Solar PV
Solar Hot Water Diverters in Ormskirk
Route surplus solar generation into your hot water cylinder instead of exporting it for a few pence a unit. A solar power diverter to your immersion heater is one of the lowest-cost upgrades available to an existing solar owner, supplied and installed by our own electricians across Lancashire, Merseyside, Cheshire and Greater Manchester.
Free survey, written quote in 1–2 working days, in-house team throughout.
MCS Certified
Solar PV and battery storage
NAPIT & Part P
Registered electrical work
2 year guarantee
Insurance-backed via QANW
~10 strong
In-house installation team
An immersion diverter is one of the cheapest upgrades available to an existing solar owner. Rather than exporting surplus generation for a few pence, the diverter routes it into your hot water cylinder — displacing gas or off-peak electricity you would otherwise pay for.
What a solar hot water diverter actually does
A solar power diverter sits between your solar inverter or generation meter and your hot water cylinder's immersion element. It continuously monitors how much electricity your panels are generating against how much your property is using, and the moment there's a surplus — power that would otherwise flow out to the grid through export — it diverts that excess into the immersion heater instead. Rather than heating water from a fixed switched-on/switched-off immersion cycle, the diverter modulates the power sent to the element in real time, so only genuine surplus generation is used and nothing is drawn from the grid to top it up.
Who it's for
This is aimed squarely at homes and businesses that already have solar PV installed and a hot water cylinder with an immersion element — typically properties with a traditional or unvented hot water cylinder rather than a combi boiler with no cylinder at all. It's particularly worthwhile for anyone who has noticed high export figures relative to import on their generation meter, which is a direct sign that a meaningful amount of free generation is currently going unused. It also suits households moving away from gas or off-peak electric immersion heating who want to make better use of a solar array they already own.
When it's worth considering
The clearest signal is your own export data: if you're regularly exporting a large proportion of your solar generation, particularly through the middle of the day when demand in the property is low, that surplus is a resource being sold back to the grid at a fraction of what you pay to import electricity. It's also worth considering whenever a hot water cylinder's existing immersion heater is due for replacement or upgrade, since fitting a diverter at the same time avoids a second visit to the airing cupboard or plant room later on.
Why professional installation matters
Although a diverter is a comparatively small piece of equipment next to a full solar array or battery, it's still being wired into your existing solar generation circuit and into a mains immersion heater circuit, both of which need to be isolated, tested and connected correctly. As NAPIT registered and Part P competent electricians, we assess your existing solar inverter and cylinder set-up, confirm the diverter is compatible with your generation meter, and carry out the wiring, testing and certification properly rather than leaving a live electrical addition unchecked. Getting this wrong risks nuisance tripping, an immersion heater that never actually receives the surplus it's meant to, or an unsafe connection into your consumer unit.
What you get out of it
- Puts surplus generation to work instead of exporting it
- Low-cost addition to an existing solar system
- Reduces the fuel used to heat your water
- Installed and certified by our own electricians
What the work includes
- Assessment of your cylinder and existing solar system
- Diverter supply and installation
- Testing, certification and handover
What it costs to wait
What happens when this is left alone
Surplus generation exported for next to nothing
Without a diverter, any solar electricity you generate beyond what your property is using at that moment is exported to the grid, typically at a rate well below what you pay to import electricity back. Every kilowatt hour exported at a low rate and later bought back at a much higher rate is value given away — and it happens every day the sun is out, for as long as the surplus goes unused.
Continuing to pay for water heating you don't need to
If your hot water is currently heated entirely by gas, an unmanaged immersion timer, or grid electricity, you're paying for fuel to do a job your existing solar panels could be doing for free during daylight hours. Without a diverter capturing that surplus automatically, the two systems — your solar generation and your hot water heating — simply run independently of one another and never actually connect up.
Incompatible or badly wired retrofits
Not every diverter is compatible with every solar inverter or generation meter, and fitting one that doesn't correctly sense your export data means it either fails to divert surplus at all or draws grid electricity it shouldn't. Wiring the immersion connection incorrectly, or without proper isolation and testing, is an electrical safety issue as well as a functional one — and can affect existing electrical certification for the property if it's carried out without the right competency and sign-off.
Our process
How we deliver the work
- 01
Free survey
We visit your property to check your existing solar inverter, generation meter, hot water cylinder and immersion element, confirming the diverter will be compatible with what's already installed before recommending anything.
- 02
Written quote in 1–2 working days
You receive a clear, itemised quote for the diverter unit and installation labour, typically within one to two working days of the survey.
- 03
Compatibility check and sign-off
We confirm the diverter's sensing method matches your inverter or generation meter and agree the best cable route between the consumer unit area and the cylinder before work is scheduled.
- 04
Installation by our in-house team
Our own electricians carry out the wiring and mounting, isolating the relevant circuits, connecting the diverter to your immersion element and generation supply, and following Part P and NAPIT requirements throughout.
- 05
Testing, certification and handover
We test the diverter under real generation conditions to confirm it's correctly prioritising surplus power to the immersion element, then hand over any documentation and certification for the completed electrical work.
Benefits
What this changes for you
Use surplus generation instead of exporting it
A diverter automatically sends solar power you'd otherwise export at a low rate into your hot water cylinder, increasing the proportion of your own generation that actually benefits your household rather than being sold back cheaply.
Low-cost addition to an existing solar system
Compared with a full solar or battery installation, a diverter is one of the cheaper upgrades available to an existing solar owner, making it a straightforward way to get more value from panels you already have.
