called me back.

He took no responsibility, said they never have problems usually, warranty

expired, said it didn't matter than the water could get into the booster

because the plastic cover fell off. As if! Water and weather getting inside

the sealed unit and circuit boards. He didn't want to admit anything. He

just said I should get the reseller/plumber back to service the units on

my other townhouses which would cost me about $400-500 plus parts.

So I got my usual plumber to install a brand new non-solar instantaneous

Thermann with a 12 year guarantee I bought from Reece - $1200 all up with

labour. Even if there's only something minor wrong with their equipment,

there's nowhere to drop it off because Solahart themselves don't have a

workshop. So it will go in the bin.

Maybe Solahart was good once. Don't risk it. They don't care.

302J – Purchased unit from new and installed with our new home. 8 years old, tank starting to corrode and requires replacing. Very expensive exercise every 5-8 years, that's if we need to keep changing. Not impressed as our warranty is covered for only 5 years. Looking at installing a hot water gas system. Cheaper to install than paying $3000 on ave every 5-8years.  Show details

Solarhart rubbish – The system has completely failed and is only 12 years old. The tank is corroding and now it won't even work as a hot water cylinder. Absolute rubbish. Bad design and badly made. The whole system will have to be replaced. I would strongly advise against purchasing one of these systems.  Show details

Great service from Newcastle – Had my Solahart hotwater system for five years. Fixed faceing north. Had a thermostat go, which they fixed promptly under warranty.. Only use on off peak power if several days of heavy cloud. The service and expertise was great. I dont have any complaints. Its still going strong. So I am very pleasd.

like solahart do not remember what series was – We had the black chrome in Perth for 9 years from 86-until we sold the house, changed false anode twice, other than that was no problems. had plenty hot water, a few times over boiled in summer, and the relief valve gone for 10 minutes. 2 weeks rainy winter time when had to turn booster on for a few hours and no more problems ( 2 adults, 3… Read more

children)

had another solahart in Brisbane, 3 years we were happy with it, never used booster until sold property (3 adults)

Peter

Ps like the system, but they getting more and more greedy the price is tooooooooo much

Solahart Solar Hot Water Heater Review – We purchased our system in 2010 and it was installed in late August of 2010. In early Oct 2015, we had the company we purchased the unit from (Heliocol West) come out to perform the recommended 5 year maintenance (our unit was 62 months old). We were told the entire collection system had failed and we would have to replace the unit at a cost of… Read more

$6000. We were two months out of warranty and neither Heliocol West or SolaHart would help us. We were told upon purchase we could expect 20 to 30 years of life from the unit and in some cases 40. We could not even make the first recommended service. The cost to heat water for the two of us over the last 5 years has been about $100/month, not exactly what we expected when we installed a solar hot water system. Statistically, it is virtually impossible that the unit did not have a manufacturer defect or was installed improperly, but Heliocol West or Solahart refuse to stand behind their product.

302J installed in 1995, never had a problem – In summer we don't need the booster and in winter we switch it on for a few hours at night if needed, we live in Sydney and the system is orientated directly north. Have had all 5 yearly services done (next one coming up shortly), panels are cleaned regularly and it's still going strongl Would definitely buy it again.

Solarhart heat pump – Dont ever be tempted to buy the crap,,no matter who tells you what and what discounts you may get,,"do not touch one" biggest piece of crap i ever had the misfortune to own, broken again,,$132 for 1/2 to look at it and $77 per 1/2 hour after that plus parts,, something along the lines of elextrolux who seem to own everything except solarhart today, bloody crooks,,selling shoddy crap

Extremely Disappointed!! – Have just realised I have posted this to the wrong model/series. Have Transferred all details to the correct series which is the KF Series. Sorry for any misunderstanding this has caused but we didn't notice we had posted to the wrong one as we had been looking through them all.

Its Dead – So our solarhart limped on for another 2.5 years, scalding you in the summer and giving you a lukewarm bath in the winter... It finally died! I had to "recharge" with tap water (closed circuit system) and the system leaked out in a day. Okay, not quite dead, but close enough. I'm surprised nothing else has gone wrong - seriously, there is that… Read more

much rot in the tank that barely anything is holding it together... Probably old scale, scum and legionella (which is bound to happen soon).

And because of the ridiculous pricing of a new, equivalent sized system, guess what? We are switching to electric (theres no gas supply here...) heat pump is impossible, as the plumbing is too expensive to alter, and heat pump on the roof is weird, so we are switching to an electric system - which can squish in on the roof, and won't be damaged).

Electric costs around $1000 per year to run... It costs $5000 + installation + on-going costs for solahart here - so it'll take around 5 years to pay that off based on electric usage costs, besides, we know some tricks to making the electric systems more efficient (turn it down to 120ºf/48ºc or even 45ºc), and saving $200 per year!

