Solar Water Heaters Can Save Money

A general water heater in a home can consume massive amounts of energy a house. On the other hand a solar water heater can save you £100’s when it comes to paying those nasty high bills. A solar water heater can cut your reliance on electricity and give you more bang for your buck.

How Do Solar Water Heaters Work?

Everybody seems to question the efficiency of solar energy. What you have to remember is that we are not converting the sunlight into electricity; we are converting it into heat. We need this free resource to turn the rays of sunlight into heat to heat our water heaters which is easier than turning it into electricity to power light bulbs.

In principle it is the same as leaving a glass of ice out in the sun and soon enough it turns to water. This is how solar water heaters work just in a much faster and with larger amounts of water. This means it has to be a little bit more complicated.

A basic solar water heating system has a solar collector and a storage tank at the core. A solar collector is a glazed, insulated box. The Glazing is usually a coat of glass that helps to retain heat. Usually a bunch of tubes or passageways for water flow in the interior. The solar collector turns the sun’s radiation into heat. A storage tank does exactly what you think it would do, store water.

Can They Be Installed In Any Home

Solar water heating systems can usually be installed in any home. There are many different types of systems that can be installed. Each has its advantages and suits different situations and homes. My tip would be to do research on all the government approved solar panel installers in your area. At least you know that these solar installers will do a good job and it will be a quality system being
put into place.

Most of these installers will give you a warranty incase anything does happen to go wrong. They will design a specific tailor made system for your home and will advise you on what will work better. This means you wont be producing excess water and wasting energy so you will save money instantly.

Does Weather Effect Efficiency?

The weather of your region can have an effect of the efficiency of the solar water heaters. However this doesn’t mean that you have to have a ridiculous amount of sunlight a day. General sunlight on bright days is efficient for heating water. If you were powering your whole home then climate would have more of an effect.

Before getting the equipment installed you should conduct a series of tests and see which side of your house receives the most hours of sunlight. In the Northern hemisphere the south facing part of your house receives the most sunlight. In the southern hemisphere it’s the opposite so it’s the north. So this means we need to point out solar panels in a southerly direction.

If you have your solar heater facing the right direction and working at maximum capacity you will start to save money instantly and gain a return on investment while being kinder to the environment

What Size Heater Do I Need

This depends on the amount of people in a household. If you have 2 people in your house hold you should look into getting at the least a 50 gallon tank, 3 people 65 gallon tank, 4 people 75 gallon tank, 5 people 80 gallon tank.

Most people don’t realise the amount of hot water they use on a daily basis. Simple things like showering for example use on average 20 gallons of hot water. Using a dishwasher user 14 gallons and a clothes washer uses 30 gallons of hot water.

So the size of your tank really depends on the amount of water you use on a daily basis. The less water you use the less the installation will cost and the bigger return on investment you will receive.