A Consumer's Guide On Solar Water Heaters

Solar Water Heaters are the most cost-effective and green way of generating hot water for your home. They can be used in any home, no matter the location, and the best part is that the energy they rely upon comes from the sunshine, which is free.

A solar water heater system consists of a storage tank and solar collectors (panels). There are two types of solar water heating systems: active, which have circulating pumps and controls, and passive, which don't. Whatever the type, the system can definitely benefit from having a good insulation on the storage tank.

There are three different types of solar collectors used for residential applications : Flat-plate collector, Integral collector-storage systems, Evacuated-tube solar collectors.

Flat-plate collectors are insulated, weatherproofed boxes that contain a dark absorber plate under one or more glass or plastic (polymer) covers.

Integral collector-storage systems, or ICS, consist of one or more black tanks or tubes in an insulated, glazed box. Cold water first passes through the solar collector, which preheats the water. The water then continues on to the conventional backup water heater, providing a reliable source of hot water.

Evacuated-tube solar collectors consist of parallel rows of transparent glass tubes. Every tube has a glass outer tube and metal absorber tube attached to a fin. The fin's coating absorbs solar energy but inhibits radiative heat loss.

Solar water heaters have two drawbacks. First one is the high installation cost, which can vary from $2,000 to $5,000. Good news here is that by cutting down your energy losses, the system will pay-it-self back in less than a year. Plus, there are some incentives and tax cuts offered by the US Government for people who decided to go "green" and reduce their emissions. The next problem comes from having less sun that supposed to. Cloudy days combined with increased demand and are a problem for such systems. Therefore, solar water heating systems almost always require a backup system that comes into play in such occasions. The backup role can be played by your good old conventional storage water heater.

Before buying a solar water heater, you must take into account several things. First of all, you must evaluate your site's solar resource. After doing that, you must determine the correct size of the system. Then you must determine the system's energy efficiency. The efficiency and design of a solar water heating system depends on how much of the sun's energy reaches your building site. Even if you don't live in a climate that is worm and sunny most of the time, your site still might have an adequate solar resource. The area should be unshaded and preferably facing South.