With all respect, solahart need to seriously re-consider their service, build quality and pricing. Why pay $2000 for a solar system, which is installed badly, lasts just 12 years and requires frequent servicing? If they built their stuff to last, more people would purchase solar, rather than gas or heat-pumps... Thats obviously why there is still a market for those systems, isn't that right?

Our system is a 1984 panel mated to a 1990's tank - so we got up to 20 years from the tank, though i'm guess its a little newer than that. I'm impressed with the panel though, although it used heating fluid, rather than regular water to operate! Survived 2.5 years of dodgy operation Too expensive, Too many on-going costs, bad life expectancy, poor build quality, Cold water when its needed, hot when its not...

Terrible – would not purchase solar hart again ,but if you ring solarhart centres to purchase solar and ask them how long unit would last they will tell you approx 20 -30 yrs ,if serviced properly .BULLSHIT11 Would be good system if had longativity and reliabilty I dislike that i have had unit for 9 years in Brisbane and solar tank is u/s, And now running… Read more

on boost switch all time until i replace solar tank. Spoke with solar hart not interested .Had 5 year service when due, said tank coolant level low not holding pressure but solar techs can not explain to me why this has happened.!!

installed in 1984 - still going strong – we installed a solarhart into our new home in Newcastle NSW in 1984 & it cost about $1200 . In that time I have replaced the cold water valve twice & hot water valve once. It has never been "serviced" by solar hart & is still going strong. In a really bad year we would spend $50 on hot water but most years it is less than $20. No problems, have not had solarhart near the unit since the day it was imstalled reliable, efficent

Terrible – The $2365.00 I paid for the system in Sept.1997 was not worth it. What with ongoing cost of inspection and replacement of the sacrificial anode this system has proved more expensive than a conventional hotwater system would have. So much for Solarharts advertised 25 to 30 years life expectancy - more like 11 years! Next time I go stainless steel… Read more

tank with no ongoing cost of sacrificial anodes. Lowers realtime electricity bill when the sun is shinning. Not worth the cost. I bought the Solarhart L series 11years ago and the tank has rusted from the outside - in through the flimsy sealing inspection cover at one end. On the ocean front the sea spray has made short work of the steel tank.

OK – I love the fact that it is hot 'all of the time'. Don't believe it has a huge effect on my electricity account. It requires yearly 'services' and a $500 every 5 year service. In the end all of those costs could add up to the supposed saved electricity fees. So, apart from the 'always hot', I would not purchase one of these, should I have the… Read more

choice. Our Solahart hot water system was already installed when we purchased out home. It is always hot, which we love, with the booster to keep it hot during cloudy days. I still have a very high electricity account; Now it needs some part replacing, as it is rusted!!! Why, oh why would you put a rustable part on a solar system that is in the sun and weather 24 hours per day, 7 days per week? So hopefully tomorrow we will have hot water again, when it has been repaired.

Bad – I much prefer thwe Solar Edwards system with a stainless steel tank than the steel tank in the Solahart J series. Go solar go Solar Edwards with Titan panels. Love solar hot water as it does save money. Especially in WA with lots of sunshine. I've have the 300 litre tank and my parents the 150 litre tank and both didn't last more than ten years… Read more

before they began to corrode, leak and required replacing. With the Gov't rebates it worked out better to replace the whole unit. Parents went again with Solahart and I went with Solar Edwards with Titan panels, which has been a much better system than the Solahart.

OK – Initially they seemed good, good follow up, customer service etc but after some installation issues and realising what they hadn't told us about the rebates, feeling disappointed. Seems to be working okay, after initial poor installation (leaks) were fixed. During the sales pitch they don't mention some of the requirements to receive the rebate… Read more

such as: family taxable income must be less than $100K in previous year; and if you have received the Home Insulation rebate then you can't get the solar rebate. We specifically asked what rebates we would be eligible for, they said yes based on our old hot water system, no mention of the above. Very disappointing.

After installation we were left with a leaking pipe which had not been welded together, just pushed together. Our plumber said it looked like they were not professional plumbers from the work they had done.

Good – I live in Canberra and have had the Solarhart for 19+ years including going years without using the booster. I find that even in the worst overcast winter weather with booster off at mains water will still be warm enough to shower. The coldest it gets is about the temperature of the indoor heated swimming pool. Most of the time there is abundant… Read more ·  1

and very hot water. Have had it serviced twice, had the thermostat replaced once and booster changed to off peak. Still going strong at present. Would give a higher rating based on my own use but have never used other brands to compare with and I also read the other reviews. Can provide year round hot water for no or little electricity cost. I like to be connected to nature and when living alone with only occassional visitors leave the booster off year round. The servicing costs are considerable and many phonecalls later I still have not been able to arrange for the latest (now over due) service.