Use the Sun’s Energy to Heat up the water for your Home
A solar water heating system uses free solar energy to warm water for domestic use.
A conventional water heater or an immersion heater can supplement the solar heating
system to increase the water temperature, or to act as a backup to heat water during
times when solar energy output is weak or is unavailable.
The benefits of installing solar water heating
• Hot water year-round: solar water heating systems work all year long, although you will need to supplement the heating during the months of winter
• Lowers your bills: solar energy is completely free, so after the up-front installation costs, the price of heating your water will be lowered
• Reduces your overall carbon footprint: unlike fossil fuel power, solar water heating uses green, renewable energy, and therefore lowers your family’s carbon dioxide emission footprint
How does a solar water heating system work?
A solar water heating systems uses collectors, a type of solar panel, affixed to the roof
of your home. The collectors gather the sun’s heat energy, which is then used to heat water
that is held in an insulated storage cylinder or tank. A boiler or an immersion heater is then
used as a supplement heater or a backup to raise the water temperature further.
The heat collector panels come in two varieties:
• evacuated tubes
• flat plate collectors. This type can be either attached to the roof surface or even can
be built into the roof itself.
Larger solar collector panels can even be used to contribute to heating your home. However,
the heat gained in this way is not very significant, and this is not usually considered to be a
worthwhile investment.
Installation and Maintenance Costs vs. Potential Savings
The typical cost of installing a solar water heating system is approximately 5,760 Euros. The
resulting energy savings are relatively moderate, but the system can provide for nearly all
your hot water needs during the summer months, although during the winter your hot water
will need more supplementation from a boiler or immersion heater.
Maintenance
The associated costs of maintaining the system are quite low. Most available systems for
solar water heating include five or ten-year warranties, and will require very little
maintenance. Typical maintenance would only require a yearly check of the collector
panels and cleaning. Beyond that, a more thorough examination should be performed
every 3 to five years by a qualified installer, or as instructed by the professional who
installs your system.
Savings
Having a solar water heating system installed on your home can save money on your energy
bills. Based on recent field trials, savings resulting from a properly installed and correctly used
system amount to 66 Euros per year compared to gas heating and 96 Euros per year versus the
cost of using an electric immersion heater; the savings, however, do vary from one user to another.
A typical system will save 230kgCO2/year emission versus using gas, and 510kgCO2/year compare
to the use of an electric immersion heater.
Is a Solar Water Heating System Right for Your Home?
Do you have a sunny location for your solar panels?
You will need approximately five square meters of east-to-west through south facing roof space
that receives unimpeded sunlight most of the day. However, the panels don’t necessarily need
to be mounted directly to a roof; they can also be fixed to frames for flats roofs or hung from
walls in the event your home’s roof does not receive direct sunlight.
Do you have space for a bigger or an extra hot water tank or cylinder?
If your system does not already have a dedicated solar water heating cylinder installed, then
you will probably need to replace whatever cylinder already exists, or add another cylinder that
has a solar heating coil that is dedicated for the solar water heating system.
Is the home’s current boiler system compatible with solar water heating?
The majority of the boiler and water-heating cylinder systems found in homes are adaptable into
solar water heating systems. However, if you happen to have a combination boiler (or combi,
as they are commonly called) and your home does not currently have a tank for hot water, your
current system might not be compatible with solar water heating.
A reliable and accredited installer should be called upon to assess the home’s needs and to help you
with choosing the correct solar water heating system to satisfy your home’s hot water needs.
Next steps
The UK has performed the largest study of solar water heating, and the results show varied
performance of solar water heating systems. Based on the results of the field trial, properly
installed solar water heating systems can meet as much as 60% of the hot water needs of your
home, or as little as 9%, with the median result being 39%. The key factors in the performance
variance were identified as the volume of water being heated, the amount of insulation used to
keep the water hot, and the required temperature of the hot water.
The cost of heating water in your home can really add up quickly.
If you are using an older tank it may be inefficient and lose heat quickly.
This means that more fuel will be used to keep the water at a predetermined
temperature. If you are interested in lowering your gas or electricity bills
and still want a good supply of heated water you may want to consider going
with a tankless system. Here are a few of the reasons why this may be a good
choice for your home.
How these systems operate
All tankless hot water systems tend to work in much the same way regardless
of whether they are fuelled by natural gas or electricity. Tankless systems can
be installed so that they supply a single faucet or so that the entire house has a
good supply of hot water. Whole home systems tend to be larger and have a
higher flow rate. The flow rate of a system is the amount of water that can be
heated in a short period of time.
