Solar Hot Water Heater

Solar Hot Water Heater will become ‘must have’ item in every existing or new home, as is now the ‘norm’ with double glazed windows. They should be fitted as mandatory to every new building with a south-facing roof, so that the occupants can enjoy around 40 to 50 per cent of their hot water, for free over the lifetime of the panel, indeed, potentially, the lifetime of the building.

Contrary to popular opinion, the British Isles does have a useful resource of solar energy and this can be used to reduce the space heating demand of new buildings through passive solar design. The sun can also be used to heat air and water, through active solar heating systems, and it can provide electricity through the use of photovoltaic systems. A group of solar panels is known as an array.

The main components of any solar hot water heaters are the solar collector(s) or solar panels, a heat transfer system to move the heat from the collector to the point of use (known as the heat transfer loop or primary circuit), and an insulated reservoir or tank that stores the heat for subsequent use (the hot water cylinder). The heat transfer fluid most commonly used in the primary circuit is a mixture of water and glycol antifreeze, sometimes referred to as brine.

Solar panels work best when they are mounted on south-facing roofs, but they can work just as well on the south-facing side of a building or on ground-mounted support frames – anywhere in fact with an unobstructed view of the Sun over the longest period of every day. These systems provide domestic hot water, occasionally heat swimming pools and, much less frequently, they can provide space heating. They are particularly well suited for hotels and guesthouses and are ideal for the agricultural community for use in dairy farms. Solar heat energy can also be used widely in industrial applications and it can provide the necessary energy input for other uses, such as cooling equipment. A Solar Hot Water Heater operating in the British Isles can produce 40 to 50 percent of the annual hot water requirement for an average family, the vast majority becoming available over the months from May through to September. The use of solar energy to provide space heating will only be described briefly, since it is rarely an economic proposition in the latitudes of the British Isles and will require a back-up source of heating during the winter months.

Solar Hot Water Heaters are suitable for use with most conventional heating systems (coal, oil and gas-fired central heating) and they are becoming increasingly paired with biomass-fuelled systems (see Chapter 4). The exception to this is the combi-boiler, which does not have a storage tank, although a few more recent combi-boiler designs can accept hot water input from a solar-heated, pre-heater feed tank.

Solar Hot Water Heaters are usually distinguished on the basis of their solar collector design, either ‘flat plate’ or ‘evacuated tube’; they may also be either direct or indirect systems. Most systems are simple to install, although health and safety concerns are very important, particularly because of the need to work on roofs and due to the high water temperatures (around 180 deg.C) that might be reached under some operating conditions. In summer these systems can produce 100 per cent of an average family’s hot water requirement, but clearly this cannot be the case in the winter. Over the winter months only 10 to 15 per cent of the hot water demand can be expected.

Learn how to build a DIY solar water heater and the various benefits it can provide you.

Useful information Solar Hot Water Heater:
http://www.greenearth4energy.com/build_water_heater.html

Useful information hot water heaters:
http://www.greenearth4energy.com/hot_water_heaters.html

Learn how to build a DIY solar water heater:
http://ezinearticles.com/?Learn-How-to-Build-a-DIY-Solar-Water-Heater&id=3607995