solar hot water heating

December 5, 2008 by SolarInfo
Filed under solar power energy

How to Install a Solar Hot Water Heating System

I wanted to reduce my heating costs and since I have in-floor heating and radiant heating I could benefit from using thermal energy. I looked at flat panels but because they are static, they only could provide me with energy for about 4 hours a day. I have a huge house, about 4,000 sq. feet and we have cold winters (-20 degrees) and I needed to have a high amount of hot water, so that's where I got interested in solar concentrators. These systems are able to produce high amounts of thermal heat and are perfect for projects that require high amounts of solar hot water heating. I got a distributor to install the SolarBeam since I could not install it myself.

Here is the process for installing the system:

Step 1

The solar hot water heating system should be installed at a south facing location. The dish needs to be placed in a location that is 20ft away from obstructions (i.e. trees, buildings, etc.)

A hole 9 feet deep needs to be excavated for the foundation.

Step 2

Install the 8 foot post along with gear train. This piece came as one system and so no huge assembly was required.

Step 3

Install the ribs that will hold the reflective petals. These ribs are made from aluminum and are very light. Just needed a scaffold to install the ribs.

Step 4

Install the 16 reflective petals. Each petal weighs about 7 pounds. Just simply screw it into the holes in the ribs and you will be done in less than 6 hours.

Step 5

Install the heat exchanger and the 4 arms that hold it in place. The heat exchanger is a small box (10" x 10") that collects the thermal energy and heats up the water that is being passed through.

Step 6

Install the tubing that runs through the heat exchanger and connect it to the tubing that you installed in the ground

Step 7

Hire a plumber to connect the pump station to the existing hot water tanks. If you want more storage capacity, buy extra hot water tanks because this system can heat a 120 gallon tank to 90 degrees in 3 hours.

Step 8

Install the tracking system and calibrate to your latitude and longitude so it will automatically start tracking the sun

Step 9

Check your energy bill and see the reduction in your energy costs and smile. In 2011, I will be installing a photovoltaic module on this system to produce up to 4kW of electricity. So that will be even more energy savings. I may even sell some of the power back to the grid.

I am really happy with my solar hot water heating system. My energy bill has dropped significantly and I am also reducing greenhouse gasses. I think that if more people used solar hot water heating then we would reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and reduce greenhouse emissions.

About the Author

Here the author Julia Herniak concludes the article How to install Solar Hot Water Heating Systems and Solar Power visit http://www.solartronenergy.com

The SOLAR HOT WATER HEATER SOLUTION