this post was submitted on 29 Sep 2024
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Pretty much all houses in Greece have this and no, it is only good for the summer or sunny days. But still it is a no brainer, unlimited free hot water during the summer and limited free hot water during most days.
The tricky part is calculating whether it was sunny enough(during the winter) to produce enough hot water for your shower or if you need to turn on the electric water heater.
Some greeks pre-emptively turn on the electric heater for 15-30 mins, other more financially stressed greeks prefer to gamble.
Couldn't you just have a thermostat on the tank
You could, but the idea is to only heat water when necessary (there isn't enough hot water and you need to take a shower), keeping it hot all the time is wasteful.
Running a thermostat 15-30 minutes before the hot water is needed would only consume electricity if the water is not already hot. You probably want a well insulated accumulator tank with one of these systems to not lose the energy produced as well.
Where I'm from the heating utility was turned on last week and will remain on until April. To me, running a heater for 30 minutes/day during winter seems acceptable:D