Halton Housing

Vaillant has supplied Halton Housing Trust (HHT) with a solar thermal heating and hot water system and whole house heating system, as part of a pilot project investigating renewable energy sources and efficient methods of heating sheltered housing.  HHT has been working with Sure Maintenance on the installation, which is located in Wavertree Avenue in Widnes.

Two Vaillant VFK 145 solar panels were fitted on the roof of the property, along with a 200-litre auroSTOR cylinder, high efficiency ecoTEC plus boiler and an intelligent Vaillant control system.

John Robinson, Investment Programme Officer for HHT, explained: “The equipment was extremely straightforward to install.  Everything was completed, including the fitting of the solar thermal panel, inside three days.  It was even possible to house some equipment in certain roof spaces, due to space being limited within the dwelling.”

Furthermore, Vaillant was able to provide performance information in relation to the levels of energy generated, outlining costs both in terms of initial set up and ongoing maintenance, as well as the split usage between solar and the boiler within the property.  This allowed HHT to show how this would benefit both the Trust and the customer, and then benchmark this against standardised HE (condensing) systems.

John Robinson continued: “The solar panel is the primary source of energy within the dwelling, while the condensing boiler acts as back-up once the solar energy is used.  During certain times of the year, such as the summer, it is not expected that the boiler will be used as much, but during the colder months, if the demand for heating and hot water is too excessive, the boiler can assist when demand is high.”

“The estimated split usage throughout the year is 75% from solar and 25% from the boiler.  The property in Wavertree Avenue will use approximately 17,066kW hours of energy over the next 12 months.  This means that, based on current average costs for gas, our customer will be saving an estimated £128 each year.  As this is estimated at the lowest level of solar contrition, between 50 and 60 percent, the actual savings could turn out to be even higher.”