New Sunpro from Dux Hot Water offers intelligent hot water.

Dux Hot Water's Pat Pussell with the company's patented Hotlogic electronic management system, which is at the heart of the new Sunpro 205 solar water heater.

Breakthrough use of intelligent control technology has allowed Dux Hot Water to launch a new domestic hot water system that significantly reduces the cost of going solar.

The new Sunpro 305 gas system features an energy management system invented and patented by Dux Hot Water.

The Hotlogic management system removes the usual need for solar heating to be boosted by a continuous-flow gas heater attached to the outside of the tank.

Heating boost is instead provided by the relatively inexpensive gas burners, controlled by Hotlogic and contained inside one of Dux Hot Water's tried and proven gas hot water storage tanks.

As a result, the Sunpro 305 system retails for up to $1000 less than more complex solar systems, allowing the cost of purchase and installation of a solar system to be paid back quicker.

The breakthrough is possible because Hotlogic senses the amount of solar energy available to the solar collectors on the roof and monitors water temperature inside the tank.

If Hotlogic determines that - on a rainy day, for example - there is insufficient sunlight available to keep the water in the tank at the desired temperature, it automatically turns on the gas boost.

"This is a great example of new technology giving a new life to proven technology," says the system's inventor, Dux Hot Water's Pat Pussell.

"We've used onboard intelligence to make the existing system do a better job," he said.

Mr Pussell says the Hotlogic solution gives the new Sunpro 305 system another key advantage: hot water is delivered at maximum available flow rates.

"Solar systems that use continuous-flow heaters for gas boosting deliver the water at lower flow rates, because the water is restricted within the narrower pipes of the instantaneous unit," said Mr Pussell.

Homeowners replacing their existing gas hot water system with the Sunpro 305 system will also enjoy reduced installation costs because it does not require an upgrade of the gas supply.

The compact dimensions of the new system allow it to fit into narrow spaces such as the laneway at the side of a semi-detached house.

Homeowners converting from an electric hot water system to the Sunpro 305 system could be eligible for Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) under the Federal Government system.