When the hot water is turned on, a sensor causes the tankless hot water system
to begin working. The heating element is activated and the water is heated to a
predetermined level. As additional water travels through the system it is brought
up to temperature. A system with a higher flow rate is capable of heating a larger
volume of water in a short period of time.
You are not paying to heat water that is not being used
The first advantage of a tankless hot water system is that you are only paying to
heat water that is actually being used. A regular hot water system keeps a large
volume of water at a specific temperature for an extended period of time.
As the water cools naturally the system is forced to keep heating the water
again and again. With a tankless system the water is not stored for an extended
period of time and therefore you are not paying to heat water that is simply
sitting in the tank.
You will never run out of hot water
With a traditional hot water tank it is possible to run out of hot water.
If the water flows out of the tank before it has had time to reach a certain
temperature it will rapidly become cold. With a tankless system, this will not
happen. When choosing a tankless system it is important to make sure that it
has a high enough flow rate to handle the demand for hot water but if you do,
you will have a constant stream of heated water on demand.
It can take a lot of energy to heat water. Usually, the majority of the hot water goes down the drain and all of the energy that was used to heat it can go to waste. If you want to make sure that you get as much impact for your heating bills as possible, you may want to consider a drain water heat recovery system. This takes water that has already been heated and repurposes it. The heat from the water is used to warm the air inside of a home.
We actually use about twenty percent of a home’s energy to heat water. As much as seventy percent of that hot water is used to bathe. When a bath or shower is done, the heated water simply trickles away down the drain and is of no benefit to homeowners. That is, it is not of use unless a homeowner has a drain water heat recovery system installed.
How a drain water heat recovery system works
Although some systems may be configured differently, all drain water heat recovery systems work in much the same way. A series of coils are positioned around a home’s drain stack. When hot water passes through the drain stack, the heat is absorbed by the coils. The heat from the coils is then used to heat water that is waiting to be used.
The hot water that has been heated by the drain water recovery system can be used in a number of different ways. It can travel into a radiant heating system and provide heat throughout a home or it can be used to wash or cook with. The water does not actually come into contact with the drain water and therefore there is no chance that the fresh supply of water would become contaminated in any way.
A home does need to have a centralized drain stack in order for this type of system to work. This will ensure that all of the hot water that is leaving a home will travel past the heat coils. Users of these systems have reported that their energy use has decreased by as much as ten percent simply by reusing the heat that was originally utilized to warm water.
There are a number of advantages to this kind of system. One is the reduction in energy usage in a home. Because heating systems are not running as much the greenhouse gasses that are produced will also be reduced. They will also pay for themselves in as little as five years.
An increasing number of people are switching from a standard hot water system to one that is tankless. They may be doing this for a number of reasons. One of the main ones is that they are tired of paying to keep water heated when it is not being used. A tankless hot water system is one that uses a sensor system to activate it and then instantly produce hot water on a continuing basis.
In the past, people have tried to utilize tankless hot water systems and have been unimpressed with the results. There are a number of reasons why these systems may not have met with their users’ expectations. Knowing how the new systems operate can help you determine which model is best for your home.
Why tankless systems use less energy
A tankless water heater uses a lot less energy than the standard models. Why? It’s simple. A tankless system does not need to continually heat water to keep it at a set temperature. With a tankless system, a sensor is triggered when the hot water tap is turned on. It heats only as much water as is needed at a time. The result is that energy bills decrease sharply because your hot water system is not bleeding off power on a continuing basis.
If a hot water tank is not properly insulated heat can be lost through the sides of the tank as the water sits there waiting to be used. A loss of heat is not the only thing that you need to worry about with a hot water tank. You also need to worry about leaks. Many people have woken up to find their basements flooded because their tank has leaked all over the place.
What to look for in a tankless hot water system
There are a few things that you should look for in a tankless hot water system. One is the flow rate. This tells you the volume of water that can be heated as it passes through the heating system. If you have systems installed on individual taps this is not a problem. If you are using one system to heat water for your entire home there may be times that the system cannot keep up with the demand for hot water.
You need to decide whether you are going to install multiple water heaters or if you are going to install separate systems in different areas in your home. In order to do so you need to determine how much water you are drawing at a time. Then you can look to see if there is a system that can put out as much hot water as you are using.
A qualified expert can help you choose the right model for your home. If you are trying to replace an existing water tank or reduce your energy bills a tankless model may be the right choice for you.
