Solar Hot Water for Your Home
If you’re like most people then you’re living in a larger home than the one that you grew up in and one that uses more energy. Solar thermal can help you get your energy costs back under control. Solar thermal is an affordable step towards energy independence and a cleaner climate.
The most popular uses of a solar thermal system in a private residence are
solar domestic hot water and solar-assisted radiant heat.
Solar Domestic Hot Water
The typical solar domestic hot water system includes two solar collectors and an 80 gallon hot water tank. The collectors are usually mounted on a roof and connected to the hot water tank through a heat exchanger.
Below a diagram of a solar domestic hot water system.
This system typically delivers two thirds of the hot water needed by a household. The system can be easily optimized to deliver a larger share of the family’s hot water, if preferred. Solar domestic hot water pays for itself through energy savings. Projections, using industry-standard estimation tools, show that the average family of 4 will often save $10,000 over the life of the system vs. electric or gas. If you currently use propane to heat your hot water, the savings are even greater.
A solar domestic hot water system can be installed in a new home or adapted to the existing hot water system of an existing home.
Solar-assisted Radiant Heat
An increasingly popular option is to use solar thermal heating in conjunction with a radiant floor. Additional solar collectors deliver extra energy from the sun that is used to lower the energy used by a traditional radiant floor boiler. A larger solar water tank is added to the system to store the heat from the collectors. A heat exchanger transfers the heat in the solar water tank to the radiant floor system. Quite often, this type of solar thermal system assists both the radiant heat and the domestic hot water.
New Home, Radiant Heat, Colorado The radiant floor should be optimized to handle solar. The two most important radiant floor considerations are first to have a radiant floor that will deliver a comfortable temperature while operating at lower temperatures and second, to use radiant temperature controls that monitor and respond to changes in outdoor temperatures.