The Hotspot – Another step in geyser efficiency.

The Hotspot is a new and innovative product designed and built in South Africa. AET Africa based in East London have spent the last 18 months refining and testing this product to ensure it can deliver the results.

They also won the Youth-led Business Award in this year’s Global Clean Tech Innovation Programme for small and medium-sized enterprises.

https://www.timeslive.co.za/sebenza-live/features/2017-10-18-hot-spot-will-save-electricity/

It is a geyser element sleeve that fits over the element and channels the hot water to the top of the geyser where it can be used.

Essentially ,” Hot water.faster!”

In a geyser without Hotspot, the water would heat up as the element operates but due to the nature of hot and cold water, it would take hot water longer to reach the top of the geyser where it can be used for a shower or bath.

With the device, this time is drastically reduced as the hot water is channeled immediately to the top of the geyser where it can be tapped off without the long wait.

Hotspot Savings – controlled testing.

Having undergone thorough testing and measurement by engineers at the University of Fort Hare, Hotspot delivers some very compelling savings.

There were two different sets of tests conducted, the first in a controlled environment with measured volumes of water being drawn and the second in four different active households.

In the test case, a controlled volume of water was drawn off from two 150L geysers, one with and the other without Hotspot.

In total 300l of water was drawn off and then the results measured in terms of the power used by the geysers.

In the geyser without the Hotspot, the power meter measured 18,6 kWh while the geyser WITH the Hotspot measured 13,5 kWh for the same 300 l volume.

This is a very impressive saving of 27% or 5,1 Kwh.

Hotspot Savings – Residential Environment.

Since none of  us live in a lab, we needed to see how it would perform under normal working conditions.

So it was installed in 3 different households with varying occupants and usages.

The unit consistently delivered a 20% saving on energy usage in those environments.

Test 1 – 200 L Geyser ; 5 occupants :

Geyser usage (kWh) without Hotspot – 16,47 kWh

Geyser usage (kWh) with Hotspot – 12,97 kWh

Saving is 3,5kWh or 21,2%.

Test 2  – 150 L Geyser ; 3 Occupants:

Geyser usage (kWh) without Hotspot -6,73 kWh

Geyser usage (kWh) with Hotspot – 5,3

Saving -1,43 kWh or 21,2%

Test 3 – 150L Geyser – 5 Occupants:

Geyser usage (kWh) without Hotspot – 15,58kWh

Geyser usage (kWh) with Hotspot – 12,46

Saving – 3,12 Kwh or 20,02%.

Hotspot with controlled switching.

Where a timer or other form of geyser controller is used, this product would be even more effective as aside from the energy saving delivered from the timer, the Hotspot would allow hot water to be available faster for usage in the home and thus enable the geyser to be on for even less time.

The combination here would add significantly greater savings to homes where timers are already installed and with the price of the Hotspot at around R250 , it makes total sense to install this product as well.

Installation.

To install the unit is fairly simple.

1.  Switch the power to the geyser off at the DB Board.
2. Switch the water supply to the geyser off by closing the inlet valve.
3.  Drain the geyser either by opening hot water taps or by connecting a hose to the drain cock on the geyser.
4. Unscrew the base plate to access the element / thermostat.
5.  Fit the Hotspot over the element and thermostat and make sure the Hotspot is touching the base plate.
6. Replace the base plate with the element and thermostat.
7. Open the inlet valve and wait for the geyser to refill.
8. Switch on the power at the DB Board.

Get a Hotspot.

The Hotspot is available online for R349 including VAT and Delivery and you can order it below.