Liz and I put on a solar hot water heater. We chose a "solco genius 300 litre" unit (see ... hmmm ... try
http://home.vicnet.net.au/~multist/solartech.html for a picture). Basically it is a solar hot water heater with electric boost. We use off-peak electricity, and spend $10 to $20 a quarter in off-peak electricity (add $5 per quarter for the "access charge"). Can be hooked up to a wet-back, but we haven't done that. It isn't a full-pressure system, so to get our flick-mixer taps to work properly we added an electric pressure booster pump (to match the pressure of our cold water).
It has been on the roof for almost 2 years.
John Barlow
straw-bale owner-builder
http://www.guru.com.au/farm/
