If you are looking for ways to save money in your home, you might consider installing one of the many varieties of solar water heaters. You would be surprised at how much of your electric or gas bill goes toward heating up the water you use for washing and showering. If you can use the free energy provided by the sun to at least partially heat the water in your system then you can save money on your utility bills as well as know that you are doing something good for the environment. If you think that this is a good option for you and your home, you need to learn how solar water heaters work.
First of all, there are many different types of solar water heaters. Some work best in climates that rarely go below freezing. Others are great for places that have very harsh winters. You can get a one tank or a two tank system. In the former you have a backup heater attached to the tank that is taking in the energy of the sun. The backup only needs to use a minimum amount of power to help the water to reach its maximum temperature.
It might not need to be used at all on really sunny days. In a two tank system, an entire tank full of water is heated by the sun’s energy. It then moves into a second tank where it can be given additional heat by a back up heater if need be. You will also need to choose between passive and active solar water heaters.
A passive system essentially only uses moving parts to move the water into the tank to fill it and out of the tank when you need it. An active system uses circulation pumps to keep the water at an optimum temperature without using the backup heater.
When you install whatever type of solar water heater you think will work best, you will have a well-insulated water storage tank and a solar collector panel. In many ways, a solar collector panel is just a highly absorbent piece of black material that is good at soaking up the sun’s rays, or more specifically, photons.
This photon produced energy then travels into an internal coil in the tank and causes the water to heat up. Sometimes the tank will also be covered with the same highly absorbent material, but this is only if they tank is going to be stored above ground.
Most people opt to put the collector panel outside their homes and keep the hot water tank in the basement where their conventional water heater would be.
How solar water heaters work is a surprising simply process. It also relies on something that is abundant and free: the sun’s rays. If you live in an area that gets between two fifty and three hundred days of sun per year, you will probably be able to pay off the cost of your solar water heater in just a couple of years.
