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Frequently Asked Questions
How long will the payback be?
As everyone's energy usage is different it is hard to give an exact dollar amount on your paybacks, however your individual results will depend on how much excess solar you generate, and your hot water usage. As a rule of thumb we can safely say that a 5 kW system will provide 98% of your hot water needs.
What happens if there isn’t enough solar power to heat my water?
Green CATCH is trying hard every day to reach the thermostat cut-off to your hot water heater. If this cut-off is missed during the day from surplus solar, then the next time off-peak is available it will use the off-peak energy and heat to thermostat cut-off. This way you never run out of hot water.
What is the best setting to have Green CATCH on?
There are many Green CATCH owners that leave the unit in Solar Only mode, thereby only using surplus solar to heat their hot water. During poor solar weather (a few wet days in a row or in winter), this mode may not be enough to keep your water hot. In this case use the Boost 2.5hrs or the Boost 5hrs to supplement the solar during the day.
Will CATCH boost from off-peak for the full 2.5 or 5 hours each night?
Green CATCH is always looking to as much surplus solar as possible while not running out of water hot. If solar conditions are poor, and the unit is in the 2.5hrs boost mode, then CATCH will intuitively use the off-peak for a maximum of 2.5 hours, or if thermostat cut-off is reached. The next day thermostat cut-off may be reached the next morning. In this case CATCH decides that too much off-peak was used and reduces the off-peak boost time by 12.5%, which means more energy will come from the solar panels. If there is a string of sunny weather the overnight boost could reduce to nothing, so that all of your hot water energy is coming from the solar panels. If thermostat cut-off is reached after midday, the reduction of the overnight boost time discontinues.
What is the installation process?
CATCH must to be installed by a qualified electrician. CATCH Power have a network of installers that we can recommend to you, or your local electrician can do the job. Installation manuals are available on this site.
What happens during cloudy weather?
In the Boost 2.5hrs and Boost 5hrs modes CATCH will automatically allow the off-peak to come on to make sure that you don't run out of hot water. If thermostat cut-off is not reached through the day via solar then CATCH will use the off-peak energy to drive the tank all the way to thermostat cut-off. The next day the boost of 2.5hrs or 5hrs will start again.
How complicated is the configuration?
Coordinating Solar output and Hot Water heating is very complex, especially if you are trying to optimise your dollar savings, but with CATCH you don’t need to worry about any of it, CATCH will work out how best to run things intuitively, you just get it installed and walk away.