Dumpload Waterheater

[rrebel]

Hello Everybody thanks voor accepting me.

I live in Aruba and have a 30 panel Enphase system. My energy supplier has limited surplus feed-in of 4000Watt. During peak hours i produce more energy. This results in a 1 hour cutoff by my smart meter.

I was hoping to find a simple way take 2 or 3 panels from the grid and connect them to my water heater. I rather would like to do this without battery's is don't like our extreem hot climate. Looking for a simple solution.

 

[snoobler]

Welcome to the forum.

Making sure I understand:

You have a grid-tied system larger than 4kW.
Your utility only allows you to export 4kW of surplus energy.
You want to capture "excess" solar in your water heater.

I don't see connecting panels to your water heater as beneficial.

I would assume your water heater is already powered by your home electrical system and can already use power from the array.

Wouldn't just turning on the water heater during peak solar capture any surplus energy?

It seems you could simply shift your water heater usage to ensure that it's powered primarily during peak solar hours via a timer.

 

[rrebel]

Hi Snoobler,

All above is correct.

Right now the waterheater is also connect to the grid. It has a timer that set to peak hours. But the water heater heats all water in about 20min at 4KW. After that my production/surplus is too high again and my energy is cut off by my smart meter for 1 hour.

I was thinking to take 3 panels off my grid so i wil never overproduce. Those 3 panels i would like to use to build a "offgrid" waterheating system.

 

[Q-Dog]

You could run the clotheswasher or dishwasher during peak hours.

 

[rrebel]

You could run the clotheswasher or dishwasher during peak hours.

Yes i understand but i need something that works everyday. Without having the risk i get the 1 hour cutoff or need to do something manual.
Since i shower everyday the hot water will be needed everyday.

Except holidays but then i can just switch some panels off.

 

[snoobler]

The problem is your system is not well suited to breaking panels out.

Ultimately, everything is "grid powered," i.e., if there is no grid, you get no power as the inverters won't provide power if they're not attached to a grid.

Your water heater is grid-tied too. In order to "attach 3 panels" to your water heater, you will need to remove it from the grid, thus it can ONLY be powered by the solar, and you'd have to create a "mini-grid" exclusively for it. You could ditch the inverters, but "3 panels" in DC may provide insufficient voltage/current to effectively power the heater.

It sounds like you're array is simply too powerful. Have you considered just removing some of the panels to provide better balance?

Can the enphase system be programmed to export no more than 4000W?

 

[solar8484]

Hello Everybody thanks voor accepting me.

I live in Aruba and have a 30 panel Enphase system. My energy supplier has limited surplus feed-in of 4000Watt. During peak hours i produce more energy. This results in a 1 hour cutoff by my smart meter.

I was hoping to find a simple way take 2 or 3 panels from the grid and connect them to my water heater. I rather would like to do this without battery's is don't like our extreem hot climate. Looking for a simple solution.

Not sure of the power standards in Aruba but it's similar to UK/EU then you may want to check out solar diversion controllers (e.g. iBoost, Immersun, etc.) that are used for your purpose of heating water to avoid feed-in.

Alternatively, if you have newer Enphase inverters (e.g. iQ7) you may consider Enphase's export limiting solutions to avoid temporary disconnection by your utility.