Solar Water Heating

Solar Heating Introduction

Even a northern climate like the UK can give year-round water heating from the Sun, as long as the system is efficient and installed correctly.

Here are some useful resources:

• Energy Savings Trust Solar water heating - brief introduction and a list of accredited suppliers and products
• Solar Radiation Charts from NASA for East Anglia show the optimum tilt of a solar array, at different times of the year. Clearly it's most important to optimise this for the colder months, as that is when heat collection is more important.
• A DIY Solar Collector from diydata.com, using central-heating radiators!
• DIY Mini Solar Water Heater - a Primary School project, from the UK National Energy Foundation.
• SolarTwin.com supply a ~1MWh/year system, either installed for ~£3400 or as a kit for ~£2500. It uses a solar-powered pump for extra energy efficiency. It feeds hot water straight into the main hot-water cylinder. It comes with a 5 year performance warranty.
• Sol Heat Microgeneration Solutions features a domestic Pre-Feed Cylinder Solar Water Heating System with a separate cylinder and a solar pump. It gives a guide price (subject to survey) of £6,100 for a 4 Bed House. No warranty information is provided. I would estimate that a tilt of 40° - 60° is ideal.
• Nuaire SunWarm supplies systems for hot water and air-heating. It has 5 years (parts and labour) warranty. It uses a mains-powered pump.

The installers mention the possibility of getting a £400 for a solar heating installation, but you will need to make a grant application for this; your chosen installer should give you all the help you need in this process, so take their advice. Most importantly, don't apply for a grant until you have had a positive site survey and an official quotation. Also, the supplier (and their product) must be accredited to be eligible for a grant.

2009-06-02 04:58:18 bill says: "solar water heating You can see a detailed drawing of our pumping station at the following address http://www.aztec-solar-water-heating.com/how-solar-water-heating-works/detailed-explanation-of-how-a-solar-water-heating-system-works/ We have had a casting made that allows all of the connections for the installation to be routed via this pumping station. I f you look at the top of the casting you will see an air trap that allows you to bleed the system after the initial installation and to bleed again approximately two weeks after installation when the gases have come out of the high heat transfer fluid that the independent solar water heating circuit is primed with. Also if a component fails you can also easily replace the component and re bleed form the pumping station. The connections on the casting can be switched around to suit you current plumbing layout and the hand pump allows you to mount the solar heating pumping station wherever you want, so no long pipe runs are needed to connect to the mains supply and the unit comes pre assembled and tested Aztec Solar Water Heating have design an unique pumping station allowing for a quick and reliable installation. Aztec Solar Water Heating design and fit Solar Water Systems nationwide. Please call free on 0800 0556422."

DIY Solar Installation

Yes, you can even do a Solar Water Heater Installation yourself! Here are some other resources I found to get me going:

• Build Your Own Solar Water Heating Panel from BigginHill.co.uk - good description using copper tubes and sheet, but no diagrams and site isn't updated.
• Solar Water Heating: A DIY Guide (Amazon) by Paul Trimby. Also available Spiral-bound.
• Tapping the Sun by Chris Laughton of The Solar Design Company and is available to download as a PDF for £3.50.
• 'Easy install' Water Heating DIY Solar Panels frin HeatMyHome.co.uk. DIY Kits: £2399 inclusive of VAT, plus delivery, so quite expensive.