WHY IS OUR SOLAR WATER HEATER FLAT-PACKABLE?
An honest review on the pros and cons of a flat-packable solar water heater
At SolarisKit, we have developed the world’s first flat-packable solar water heater. As with any innovation, the main purpose is either to solve a problem or improve a current solution. Even though there are a variety of features that make the SolarisKit S400 solar water heater unique, the fact that it is flat-packable is perhaps one of its most unique features. For this article, we will assess the pros
pros
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Most of the solar water heaters currently on the market are large and fragile, making them very expensive to ship. Especially for commercial use, shipping costs can be extortionate, and not very space efficient. Our flat packed design means we can fit a much larger number of units for transport, lowering the shipping costs and the number of vehicles needed to transport the units.
Transporting the units to remote areas is now facilitated, and there is unlikely to be damage to the collectors, compared to evacuated tube collectors that are prone to shattered glass.
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The fact that a SolarisKit box can fit in a much smaller space than other solar water heaters means that our design is cheaper to store and transport. This lowers costs along the entire supply chain, which makes our solar water heater more affordable to buy. For developing countries, this is exactly what we wanted to ensure.
Our research has shown that in South Africa, for housing developments, theft of expensive solar water heaters are common during the night. Being flat-packable and smaller than other solar water heaters, our collector can simply be taken inside during the night time to avoid theft.
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Less space consumed means more units transported for less. Compared to other solutions on the market, we are able to ship many more units without as large a carbon footprint. As a sustainability-focused company, we try to minimise our impact on the environment wherever we can. Even though our solution saves hundreds of kilograms of carbon compared to other methods of heating water, we still try and minimise our impact on the environment. This is one of the reasons why we fund the plantation of 25 trees per collector sold.
cons
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The disadvantage with a flat-packed design means that the collector is not assembled upon arrival. The collector arrives with all the components needed to assemble it, and it should take no longer than 15 minutes to assemble. A fully assembled design would take up more room, which would increase our carbon footprint and would mean that we are not able to fit in as many units into a vehicle. For this reason, we have chosen to package the collector unassembled.
Access the installation guide here.