FEATURE
39
When an individual purchases a house it comes
with a water heater installed – he is not party to the
choice. Thereafter, it is covered by manufacturer’s
warranty and after that by the home insurance, which
determines its replacement. The result is there’s a very
low level of maturity in terms of energy efficiency in
South Africa among homeowners compared to other
regions like Europe. Although there is a SANS standard
10400-XA stipulating that 50% of water heating
energy shall come from alternative energy heating
sources, while building plans are duly signed off with
such a provision, it is rarely implemented in practice,
as enforcement is negligible in the inland provinces of
South Africa.
The evidence is that in the residential market,
500 000 water heaters are sold each year, of which
less than 40 000 are either solar heated (sales of
which have flatlined at about 24 000 over the past
five years after the huge spike from Eskom’s rebate
system) or heat pumps (10 000 to 15 000 systems),
a figure which isn’t close to half of 500 000.
The percentage of occupancy certificates which
are actually signed off is low. Considering the XA
regulation has been in force for nine years now, the
level of traction we have is less than 10%.
SA Heat Pump Engineers’, Godfrey Sutherland and Anton van Locherenberg.
The water heater replacement market in depressed
times such as these sits at around 60% to 65% of this
market. For heat pump suppliers, it has always been a
dilemma where to pitch the marketing drive for water
heaters: replacing a water heater happens about once
every ten years and it’s a grudge decision. So, one
gets minimal leverage from advertising in publications
targeting the consumer. Water heaters are also not
sold alongside appliances, and it also has to be
installed by a qualified plumber. It’s not something the
consumer buys over the counter. The two motivations
for a homeowner to install a heat pump (or solar
system) is a neighbour who raves about the savings he
is experiencing, or the rolling black-outs. Even in the
case of load shedding a heat pump is not much help
as it runs off electricity too, albeit just a third of the
traditional thermal water heater.
John Davis, technical manager at Gap Geysers, says
that while the company is a major supplier of all three
types of water heaters, he adds, “At the moment we
find the market in South Africa is not big enough to be
a serious part of it.”
“The market is certainly aware of heat pumps – the
challenge is that at approximately R18 000, it is an
expensive product when compared to an ordinary
geyser at R3 000 or even a solar water heater at
R9 000, thereby putting a cap on the market size.”
Another constraint on the market is that the average
plumber cannot install it – since it is more complex
to install than a traditional geyser it requires specialist
training and often accreditation to a supplier,” says
Davis.
The case for heat pumps
Heat pumps use substantially less electricity to heat
water than do resistance heaters such as geysers – by
how much, depends on their particular technology and
usage. All heat pumps have to declare their coefficient
March 2020 Volume 26 I Number 01
Niel Bosman, Stiebel Eltron Southern Africa technical
sales representative.
of performance (COP). Mines are major adopters of
heat pump technology. The 20-year lifespan of heat
pumps and modular design means that when a mine
runs out of ore, it can simply lift the heat pump and
relocate it to another mine. Mines utilise extremely
large heat pumps due to the demand for substantial
volumes of hot water in their staff shower-houses.
Heat pumps come in two forms: as a split pump with
an external attachment to the tank; or an integrated
pump where the two are combined. In a residence
where there is an existing geyser, it can be retrofitted
to accommodate a heat pump. Although the savings
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