Great Scott! It's An Install In New West

While taking the picture, Dan said the system was generating a significant amount of hot water.

Vancouverites aren’t the only ones enjoying the extra vitamin D during this mild west coast winter – so are the Scott’s in New Westminster. "We’ve been surprised on the days it has generated hot water,” says homeowner Dan Scott of his new solar hot water system. "When it’s cold but sunny we’d get a full tank."

Dan Scott had his thermodynamics system installed in October by SolarBC Registered Installers Solace Homeworks. The Scott’s decision to install solar hot water came about when their hot water tank needed to be replaced and they thought a good supplement would be solar. Their goals for the system include the reduction of the amount of natural gas they use in the house. While it’s too soon to tell how efficient their system has been, the amount of solar hot water they’ve gotten over the winter has surprised them.

"We weren’t sure how it would react below zero," Dan admits, "but we’ve been quite happy with it that way."

He says they knew about the grants available from SolarBC for residential homes after doing research on home improvements, and had their energy assessment done early in 2009. They looked for local installers in the area and came across Solace Homeworks.

"I called them and managed to get a gentleman by the name of Doug on the phone," Dan explains. "He is building a green home off-the-grid and mentioned his blog. We spoke for over an hour and through that talk I decided they knew what they were doing."

While he really liked everyone involved in the installation, it took longer than usual to get the job done due to time constraints and lack of certified installers. "It was a little bit frustrating but we’re not upset with them," said Dan, adding that they were extremely informative and he spent many hours talking about all things they could do to boost the energy efficiency of their house. "We would definitely use them again. They did a great job and attention to detail is very high."

Dan says they have received a number of comments about the system – especially while it was being installed and neighbours have shown a healthy amount of interest and curiosity in the process. He’s happy to be able to share the knowledge now as well, having learned a fair bit throughout the install. And while they have generated hot water over the winter they’re looking forward to watching it shine come summer. He says, "We’re telling the neighbours to come over and get their buckets filled with hot water."