Solar Water Heater – History of Significance
The history of the ethics of Sola-Kleen company goes back to just after World War II. Ex-prisoner of war in Crete, Clarry Small turned his plumbing skills to a new concept for generating domestic hot water, the solar water heater. He was one of the pioneers of the industry setting up business in Western Australia in the 1950s.
The CSIRO, spearheaded by scientist Roger Morse, had done the science and developed a new thermo siphon concept at that time. The first two licensees of this scientific break through at the time were Clarry Small and Ron Brown. Ron Brown’s closed couple low pressure system went on to became a proof of concept for the famous solar water heater system developed and industrialised by SW Hart, another Western Australian company.
The Small’s system started as a low-pressure system and was constructed as a solar water heater strategically placed in the roof space. A mains pressure heat exchanger was added much later. These systems were built of copper and aluminum to be robust against corrosion.
In the late 1980s, after Clarry Smalls’s death, Malcolm Gilmour the current owner and director of the newly renamed ‘Sola-Kleen’ business purchased the Small’s Solar Water Heater.
As a self-taught thermal engineer, Clarry Small was a practical genius and numerous of the original systems have kept operating for over 50 years. In an age of unbridled consumerism and planned obsolescence, this approach to product design is unheard of these days, early in the 21st century. But with a new fresh understanding of the strengths of the business and the ongoing philosophy, that is about to start changing.
The growing realization of Climate Change and its threats to mankind and the economic ravages of fast depleting fossil fuels, is going to change consumer sentiments from cheap throw away technologies to those built to last.
Clarry Small was a very solid practical and ethical character and the solar water heater systems that are still repaired and maintained and even installed on occasion by Sola-Kleen, formed the ethos that has permeated the business to this day. Malcolm Gilmour’s genuine commitment to quality is refreshing and inspires those who know him, as did Clarry during his personal and business life. Malcolm Gilmour, a practical genius in his own right applied his sound business principles to continue the product development where the Small’s “Sola-Heeta” left off.
Conquering Corrosion
As a corrosion specialist with a background in chemistry, Malcolm set about continuing this ethical approach pioneered by Clarry Small. One of the first industrial design jobs Malcolm undertook after buying the Small’s company was to design from first principles a copper system for a thermosiphon hot water system configuration. This positive and intelligent approach to corrosion has ensured that solar water heaters produced by Sola-Kleen systems can last 2 -3 times longer than equivalent mass-produced brands.
Innovation and True Sustainability
The company has an innovative approach to design that has kept them in the domestic market for over 30 years.
In my opinion the features of technological solutions to achieving ecological, economic and social sustainability are:
- Technology that can be built to last. The maximization of the benefits of the embodied energy is a crucial way for conserving energy in the built environment.
- Conquering corrosion is critical for achieving this longevity of the product.
- Recyclability of the system is imperative for all the materials in the system.
- Ability for the product to be made by hand and downscaled as well as mass-produced, is a great way to transfer the technology to regional areas and countries where the labour is cheap and the markets small.
- Originality of the design is necessary to prevent plagiarism and IP problems with aggressively marketed products, ensuring the ability to trade anywhere on the planet.
- Combine ‘hi-tech’ solutions integrated with ‘low tech’ procedures to ensure maximum efficiency.
- Have a team and leadership open to new ideas to create a diversity of products and systems that are synergistic to the solar energy strategy.
- Ensuring a focus on customer service that ensures proper maintenance ad capital replacement of the system and its components.
Sola-Kleen scores very highly in all the above categories.
Their value for money and customer focus is second to none.
The small extra price premium for their solarwater heater systems is very worthwhile. Over 30 years a customer is well ahead economically.
Upper Market Solutions
For this reason their solar water heater products and components are ideally placed for entry into upper market homes where longevity and reliability of products is of highest priority.
The last thing people want is to have troubles with a solar water heater system in a luxury or upper-market home. Sola-Kleen fit this market sentiment perfectly.
Grid Connect PV
Sola-Kleen has now entered the market with PV systems. Malcolm Gilmour has decided to apply the same principles of quality, low maintenance and customer care that is applied to the solar water heater business.
Solar Water Heater by Solar-Kleen is Clean Energy
Solar-e.com endorses the ethical approach of Sola-Kleen with its range of products. With sustainability being the focus for the world for the rest of this century, this company has the potential to make a mark and shift the culture of manufacturing the solar water heater so modern economies can become more increasingly based on a solar economy as the great and late Dr Hermann Scheer has professed for over the last 30 years.
Review by By Garry Baverstock AM, April, 2011
For those wishing to know more about the solar water heater produced by the company please downloads of the following company produced material in pdf format:
- Introduction to Sola-Kleen Products
- Photo Gallery of Sola-Kleen PV/Solar Water heater products (Same PDF as above).
This was an interesting history – I had no idea of the story behind Sola-Kleen, but I do know them to be a great customer-service company. It’s always interesting to know something of the background – the ethics of this company show in their efficient and helpful service to customers.
I visited their factory earlier this year – what a pleasure to find someone actually manufacturing an important product in Australia.
When you see the clean, orderly layout of their manufacturing plant it gives confidence in the management. Our solar hot water system was installed 6 years ago and we love it.
Julia Hayes recently posted..The Alexa Toolbar Popularity Contest
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A long way to go for your company, you got the most quality and reliable product.
hallygirl recently posted..Budgeting Tips
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Hello Garry, You have a very useful product here. This is one good way of conserving energy and reducing the warmth in this world.
Kisha recently posted..How I Jump Higher
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that was a pretty interesting history of a great product!
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It is a 60 year history of a company with great ethics, starting with Clarry Small and the Small’s Sola-Heeta, and then Malcolm Gilmour who took the product to a new level of sophistication.
There are plans with this company to add extra innovation to ensure that a 20 year warranty is achievable. This is unheard of in the solar water heating industry.
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We should patronize companies like this. Good for you. Keep on going I know you will go a long way with your true objectives.
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I enjoy your site – I would like to talk with you about buying ad space here granted you do that. Hit me up at the email I provided and we can talk about, thanks mate.
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Please look at the contact us section of the site. It has all the rates there.
garrbaverstock recently posted..“So you want to know the facts about Solar Energy ?”
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Great product, all copper system. The old one that was all copper lasted over 20 years and only failed due to a poor quality valve made by a third party being too expensive to replace.Sola-Kleen was chosen due to efficiency. Why pump hot water down when it naturally rises. Silly logic to use pumps and ground level water tanks in many situations. Unfortunately Sola Kleen used contractors to install my system who did a very sub-standard job.
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Thanks for the feedback Lowela. 20 years is excellent. Some have lasted a lot longer.
In Australia these days finding good installers and subcontractors is very difficult. I guess all hot water systems manufacturers and customers alike suffer from this problem. I know for good reason that there are changes underway at Sola-Kleen to resolve and improve customer service with the installation of these systems.
On my own home I installed a competitors brand and had horrible issues after only 3 years. This was mainly due to the plumber who installed the system originally creating a headache for the supplier.
However I am sure there are many cases of people who have installed conventional equipment have had similar experiences. It is not a problem for solar water heaters generally. Customer service across the board with insulation installers, air conditioners, heating equipment etc all have great room for improvement.
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Sola-KLeen products helped me save money on my electric bills. Not only that! There is also a corresponding reduction on pollution. Solar-powered systems in general, a solar water heater may or may not be ideal for your particular circumstances. But it does offer some significant benefits that could make it worth the effort to make it work.
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