Reduces the fuel used to heat your water
Whether your hot water is currently topped up by gas, an off-peak electric tariff, or an unmanaged immersion switch, a diverter reduces the amount of that fuel needed by covering part of the heating load with free surplus solar generation.
No changes needed to your existing solar array
A diverter is fitted alongside your existing panels and inverter without any need to alter the array itself, so it can be added at any point after the original solar installation without disturbing what's already working.
Installed and certified by our own electricians
Survey, compatibility checks, installation and certification are all carried out by our own NAPIT registered team — not subcontracted out — so the electrical work meets the same standard as the rest of our solar and electrical installations.
Backed by our workmanship guarantee
The installation is covered by our 2 year workmanship guarantee, insurance-backed through QANW, alongside whatever manufacturer warranty applies to the diverter unit itself.
In detail
Solar Hot Water & Immersion Diverters explained properly
How diverters sense surplus generation
Diverters work out how much surplus power is available either by reading data directly from a compatible solar inverter or by using a current transducer (CT clamp) fitted to your incoming supply or generation cable, which measures the direction and volume of power flow in real time. When the CT clamp or inverter feed shows power flowing out to export, the diverter responds by sending an equivalent amount into the immersion element instead, adjusting continuously as generation and household demand change through the day. Compatibility between the diverter and your existing inverter or metering set-up is confirmed at survey before any equipment is ordered.
Cylinder and immersion element requirements
A diverter needs a hot water cylinder fitted with a working immersion heater element to send power to — it isn't compatible with combi boiler systems that have no cylinder or immersion at all. We check the condition and rating of the existing immersion element as part of the survey, since an old or faulty element may need replacing at the same time for the diverter to work reliably. Unvented and vented cylinders can both generally be fitted with a diverter, provided the immersion element itself is in working order.
Diverting to more than one load
Some diverter installations are set up to prioritise the immersion heater first and, once the cylinder reaches temperature, redirect any remaining surplus elsewhere, such as to a secondary electric heating load. Whether this is worthwhile depends on the property's typical generation surplus and existing electrical loads, and we assess this at survey rather than fitting a more complex set-up than a property actually needs.
Retrofitting to solar systems we didn't originally install
A diverter can be added to a solar PV system regardless of who carried out the original installation. We assess the existing inverter, wiring and generation metering during the survey in the same way we would for a system we installed ourselves, and confirm compatibility before quoting, so there's no requirement for the original solar work to have been done by us.
Domestic and small commercial applications
Diverters are most commonly fitted in domestic properties with a solar array and a hot water cylinder, but the same principle applies to small commercial premises with suitable hot water storage, such as guesthouses or premises with communal hot water systems. In both cases the assessment is the same: confirm existing solar generation, existing cylinder and immersion set-up, and the compatibility of the diverter with the property's metering arrangement, before installation and certification take place.
Common questions
Questions about solar hot water & immersion diverters
Will a diverter work with my existing solar panels?
In most cases, provided you have a hot water cylinder with a working immersion element and your existing inverter or generation meter is compatible with the diverter's sensing method. We confirm this at the free survey before quoting.
Do I need a cylinder for a diverter to work?
Yes. A diverter sends surplus solar power into an immersion heater element, so it needs a hot water cylinder — vented or unvented — with a working immersion element already fitted. It isn't suitable for combi boiler systems with no cylinder.
How much does a solar diverter cost?
Cost depends on the diverter model and your existing inverter and cylinder set-up, so we don't publish generic prices. A free survey lets us confirm compatibility and give you an accurate, written quote within 1–2 working days.
Can a diverter be added to a system you didn't originally install?
Yes. We regularly fit diverters to solar PV systems installed by other companies. We assess the existing inverter, wiring and metering during the survey in the same way as for our own installations, and confirm compatibility before quoting.
Will the diverter ever draw electricity from the grid?
No. A correctly installed and configured diverter only sends genuine surplus solar generation to the immersion element — power that would otherwise be exported. It's designed to avoid drawing grid electricity to top up the immersion, which we confirm during testing at handover.
How long does installation take?
A diverter installation is typically a short job for a domestic property, usually completed within a day, depending on cable routing between the consumer unit area and the cylinder. We confirm timing at the survey based on your specific property.
Is this covered by a guarantee?
Our installation work is covered by a 2 year workmanship guarantee, insurance-backed through QANW, in addition to any manufacturer warranty on the diverter unit itself.
Do you install diverters across the whole North West?
Yes. We're based at Westhead near Ormskirk and install solar hot water diverters across Lancashire, Merseyside, Cheshire and Greater Manchester, including Preston, Southport, Liverpool, Warrington, Chester, Wigan and Bolton.
Related services
Solar PV Installation
Full turnkey solar PV for homes and businesses across the North West, MCS certified from survey to commissioning.
Solar PV Servicing & Maintenance
An in-house servicing department keeping existing systems generating what they were designed to generate.
Feasibility Surveys & Energy Assessments
Before you spend anything, find out what your site can actually produce and what it is worth to you.
Areas we cover
Not listed? See the full coverage area or ask us directly.
Find out how much of your surplus solar generation could be heating your water
Book a free survey and we'll check your existing solar inverter, generation meter and hot water cylinder for compatibility, then give you a written quote within 1–2 working days. A straightforward addition to a solar system you already own, installed and certified by our own electricians.
MCS certified for solar PV and battery storage · NAPIT and RECC registered · OZEV approved · 2 year workmanship guarantee backed by QANW.