Solar Water Heating System

Nowadays a lot of people use solar panels on their properties for capturing the sun energy and transforming it into power, all this process being done for free. Solar panels can provide the needed energy for charging batteries, outdoor lighting, warming rooms during winter and cooling them during the hot days of summer and bringing light into the house. Some people have outdoor swimming pools and want a warm water to bathe in, but most of the regular people use solar energy for heating up the water they regularly use in the house.

The solar water heating system can be divided in two: passive system and an active system.

The passive solar water heating system is known to be the easiest and oldest way to have warm water in the house. To make such a system you will need to install a water tank on your roof. You can not install it anywhere you please. The key of having a well functioning passive solar water heating system is to place the tank on the roof area where the sun light has good access. You will need to pain the water tank in black as the heat will be attracted by this dark color and the water will get warm in no time. After the water is heated a pump will transport the warm water to wherever it is needed in the house.

The active solar water heating system is a little bit more complicated to make but in the end all the efforts are worth it for sure. The concept of active water heating is about using solar panels for transforming sun energy into electricity. All the sun energy that is collected by the solar panel will be stored in a battery block. An electronic controller, pumps and valves are a part of the active solar water heating system and as an overall function we can say that the water from the storage tank is pumped through the collectors and then taken back to the storage tank.

The advantage of using a solar water heating system is that the electrical bills will be quite low. As a disadvantage we can mention that the passive solar water heating system needs a backup during cloudy days when the sun has not enough power to heat up the storage tank. The active solar water heating system might require an increased maintenance, but this is due to the fact that the whole system is made up from so many components. Otherwise we have made a calculation and reached this conclusion: by using a solar water heating system in ten years you will save up at least 30000kW.

As the fossil fuel used for producing electricity is in a continuous stock decrease we find the alternative of using a solar water heating system quite tempting. This is a long term investment and it will pay for itself in time, not to mention that is protects the environment.