Solar Powered Water Heaters

Your water heater is a large appliance and it consumes a lot of energy. In fact, the average home allocates one third of its energy just to heating water. One alternative to conventional water heaters is to install a solar powered model. They are more expensive to install initially but the energy savings can offset this cost and pay for it in just a few years.

As the name implies, a solar powered water heater uses the sun to heat your water. This can be accomplished by either heating the water directly or by using collectors filled with heat-transfer liquid. The types of solar water heater systems include thermosiphon, full batch, and active. The thermosiphon system heats water in a collector and transfers it to a storage tank. A full batch system has the collector mounted directly in the water tank itself. An active system uses heat transfer fluid that moves heat generated at the solar panel down to the water tank.

Solar water heaters can be installed as stand alone systems or they can be backed up by a conventional water heater. The redundant conventional water heater ensures that hot water is always available regardless of whether the sun is shining or not. If the solar water heater is producing enough hot water then the conventional water heater remains off.

It is important to consider several factors when selecting what size solar water heater for your home. Do you do a lot of laundry? How many bathrooms do you have? How many family members will be using hot water simultaneously? Do you have a large bathtub that gets used?

For more information on solar powered water heaters, call Mies Plumbing. We’d be happy to enlighten you.