Solar Hot Water Design

Advice – Solar Hot Water Design That Gives You Best Results

You can gain immensely in terms of reduced costs when it comes to your solar hot water system. However for that, the solar hot water design must be accurate. You should try to minimize the life cycle cost because it must be able to take complete load on those days when the Sun is really shining bright. This will help you meet your heating needs. You will need to also plan the designing for freeze protection, maintenance, collector mount aesthetics and overheating protection. Do remember that there are certain design requirements that you will have to follow when you want to gain from the rebate plans.

Of course you can always buy a system if you want to. But doing it yourself can be so much more fun, and of course it also lets you save cost. So go ahead and do it – but do ensure that the designing is accurate.

Solar Hot Water Design Guide – How To Design It

Locate your solar collector properly – For best results, the collector needs to face the equator and the tilt should be horizontal – equal to your local latitude. Your domestic or commercial energy needs can be best met if you can achieve the best tilt angles. In the US, for best results, you should keep it within 30° of true south. For almost throughout the year it should tilt up to the horizon at latitude plus 15°. Try to keep the collector on the roof and make it close enough to optimum orientation – this will help you reduce costs on installation. You can however ask for some plumber help if you want.

Freezing protection – Sometimes when it is really cold outside, the water can freeze on your connecting pipes or the flow passages of the collector. You will need to prevent this, and you can do it in various ways. The most popular way is by circulating a propylene glycol solution and water in the loop of the collector. Or you can also drain out the water that is in the collector to a small tank. This strategy helps you protect the system if the temperature becomes too hot or when you are remodeling or going on a vacation. There is a third strategy – in areas where there is frequent freezing, you could try a controller function that is able to circulate the water within the collector loop when the temperature approaches freezing point. Plus, there should also be freezing protection valves.

Bypass system and the tempering valve – The valve is crucial because it will help you maintain the temperature when water is delivered to the taps or when you are heating the pool. Bypassing piping and your valves will let you use the regular system if the solar hot water design system is not working or when you are maintaining it.

Of course you must maintain the system from time to time. You must check the temperature of the preheat tank, pipe insulation, the collector and everything else. If the solar hot water design is right, and if you are maintaining it properly, then it should give you great results.