What You Need To Learn About Solar Water Heater

Essentially, there are two different types of solar water heating systems. The first is a stand-alone heater that supplies all the warm water for your home.

Essentially, there are two different types of solar water heating systems. The first is a stand-alone heater that supplies all the warm water for your home. The second is used as a pre-heater to warm the water coming into your existing hot water heater. The main distinction between the two types is that a stand-alone heater will normally have a tank to save the heated water and the pre-heater uses the existing hot water heater as a reservoir.

The part of a solar water heater where the water is really warmed by the sun is called a heat exchanger. The heat exchanger is the crucial element of the heater and there are many different styles in use around the world today.

A stand-alone solar water heater includes a storage tank to store the heated water, the heat exchanger, and the hoses or tubing to connect them. In some applications, a one-way valve is installed into the system to prevent the backflow of cold water into the tank, and some systems utilize a little pump to accomplish this and guarantee circulation through the heat exchanger.

When a system can be established properly, no pump is necessary to achieve circulation through your heat exchanger as the natural convective current will do it totally free (because hot water is lighter than cold water and will tend to rise to the leading pulling cold water into the bottom as it does), however, if your specific application is such that the heat exchange unit can not be set on the exact same level as the tank (due to space for the tank and a suitable location with available sunshine for the heat exchange unit), you might need to utilize a small pump to ensure blood circulation through your system. For a genuinely off-grid system, you can use a little 12-volt pump and power it with a solar panel. No battery is required since the solar heater only works when sunlight is available just like the photovoltaic panel.

The pre-heater type is connected into the cold water supply line to your existing hot water heater. The method it works is to pre-heat the water coming into your heater so it does not have to work as hard as normal and sometimes, not. Water that is currently hot does not need as much heating, in some cases none at all. This is a good way to save on the part of your energy bill that is utilized to provide warm water for your home while leaving your existing hot water heater in the system to make sure a supply of warm water on cloudy days or other conditions where your solar water heater does not work also.

This type of solar water heater includes a heat exchange unit, the lines connecting it to the cold water supply, and your water heater. A pump is not needed here because the pressure of the incoming water will achieve the blood circulation through the heat exchanger.

These systems work especially well in the summer however provisions ought to be made to safeguard the outside parts from damage arising from freezing in the winter. Generally, the heat exchanger and lines going to and from your home are the only outside parts and can be drained pipes.

These are the two basic kinds of solar hot water heater in use all over the world, today. They can be as easy in design as a garden tube lying in the sun, or as complex as you want to make it with copper or PVC tubing in a sealed box and temperature-activated one-way valves and pumps. That depends on you to choose on your own.