Solar Panels International

Installing a solar hot water system is one of the easier projects to undertake if you are keen to create your own home made renewable energy systems. The hardest part in fact is attaching it to the current plumbing system in your home. This article will give you an overview of the component parts of such a system and how they work.

The key to the solar hot water system is the solar collector. In it's simplest form it is really just a tank that has been modified to absorb thermal energy from the Sun. So it may be painted black on the external surfaces and have insulation on the internal surfaces to prevent heat loss. Water is placed in the tank and through the action of the Sun's thermal energy it is heated.

A more elaborate design is a flat plate solar collector. The flat plate design uses the same principles but is designed to squeeze even more juice out of the Sun. The plate is painted black to again absorb solar radiation and heat. Along the plate is tubing that will hold water. The tubing exposes far more water to the heat than the ordinary old solar collector. This means more water is heated or made hotter.

Where you place your collector is vitally important but is dictated by two factors. It needs to get as much Sun as it can, so a south facing location in the home is best. But it also needs to move water to the boiler system in the home. So the nearer it is to the boiler the better. If the boiler is poorly positioned then you need to pump the water to the boiler. If the boiler is well located you could position the solar water collector above the boiler and let gravity move the water from boiler and back to collector based on the heat of the water.

So there you have it. A solar hot water system can be a simple as a solar water collector that has no moving parts or electricity to worry about and a connection to your boiler system.

Most people look into a solar hot water heater because they want to save money on their heating bills. With this in mind a solar hot water heater will help to reduce your bills by pre-heating water that goes into your traditional boiler. It is unlikely that the system will be able to heat the water to such an extent that the boiler is not needed so although you will save some money on your bills it is unlikely that you will cut them out altogether. But as they say, every little saving helps when you are on a budget.

Learn how to make a homemade solar hot water heater for as little as a hundred dollars. At that price you can't lose, click here for more details.

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