SunPlus Solar

Great system Great Service – Great system now being installed by the Phazer Team. Not a contractor. We bought the 325 Litre 18 Tube model. Couldn't beleive their system could out perform the larger collectors but we had enough water for 2 adults and 6 kids, pretty much all year round. Did about 6 weeks in the last 12 months with the electric back up.

Very good product, bad installation, such a pity. A little more effort and we would sing praises – I have a Solarplus system. It has 18 (parabolic mirror) evacuated tubes, Aquamax 315 litre VE tank and Rennai 20 instant gas boost. The system was not installed well and leaked through my roof in the first day due to solar panel hot water pipes sagging and being exposed melting cold water plastic pipes in my ceiling. The solar pump failed to work… Read more

which caused the pipes to overheat and sag the copper pipes exposing copper and melting the plastic pipes. The company responded and come and cleaned up the roof area and fixed everything up and replaced the pump (which is a Grundfoss which is a good brand). They also had to replace a bedroom ceiling fan and clean a doona, replace roof insulation. This was done immediately.

They had poor insulation methods on copper pipework, bad positioning of the gas instant heat unit, weeping pipework, poor electrical connections, initially low flow to the roof system, poorly installed roof panels. Now all these have been resolved mainly by the company although I did do some myself as at that stage I was upset and was over the installer coming back.

I had to go and redo many of the connections as they weeped. Had to have the orifice in the pipe after the circulation pump removed as the panel flow was too low. Went and redid some of the pipework insulation as it was not well done. Found connecting wires just twisted together and taped over rather than good connections so soldered and heatshrinked them. replaced the black box controller with a digital one that shows tank out temperature, roof tube inlet and outlet temperature so I can see how it is working. Perhaps at this stage I had become very anal-retentive about it all as I like things done properly and not just rough enough.

This system had 18 CPC tubes which have mirrors behind them to give additional gain. I have had added another 6 tubes as I felt it wasnt giving the heat it should. In summer its now too hot and I have to cover 1 panel for 2 months but this gives more heating in winter. I guess the design is based on trouble free and peak summer conditions (same as all the other brands). Their design in retrospect is fair and adequate for the majority of users.

So all in all, I am very happy with the product. They do use quality products, its just a pity about the bad installation. If I had a need to buy another (which it looks like I will) I would through this company again mainly because its a good product, however I would consider having it installed by a more reliable installer. I would recommend this over flat panel systems in general. This is based on the performance to date and my reading of many reviews on all systems.

This should have been a good experience for us, but was spoiled because of the bad install. I would recommend people go to solar hot water based on how our system is performing.

Do your homework and read as many reviews as you can and get a number of quotes before purchasing. Don't believe the sales hype and become fully informed. Performs well and does as specified. Bad installation, leaking pipes, badly fitted out, poor supervision of the job