By Mark J. Donovan
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Solar hot water heating systems have
come a long way since the days of large black pipes crisscrossing roofs. Today’s
energy efficient solar hot water heaters consist of a couple of solar collector
panels mounted on the roof that look similar to standard sky lights, and a hot
water tank located in a basement, garage, or utility room. Between the solar
collector panels and hot water tank a Glycol fluid, or potable water itself,
runs through them to transfer the suns energy and provide hot water to your
home. The temperate of the Glycol fluid based systems can reach as high as 400oF
and can easily generate 120 to 160oF hot water temperatures in your home.
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A back up hot water heating booster
system running off of electricity or gas is also typically installed to ensure
that even on cloudy days your home has plenty of hot water.
If your home faces south or southwest it’s a prime candidate for a solar hot
water heater system. Even if you live in northern latitudes you can still
significantly benefit from installing a solar hot water heating system.
Currently there are nearly 2 million homes in the United States that are using
solar hot water heaters and the rate of installations continues to grow. With 2
or 3 skylight size solar collector panels mounted on your roof, requiring less
than 100 square feet of area, and an 80 or 120 gallon hot water tank located in
a utility room, you can reduce your home energy costs by as much as 80%.
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In addition, many states and utility
companies offer rebates on the installation of a hot water heating system. As a
result, the installation cost of a typical solar hot water heater system can be
recouped within 3 to 7 years. In most cases, if you elect to include the cost of
a solar hot water heater system in your mortgage when building a new home, the
home energy cost savings are higher than the incremental increase in your
monthly mortgage payments.
There are two main types of solar hot
water heater systems, passive solar systems, and active solar systems. Passive
solar systems
utilize convection and/or heat pipes to circulate Glycol fluid or water through
them to heat the potable water. |
Active solar hot water heater systems
use pumps to circulate the Glycol fluid or water through the system. The passive
systems cost less and are low maintenance however they are less efficient than
the active systems. Also, indirect or closed loop systems use a heat exchanger
that separates the heating fluid from the potable water. Direct or open loop
systems circulate the actual potable water through the solar panel collectors,
and thus are less expensive to install since there is no heat exchanger.
| Though some homeowners may be tempted to install a solar hot
water heater system themselves, it is wise to hire a licensed and trained
professional who knows exactly what they are doing. The last thing you want
to do is install a solar hot water heating system on your roof and end up
with roof leaks or damage to your roof. Also, the hot water tank and
associated plumbing and electronics can be fairly complex to install. |
Courtesy of Velux |
Velux offers some of the latest
technology in solar hot water heaters.
Velux has had a long history of making
skylights and they have gone to great lengths to introduce solar collector
panels that look nearly the same as conventional window skylights. Again, with
just 2 or 3 solar collector panels from Velux you can produce all the hot water
your family will ever need.
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