Be Green with a Solar Water Heater
Posted: Friday, July 03, 2009
by Scott Rodgers
http://www.elocalplumbers.com
In this day and age any possibilities of saving power are becoming important and people are starting to look more and more to natural solutions to supply their heating needs. The obvious, especially if you live in an area with a lot of sunshine, is to heat your water with solar power. This will save you significant amounts of power, often by more than 50%, and if used in conjunction with some other modern technology such as underfloor heating, you will find that your overall power consumption in your household significantly reduces. The first thing you need to do when you contemplating installing any new water heating system, is to figure out how much hot water you consume. This is important as you may purchase a system that may not supply your requirements, and you're not going to get any thanks from your family if you end up only being able to run one hot water fixture at a time, especially early in the morning when everyone is trying to race out the door. Once you have figured out how much you use, you will be able to talk to a consultant to discuss whether a solar heating system would work for your house, taking into account your existing water heating tank.
As the solar hydro system corresponds with the warming tank, it is optimal to get a professional to examine your unit. They will need to check that it is in good working order, and especially that the thermostat is working because if this is faulty your system won't be able to assess that the water coming from the solar system is already hot, and will waste power re-heating the water.
There are essentially two versions of setups. The passive setup is less inexpensive to operate and does not have as much maintenance. Of the passive setups there are two versions, the ICS and the thermosyphon setup, and if you reside in a town where the temperature reaches extremely cold levels I suggest that you use the thermosyphon because as they redirect the water to the original water heater when the weather drops below freezing.
Another version is the live setup that is pricier to run because it requires a pump to function and this increases maintenance cost. The direct solar circulation system heats up a storage tank on the roof that is then circulated through the house using a pump. The other setup is an indirect ventilation setup that functions by warming an not freezable liquid that is flowed to a warming exchanger, which than warms your water. This is your best option if you live in an area where the temperature drops below freezing.
--------
Scott Rodgers is a plumber with many years of experience in the most effective alternative sources of heating for your home. For more information visit http://www.eLocalPlumbers.com
This Article has been viewed 18 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
No comments yet.We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.