Efficiently Heating Water Using Solar Power
Due to frustration with utility companies more and more people are looking for way to make a switch to efficient and affordable homemade energy. One of the first steps in significantly lowering your costs is making the transition to a solar powered water heater.This is done by installing solar photovoltaic panels.This is much more efficient today because of affordable home solar panel kits.The use of solar power now allows you to heat your water efficiently and affordably.
Heating your water efficiently will require both a solar collector and storage tank. The solar collector is what is used to harness solar energy. This can be built using a home solar photovoltaic panel kit.The water will be heated by this and then stored in the tank to be kept warm before it travels through pipes into your home.
A very common collector is a plate collector,which is designed be a thin,flat box that has a transparent cover. It carries the fluid to be heated. This can be water or solution such as antifreeze that prevents the water from freezing in the winter . The water then moves through tubes to an absorber plate. This plate is often black in color to absorb heat from the sun. Once the collector gets hot, it heats the fluid that passes through the tubes. The water is then transported to the storage tank through the tubes. The tank holds the water after it is heated. It is well insulated so the water will stay warm even longer.This creates a very efficient way of heating water on demand.
There are two groups in which solar water heating systems are divided into, Active and Passive:
1. Active Water Heating Systems are the most common because they are more efficient and usually quicker.They rely on pumps or other mechanical devices that moves the water between the flat plate collector and the storage tank.
2. The Passive system for heating water is not as popular because it tends to be slow and may not keep up with demand. This water heating system relies on gravity to feed the water from your flat plate collector to the storage tank. Another reason it may not be as popular is that you must have your flat plate collector and storage tank at the correct angle for gravity to feed the water through.
Using solar power to heat water is very efficient and can be installed with little effort. It is a smart choice to use solar power to heat your water and is one of the first steps to going green. It is much easier to use solar power to do lots of things than ever before, including using it to heat our water.
