Solar Hot Water Panels – A brief buying guide

In this blog post, I attempt to make potential buyers understand how "solar hot water panels" can help save you a lot of money on heating systems that otherwise use up tonnes and tonnes of carbon dioxide. Solar hot water panels have been growing in popularity in recent years. The main reason for this is because of the fact that solar hot water panels can help you save a lot of money as traditional heating systems are power hungry and consume a lot of energy. Also explained in this blog post is the technology that is currently used to determine whether or not solar hot water panels are right for you.




The Technology behind solar water heating systems


Since the burning of fossil fuels can be a huge source of pollution, renewable sources of energy can be life saving for so many people and for all the living beings on this planet including human beings. Solar Hot water panels were first developed around the end of the 20^th century when it was used to raise the temperature of the water. They were in the most primitive forms and not as advanced as they are right now. Obviously and logically, the highest efficiency of these solar heating systems is during the summer when the insolation (or solar radiation) is the highest. In places like Canada, the efficiency during winter and other seasons is not so high. A small percentage of the solar rays is converted efficiently.


Where to set up the solar water heating systems?


Now, let's take a look at the various places where you can possibly set up these solar hot water panels in your house. Solar collectors are an integral and important part of solar panels and can be set up or mounted on a roof or on the ground or anywhere on the outside walls. 


One of the most commonly used types of collectors is glazed collectors. The other type is unglazed collectors. I will explain to you what the differences between the two are in some of my future posts. Basically what happens is that the sunlight that passes through the glazed glass hits the silicon plate thus generating a lot of heat. This heat is trapped from escaping by sort of "sandwiching" it and thus the temperature inside increases.



For solar based hot water panels to be used in cold environments, something called anti-freeze systems are used. This makes sure that the heat exchangers get to absorb all the heat because of glycol which is heated inside the piping.




Different types of Solar Collectors


The other type of collectors are the flat plate collectors which are to be used on those days when the temperature in the collector is almost equal to ambient temperatures. Contrary to this, evacuated type collectors perform the better the larger the difference in temperature. Evaporated type collectors are best and designed to be used in colder countries.
Continuously evolving industry



The Soar hot water panels have existed for over a century commercially and there have been constant developments that are taking place in this industry. So this can be considered as a technology with quite a bit of history. Of course, there are different ways that these solar hot water panels work. Starting from DIY (Do it Yourself) kits to large systems that are used in farms and for other similar large scale purposes, they are used for a wide range of applications.


Of course, the traditional heating system also exists in combination with the solar hot water panels in order to make sure that on days with no sun such as cloudy days or during the night, the traditional system exists to provide power that generates heat.

How do you know if solar hot water panels are right for you?


This is a question that many people want to have answered and ask me all the time whenever I tell them about solar water heating systems. Ask yourself this simple question. Does the place where you intend to set up these panels receive sufficient sunlight hours throughout the year? If it does, then probably you should go ahead and start considering installing these solar hot water panels very seriously. In most cases, this is something that need not be debated upon since as long as there is a sufficient amount of sunshine available, it is quite easy to make use of solar water heating systems. This, along with the fact that it is good, clean and renewable source of energy makes it possible to cut on the enormous cost of water heating.


Your solar hot water panels should directly connect to your hot water tank in order to produce a significant amount of good energy. Since heating is almost a quarter of your electricity bill every month, making use of free energy coming from the sun can make sure that you cut down your costs significantly. Also, other factors to keep in mind are things such as the orientation of you panels. It is important to make sure that your solar collectors, whatever types they may be of, face south during the morning when the sun is the most intense. This is usually between 10 in the morning till about 3 in the afternoon and during this time, the orientation of the panels which is situated on either the ground, outside walls or the roof top has to receive an optimum amount of sunshine in order for it to make full use of the solar energy.


You do not have to pay absolutely any taxes whatsoever on the energy that you receive from the sun every day. This makes it a very exciting opportunity for people like who are planning to set up solar hot water panels. So, consult a solar professional if you like or read many of the Do it Yourself guides and free ebooks available on the homepage of this blog to set up your own solar water heating systems in your house and help keep the earth "green".


For a greener earth,


Andy.