So

olar H
Hot Water
W
Solar hot w
water syystems generate
g
heat frrom sunlight. Th
hey are also callled
"so
olar therrmal" syystems, though
t
that terrm can also reffer to solar
s
ste
eam
turrbine electricity generato
g
ors. Unlik
ke the so
olar heatt gains from
f
passsive dessign
stra
ategies, solar hot
h
wate
er system
ms can pump their he
eat anyw
where itt is
dessired. Th
hey may look like
e photovvoltaics, as they are
a usua
ally dark rectangu
ular
insstallations on roo
oftops.
Sola
ar hot water collecctors on rooftop
Wikkimedia Commonss

Sola
ar thermal systems are usefful becausse they generate energy at a far low
wer cost than
t
pho
otovoltaics; however, they onlyy generate heat, not electricity.. Heat cre
eated from solar therrmal
systtems can b
be used forr radiant he
eating systtems and domestic
d
water
w
needss.
The
e effectiven
ness of a solar
s
waterr heating system
s
is measured
m
by its ene
ergy produ
uction per unit
2
2
time per unit area, such as kWh/ye
earm or BTU/hrft
B
.
Basically, sola
ar water-he
eating systtems are comprised of a solar collector and a storrage tank. The
collector heatts the wate
er, which th
hen flows to the stora
age tank. The
T water stays in the storage tank
t
until it is need
ded for som
mething, su
uch as sinkks or a dish
hwasher.

Thee simplest passive system: solar colleector and storage tank.

t

While many collectors simply heatt water dire

ectly, cold weather ca
an cause water
w
to fre
eeze and break
pipe
es. Thus, some insta
allations use "indirecct" systemss where an
n antifreezze fluid is heated by the
sun
n, then brou
ught inside
e the build
ding where
e a heat excchanger tra
ansfers the
e antifreeze
e's heat to
o the
watter system.
Pred
dicting Solar Therma
al Energy Production
P
Sim
milar to pho
otovoltaics,, the amou
unt of enerrgy produced by solar water heating syste
ems depen
nds
on five
f
main ffactors:
The site co
onditions: latitude,
l
longitude, and local we
eather
The orientation and exposure of
o the solar collectorss to the sun
The efficie
ency of the collectors
The available area fo
or collectorrs
The efficie
ency of the plumbing and storag
ge system
Site
e Condition
ns
Site
e condition
ns are the same as photovoltaics. Deterrmining ho
ow many kilowatts of
o sun ene
ergy
strik
ke the site per square meter pe
er year willl let you ca
alculate ho
ow big and how efficiient your solar
s
thermal system
m will have
e to be to meet the building's
b
e
energy
nee
eds.
Sysstem Orienttation
The
e more dire
ectly the sun shines on solar collectors, the
t more energy
e
the
ey generate
e. Howeve
er, it
mak
kes less off a differen
nce for sollar hot water system
ms than forr photovoltaic system
ms. It is not a
cruccial parameter, though orientin
ng the collectors tow
ward the equator
e
at a tilt equa
al to the site's
s
latittude gives optimal re
esults.
Sola
ar collectors are usua
ally mounte
ed on rooffs for best sun exposu
ure.
Colllector Efficciency
The
ere are thre
ee main kinds of sola
ar thermal collectorss: the flat-p
plate collecctor, the batch
b
collecctor,
and
d evacuated
d tube collector. The
e efficiencyy of each depends
d
on the local climate conditions, and
can vary significantly byy manufaccturer. Typ
pical collecctors can have
h
peak efficiencie
es from 45
5% 70%
%.
Flatt plate collectors arre the mo
ost commo
on; they tend
t
to ha
ave the highest
h
performance for
tem
mperate clim
mates. The
ey consist of a rectan
ngular boxx with a tra
ansparent cover
c
that faces the sun.
Sma
all tubes rrun through the boxx, carrying the water (or antifre
eeze) to be
e heated. The tubes are
mounted on a metal ab
bsorber plate, painted
d black to absorb the
e sun's hea
at. The bacck and side
es of
the box are in
nsulated to
o hold in the
t heat. Heat
H
buildss up in the
e collector,, and as th
he fluid passes
thro
ough the tu
ubes, it heats up.

