Solar thermal Crossfitting leak

[toucan]

Morning,
This fitting is leaking at panel side (Hewalex) as marked. It looks like roof flashing will block removal of fitting to replace seal. If it doesn't come out, does anybody know how long the temp probe is and if it might be easy to bend it to enable removal of fitting. If bending isn't an option and it was cut, is it likely the probe end will sit in the panel pipework to be retrieved or dissappear into panel?


Have tried contacting the manufacturer but answers haven't been helpful

Hopefully this will be easier than getting roofers to go on roof and alter the flashing which is what local solar thermal company have said we need to do.

 

[Chuck]

Morning,
This fitting is leaking at panel side (Hewalex) as marked. It looks like roof flashing will block removal of fitting to replace seal. If it doesn't come out, does anybody know how long the temp probe is and if it might be easy to bend it to enable removal of fitting.

There are photos of various very similar looking kits on the Hewalex website. For example:

http://www.hewalex.eu/public/images/product/2.jpg
http://www.hewalex.eu/public/images/product/ZPKS (2)_20131210_025554.jpg

 

[toucan]

Thanks chuck. Yes I had found the panel diagram - not the blow up of the fitting though. It is still a bit vague. Have you worked with these before. if I get it out do you think I could fit an elbow in there to move whole assembly into roof space with probe in pipework just outside panel.

 

[Chuck]

Thanks chuck. Yes I had found the panel diagram - not the blow up of the fitting though. It is still a bit vague. Have you worked with these before. if I get it out do you think I could fit an elbow in there to move whole assembly into roof space with probe in pipework just outside panel.

I've never had hands-on so I'm not sure, and the following is just speculation in my part, call it food for thought:

It looks to me as though the probe is the length it is so that it samples the temperature inside the collector. If so, it presumably uses this information to decide whether to circulate through the collector or not. Your proposed modification is going to change the sampling position so it is inside the roof space, which may well affect the performance of the controls adversely.

So, I wouldn't make any modification without either getting the manufacturer's blessing or at studying the system and its controls until I was sure I understood exactly how it was supposed to work.

The trouble with solar systems is that they are installed to save money, and as a result high-quality maintainable systems have a hard time competing. Before spending a lot of money rennovating the existing system run the numbers and see whether it would make more sense to replace the hot water panels with a photovoltaic system.

 

[toucan]

Slow leak at the moment so I won't be rushing to dismantle just now. Thanks for your thoughts.