Once the panels were on the roof the connecting up with compression fittings and the flexible hoses was simple. I spent no more than twenty minutes in the loft and some of that was setting up a high level air vent. Filling the system with the heat transfer fluid requires a fill pump of some sort. I used a Hilmor pressure testing pump to put the fluid in and pressurise it to one and a half bar.

You also, in theory need a power flushing machine to drive out the air. Being a man of limited financial means I have a twin impeller shower pump linked up to an F&E tank and it works perfectly well. When the fluid runs clear in the site glass on the pump station you shut off the valves peel the blue film off the panels and pray for a bit of sun. In truth solar panels are a long term investment, though it is getting shorter as fuel prices soar, but every system I have installed so far has been a major success and each job generates another by word of mouth.

There is a great feel good factor about them and customers immediately forget the money they have spent and start rejoicing in all the ‘free heat’ they are getting. What surprised this customer was just how much heat they got from the panel even on a rainy day.

Having run solar in my house for three years now I know that there are plenty of days in the winter when I can raise 210ltr cylinder by 40 deg cent which leaves the boiler very little to do in the way of topping up. In the summer my 2 panels give so much hot water that I don't know what to do with it. The Halstead system is a good one, and I would be happy to fit one again but Solar seems to be another area where manufacturers are content to produce 'me too' products and it's crying out for some original thinking.

Halstead have informed us that the instruction manual has been rewritten since our original comments.

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