Flat plate collecto

or
Wikimedia
W
Commo
ons

Batcch collecto
ors are esse
entially justt tanks of water
w
heatted by the sun. They are also a water storrage
tank; thus, the
ey are also
o called "integrated collector
c
storage" sysstems. The
ese systems are the least
exp
pensive, bu
ut only effe
ective in hot
h climate
es where their
t
heat loss back to the ou
utside is no
ot a
problem.

Water storage tanks on

n a roof
Photo:
P
Jeremy Falu
udi

Evacuated tub
be collecto
ors are like flat plate collectors,
c
but they contain hea
at-absorbin
ng water pipes
in glass
g
tubes instead of flat pla
ates. The tubes
t
are under vaccuum to prevent hea
at from be
eing
con
nducted ba
ack out oncce it has be
een gained
d. These have
h
less exxposed surface area than flat plate
p
collectors, butt lose less heat, so th
hey can be the most efficient
e
pa
anels for co
old climate
es.

Eva
acuated tube collecctors
Wikimedia
W
Commo
ons

Sysstem Area
The
e area requ
uired for a solar therrmal system
m depends on the efficiency
e
o not just the collecctors
of
but the system
m as a who
ole. It also depends on the amount of sunlight, how
w intermitttent the sun is,
and
d how often
n backup heating
h
sysstems can be used.
Sola
ar therma
al systems usually require le
ess area than
t
PV panels,
p
be
ecause the
ey are hig
ghly
efficcient. How
wever, unliike PV pan
nels, there is no equivalent of a "grid-tie
ed" system
m, because hot
watter does no
ot retain itss heat for more
m
than a couple days
d
in most water ta
anks.
A climate thatt has cold cloudy win
nters but bright
b
sunn
ny summerrs will eithe
er need to
o oversize their
t
systtem for the darkest times of year
y
and have significant extra hot waterr during su
ummer, or will
nee
ed to size the system more mod
derately bu
ut use more electric or
o gas wate
er heating in winter.
Plum
mbing and Storage Systems
S
The
e balance of
o a solar thermal syystem is th
he hot water storage tank, plu
umbing, an
nd integration
with
h gas or ellectric heatters. Syste
ems often include ad
dditional co
omponentss such as pumps,
p
valves,
tem
mperature and presssure senso
ors, and an
a extra reservoir,
r
for tighter control of the water
w
tem
mperature and
a quantity.

A typical syystem: collector and

d storage tank plu
us sensors, valves, and
a reservoir

The
e storage ttank may be any insulated wa
ater tank. Generallyy speaking, the large
er and bettterinsu
ulated the tank is, the better, fo
or less losss of heat. Poor insulation of th
he tank and
d pipes low
wers
the efficiency of the systtem.
While a solar water-heatting system
m can workk well, it ca
annot heat water whe
en the sun isn't shinin
ng-and
d it can be cloudy forr days at a time. For that reason, building
gs usually have
h
a backup electriic or
gas water hea
ater.
If th
he solar ho
ot water sysstem is integrated wiith electrical or gas heating,
h
the
ese heating
g systems may
hea
at the tank that sto
ores solar heated water,
w
or may
m
have their own
n tank, orr may be ondem
mand syste
ems that he
eat water as
a it is deliivered to itts point off use after pre-heatin
ng by the solar
s
thermal system
m.
Like
e solar-dessigned buildings, solar water-h
heating sysstems can pump water activelyy or passivvely.
The
e most com
mmon systtems are active, whicch means tthey use electric pum
mps to mo
ove the hea
ated
watter from th
he collecto
or into the storage ta
ank. Passive systems use the natural convection from
f
tem
mperature differences
d
s in the watter to movve it throug
gh the system.

Passive directt system vs. active indirect system

The
e best solar hot wate
er systems have temp
perature re
egulation, because th
he tempera
ature of so
olarhea
ated water can be un
npredictab
ble--depending on th
he sunshin
ne, it can be
b cooler o
or hotter than
t
dessired. It can even be dangerously hot. Te
emperature fluctuatio
ons are mo
oderated by
b the therrmal
masss of the w
water in the
e storage ta
ank, and ca
an be man
naged by mixing
m
solar-heated water
w
with cold
c
watter, or chan
nging the rate
r
at whicch the systtem pumpss water thrrough the collectors.
c