How Do Solar Panels Heat Water

Choosing a solar water heating system.

How do solar panels heat water.

Choosing to heat your water using solar power is a wise choice and a first step in making a choice to help preserve our environment. An immersion heater unvented hot water cylinder might be needed as a back up heater or to get the water to the temperature you want. Solar water heating systems are different than solar electric systems. On average it can heat water up to 212 f though you won t require more than 130 f.

Solar water heaters use the energy of the sun to give hot water. Solar thermal collectors directly turn the sun s energy into heat where it s collected and tranferred to a hot water tank in your home. Here s a simple summary of how rooftop solar hot water panels work. In order to ensure a safe temperature at the taps a tempering valve will reduce the temperature to around 45 degrees.

Using solar hot water for space heating won t supply 100 percent of your heating needs. As heat rises the hot water delivering to the tank from the solar collector comes from the top for use in the house. We know how easy it is to use solar power to do a lot of things including heating our water. Where solar electric systems use the sun s energy to generate power for your home like your refrigerator or lights solar water heating systems pump hot water heated by the sun into your home.

Then this fluid passes through a heat exchanger in the storage tank transferring the heat to the water. Solar thermal panels use heat from the sun to warm fluid passing through them as the diagram below shows. One solar heater is sufficient for the entire house. Closed loop or indirect systems use a non freezing liquid to transfer heat from the sun to water in a storage tank.

It provides hot water for your bath as well as in the kitchen and washing machine. The sun s thermal energy heats the fluid in the solar collectors. Solar panels or photovoltaic cell technology has come a long way in the last seven decades to produce enough electricity to power a home in the second decade of the 21st century. In the simplest panels sun heats water flowing in a circuit through the collector the panel on your roof.

The temperature of the water may exceed 60 degrees celsius a requirement to kill bacteria. This is then used to heat your water which is stored in a hot water cylinder. The water leaving the collector is hotter than the water entering it and carries its heat toward your hot water tank. The traditional hot water heater can be powered by the sun or combined with a solar thermal hot water system or with a tankless system.

One of the most complex and often confusing areas of solar power in recent times has been the plethora of options available for heating water in any home.