Timers' vs. CATCH Power
- CATCH Power
- Feb 21, 2025
- 3 min read
Why CATCH Power is Smarter Than Simple Timers for Hot Water Heating
When it comes to maximising solar savings, homeowners have traditionally used timers to heat their hot water when they have solar. While this approach can work, it's far from the most efficient way to manage energy use. CATCH Power's intelligent control system outperforms simple timers in both cost savings and efficiency, ensuring your hot water is heated with as much excess solar energy as possible while avoiding expensive grid power.
Timers vs. CATCH Power: A Cost Comparison
A timer can help shift some of your hot water heating to solar energy, but what happens when your solar generation doesn't align perfectly with your timer settings? If a timer is set to run from 10 AM – 2 PM, but it's cloudy or someone in the home uses power at the same time, you may end up pulling energy from the grid. Worse yet, that grid power is charged at peak rates, wiping out any potential savings.
Let’s break down the numbers:
A standard hot water system uses around 7kWh per day
Off-peak electricity costs $0.20/kWh
General supply (peak) costs $0.35/kWh
Feed-in Tariff (FiT) pays just $0.05/kWh
With a timer, you might achieve 60% solar charging on average, meaning the remaining 40% of your heating is from the grid. If that 40% comes from peak-rate electricity at $0.35/kWh, the cost quickly adds up.
If the hot water system is left on off - Peak at a rate of $0.20/kWh, this equates to $1.40 per day.
With 60% of this cost being offset by solar, the actual cost is:
60% of 7kWh = 4.2kWh @ $0.05 = $0.21
40% of 7kWh = 2.8kWh @ $0.35 = $0.98
Total cost per day: $0.21 + $0.98 = $1.19
Daily savings: $0.21
As timers age or power outages occur, the time setting can lose accuracy, shifting the savings further away.
How CATCH Power Saves You More
Green CATCH on a 5 kW system will typically offset around 90-95% of your hot water usage, let's say 10% of your hot water heating comes from the grid—and unlike timers, Green CATCH has a secondary input allowing this to come from off peak - not peak rates. Green CATCH starts diverting at as little as 500W making it our most efficient method of hot water heating, especially for small solar systems. CATCH Control will typically offset 75% of your hot water heating from Solar alone, and allows for you to determine when a top up mode operates, allowing you to work in with cheaper energy rates.
Annual cost comparison:
Doing Nothing and Leaving on Off-Peak: $511 per year
Timer (60% solar, 40% peak grid): Savings $76.65 per year
CATCH Control (75% solar, 25% off-peak grid): Saving $287.44 per year
Green CATCH (90% solar, 10% off-peak grid): Saving $344.93 per year
Real-Time Energy Management
One of the biggest advantages of CATCH Control over timers is that it reads real-time export data, ensuring your system only turns on when enough excess solar energy is available. This means:
If cloud cover rolls in, CATCH Control automatically adjusts to prevent unnecessary grid usage.
If someone comes home for lunch and starts using power, CATCH Control adapts in real-time.
Top-up modes allow scheduled heating when cheaper energy prices are available.
If you're heading away on holidays, you can prioritise grid exports and not self consumption remotely from your phone.
CATCH Control: More Than Just Hot Water
CATCH Control is not just a hot water controller—it offers full energy management for your home. Unlike simple timers, CATCH Control integrates with your inverter, eliminating the need to purchase a separate native energy meter, dramatically reducing the initial investment cost.
Additionally, CATCH Control is designed to comply with Flexible Export Programs, ensuring your system meets evolving grid requirements. With a single device, CATCH Control allows homeowners to manage multiple Consumer Energy Resources (CERs), including:
Inverters
Batteries
Hot water systems
EV chargers
Air conditioners
With all these capabilities combined into one system, CATCH Control is the ultimate smart energy management solution, ensuring maximum solar savings and grid compliance.
Why Simple Timers Fall Short
Timers operate on a fixed schedule, regardless of how much solar is available. This can lead to:
Unintended grid usage at peak rates ($0.35/kWh), significantly reducing savings.
No flexibility—if solar conditions change or household energy use fluctuates, the timer remains fixed.
Missed savings opportunities—timers don’t allow for strategic top-ups when rates are low.
I found the article comparing timers to Catch Power really informative, especially the part explaining how Catch Power can provide more precise and consistent energy management compared to standard timers. That detail stood out because it highlights how even small improvements in technology can lead to better efficiency and reliability. I also appreciated the discussion on how understanding the differences between these options can help both households and businesses make smarter energy decisions, which made me reflect on how much thought goes into everyday tools that we often take for granted. Reading it got me curious about the long-term benefits of adopting more advanced energy solutions, and it reminded me of times when I was organizing research for projects, sometimes…
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