Keep it simple
Social Homes >   Maintenance matters    |     Keep it simple    |     Efficiency

Simplicity is inherently better than complexity, provided that this simplicity is reliable, safe and green. Fewer components are usually better than multiple components. Fewer not only means lower cost (usually) but, fewer also means there is far less likelihood of failures as well as unanticipated "component-component" interactions causing malfunctions. For example, using an existing simple vent pipe to vent a solar heating system is preferable to using a complex temperature/pressure relief valve, since valves contain moving parts and since moving parts are prone to leaks, corrosion and breakdown. In some social housing applications, direct solar technologies can allow for all plumbing to be concealed in the attic. In addition, they do not use any programmable control boxes at all, so they are never subject to incorrect programming. Direct solar, by not needing a heat exchanger, is not only simpler but inherently slightly more efficient than indirect solar in the cylinder, because heat exchangers need a temperature drop across them in order to function.