How To Build Solar Collectors

There are basically two different kinds of solar collectors known as the flat plate and the evacuated tube. While a greater amount of sun falls on the flat plate, the evacuated tube collectors are better insulated. However, as the sun moves in an arc through the sky, the flat plate collector’s effective area becomes smaller, and as the evacuated tube collectors are cylindrical, the area presented toward the sun is the same.

The most important thing to take note about solar collectors is keeping the heat in and the cold out. This can be accomplished by using glazing on the sun-facing side of the panels and thermal insulation on the side that faces away from the sun. We need to try to eliminate thermal bridges as far as we possibly can.

Aluminum clip fins are one of the easiest ways of assembling solar collectors quickly, as they essentially clip onto a matrix of copper pipe.

Another way of constructing solar collectors is to use an old radiator painted black inside an insulated box. This system contains more water, and as a result has a slower response time. This is because it takes more time to heat up the thermal mass of the radiator.

One of the difficulties that solar collectors suffer from is freezing in the winter. When temperatures drop too low, the water in the pipes of the solar collectors expands and this runs the risk of severely damaging the collectors.

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