A
rden Steiner, a fuel oil dealer, and Dries van
Wagenberg, an entrepreneur active in the
petroleum industry, share a sunny outlook
about their new venture. They are partners
in a distribution company, Rayviance, that is
marketing a solar-powered system of the same name for
space heating and domestic hot water.
Steiner, a principal in Affordable Fuels, a heating oil
marketer in Middleburg, Pa., said, "People are looking
to supplement their oil heat, or their gas heat. They're
looking to save money. Particularly in our area a lot of
people are using electric space heaters and things of that
nature. But the bottom line is they're supplementing
their oil heat."
The technology of the solar units was developed
for a project by the U.S. Agency for International
Development in Nepal in the early 1980s. The factory is
in Malaysia, the partners said, but the distributor in the
United States had become inactive. After researching the
technology of the device, Steiner last year purchased the
remaining inventory—seven units—and began to sell
and install them.
From his oil dealer's perspective, Steiner said, "here
was a technology that allowed me to diversify, to have an
additional line of income and to integrate into current oil
systems."
The initial installation was in spring 2014 in a house
in Middleburg, Pa., that had an oil-fired boiler and
an electric hot water heater for the summertime. The
Rayviance system was integrated with both of those
systems, Steiner said. In its first season—from the begin-
ning of May through September—the home used "no
electricity whatsoever, no oil whatsoever," Steiner said.
"The only source of domestic water heat that they had
was this solar unit." That included one morning when
the residents and houseguests—seven people in all—
each took showers without running out of hot water,
Steiner reported.
Since then units have been integrated with heating
oil equipment at three more residences and at a com-
mercial greenhouse. About the greenhouse project
Steiner said, "We feel we have extended the growing
season by twelve weeks using no other power than
the sun." That installation included a self-contained
heat exchanger and a manifold system using radiant
heat from PEX tubing set into the growing beds of the
greenhouse.
HVAC/ HYDRONICS
By Stephen Bennett
34 FEBRUARY 2015 | FUEL OIL NEWS | www.fueloilnews.com
CatChing RayS
A fuel oil dealer and an entrepreneur team up to sell solar
Particularly in our area a lot of people are
using electric space heaters and things of
that nature. But the bottom line is they're
supplementing their oil heat."
The solar units should be integrated with cus-
tomers' existing oil-fired equipment for optimal
return on investment, the distributors said. Photos
provided by Rayviance.
