hirtag:

We moved into a old cottage in the south of scotland last year and its in an area with no gas and the heating in the house is by a coal/wood burning stove in the living room heating the water and the radiators. Its very efficient and since ive just bought 22 ton of wood from the local forrest its also economical to run. Problem arises in the summer when no fire is on so it would have to be the emmersion on electric.

 

The actual plumbing was a bit archaic and the hot water tank was tiny and uninsulated in the cold loft. I removed the old plumbing, fitted new water tank that was highly insulated and fitted a twenty tube solar panel at the same time. One year on and a crappy summer later we have had hot water all summer (electric 9.5 Kw shower removed) and only about five times did we put the emersion on as the sky has been so gray for a wee boost.

 

During the winter we also had some input on any day when the sun is out or actually hazy. The previous writter pointed out that Australia is hot ....well actually solar panel dont work on heat but infra red radiation so you dont need to be in a hot country just one with sun.

 

Since it works here in Scotland it should work anywhere we just get less hours of it at a lower angle   
            

Yes but being hot doesn't hurt. Since the water is passing out to the panel it will lose/gain heat to or from the outside. In Australia you will almost always go the whole summer with enough steaming hot (and I mean steaming hot!) water for a family of 5 adults. Perhaps you'd get away with enough water for a family of 2 or 3 there but try having a family of 5 and not having to boost every day. I personally would invest in a wind turbine which would provide power (potentially) 24 hours a day compared to the 12 hours on average that the panels can heat water and you also have the benefit of the turbine providing energy throughout the year and giving you more "average" electricity bills because you will still bet getting benefit in winter too. That is of course if it's windy enough and you have somewhere good to mount the turbine.

This is the sort of solar hot water heating we use in Australia. www.solahart.com.au/ As opposed to most if not all systems I've seen here the water never actually goes into the panel itself. A glycol liquid (basically like your car coollant) goes through to the panel which then flows through a sleeve around the tank that holds the water.