Solar Hot Water

Heating water by the use of solar panels has been around for many years and is now a well established industry with some excellent equipment available. Here in the UK we receive in the region of 1042 kilowatt hours per square metre per year (south facing at an angle of 30 degrees). Using this energy to heat up water is relatively straight forward. Most systems use glycol which is pumped around the system, gaining heat when it passes through the panel and transferring the heat when it passes through a heat exchanger in the hot water cylinder. Systems are now able to provide up to 70% of your hot water needs throughout the year. In the summer it will be able to provide over 90% of your needs falling to 30% in the winter.

We install both flat plate panels and evacuated tubes and depending upon various factors such as size of roof, angle of roof, visual preference and budget we will recommend the most suitable type for your property.

Panels ideally should be fitted to a south-facing roof at an angle between 30 and 45 degrees. The main type of panels that we install are just over 2 square meters and as a rough guide each panel will produce 100 litres of hot water per day so you size the system on how many people are in the house i.e. 1-2 people 1 panel, 3-4 people 2 panels, 4-5 people three panels.

Most existing hot water cylinders have a single heat exchanger which is heated by the existing boiler. With a solar panel system a second heat exchanger is required so in most instances a new twin-coil hot water cylinder (whether vented or unvented) needs to be fitted.

See the schematic below to see how the system might look:

Solar panels can easily be retro-fitted to existing buildings and installed in a new build. Panels can be mounted within the roof (like a velux window) or mounted on brackets on the roof.

Costs: The costs of installing a system vary due to factors such as ease of roof access, distance between roof and hot water cylinder, whether your hot water cylinder needs replacing, etc but prices start from as little as £3600 for a fully fitted system. Solaer hot water systems are covered by the Renewable Heat Incentive, which came into effect in April 2011, the annual values from this can be as high as £400 a year.  All systems that have been installed since 29th July 2009 are eligible for the scheme.

We have here in the warehouse a single flat plate panel installed on the roof and plumbed into a 140 litre hot water cylinder so that you can come and see for yourself how much heat is being transferred into the cylinder.

We would very much like to give you further advice and would be delighted to come and survey your property to confirm its suitability. Please contact us.

Working Demonstration

Flat plate solar hot water panel