How you can use Solar Heating To Reduce Your Household Heating Costs

With our utility bills rising at what seems a monthly rate, most of us, at least,shop around for the provider with the lowest electricity, gas or oil prices and leave it at that, but have you thought about the other ways you could keep your house warm.

Not only could you save money in the long term by reducing your household fuel bills, but you can also do so in a more environmentally friendly way and, in today’s world of global warming which produces extreme weather conditions, that is a major factor for many people.

Solar heating can reduce your electricity bills no matter where you live. Obviously, where you live will determine how much sunshine you will get in an average day, but even on a cloudy day with the sun low on the horizon you can still benefit. If you live in a warm climate and don’t need heating for much of the year, you still may wish to heat the swimming pool.

What Equipment Do I Need?
A typical system uses collectors, also called heating panels. These are generally mounted on a south facing roof which should ideally be pitched at an angel of between 30 and 60 degrees. If your roof isn’t pitched, the panels can be mounted at an angel. The size of the panels will depend on the size of the household and your local climate. As a general rule, you’ll need 2.75 sq.m. to heat water for two people, or 4.12 sq.m. for a family of three or four people.

There are two types of panels and the right one for you will depend on your local climate.

Flat Plate Collectors – a simple flat plate of specially coated black metal covered by glass or plastic. Water passes through pipes that are solered to the plate and the warmed water is then fed to your boiler.
Evacuated tubes – which are fitted into insulated steel casings. These are more suited to cooler, cloudier climates. By reducing the heat loss, the water temperature can reach 60F/15C so it may not require further heating. Evacuated tubes are more expensive than flat plate collectors.

Can I Install A System Myself?
It is possible to install a system yourself if you are reaonably good at DIY. Either find a parts supplier who will also do the design for you, or join a solar club – non-profit making groups who run one-day courses designed to make solar heating cheaper and easier to install.

How Much Money Will I Save?
Impossible to quantify as it will depend on your local climate, house insulation, heating system, and the type of panels you install. But if you want lower electricity and heating bills, and wish to help the environment by burning less fossil fuel, solar heating is well worth investigating.

A Key Element In Solar Water Heating – Efficiency

While solar energy is most often associated with the production of electricity, solar water heating is also a major platform. While heating isn’t particularly difficult, efficiency in doing so is the key to saving wear and tear on your system.

A Key Element In Solar Water Heating – Efficiency

The sun produces a ton of energy, but solar panel systems have historically been very inefficient at converting it. With improving technology, efficiency has improved to the point where most panel systems can easily produce enough energy to heat water for the home and pools. There are efficient and inefficient ways to go about this process.

To save wear and tear on your panels, you need to consider a flow control system. Older panel systems tend to take a long time to heat up fluid because water more or less randomly circulates through the system. This is very inefficient because the panels are forced to heat up a much larger pool of water than you actually need. This results in wear and tear, not to mention lengthy waits for hot water.

A control flow system attacks the efficiency problem by reducing the amount of water that must be heated. Most are designed to work on temperature differential strategies. They work by using two sensors. The first is located close the panels being used to heat the water or liquid substitute. The second is located on or close to the liquid return valve into the panel system. Put in practical terms, one sensor measures the temperature of liquid set to leave the panel while the other measures the temperature of liquid coming into the panel.

Flow systems work by waiting for the liquid to rise to a temperature determined by you. Once the liquid meets the temperature, the system turns on the circulation pump and moves the liquid to the desired location. Once the return valve sensor notes the temperature of the returning water is within a particular range of the liquid in the panel system, the pump is shut off. This process allows for faster heating times, more efficiency and less wasted energy.

Solar solutions are coming to the front of the energy debate for many residential energy needs. Countries like Germany are making huge investments in solar platforms and technologies. Solar can be a cost-effective solution for you as well. Just keep in mind that flow systems are a must if you are pursuing solar water heating.

Use a Solar Water Heater to save on your bills

To get the sun to heat your water as in a solar water heater. You would first need a collector placed on or built into the roof of your home, or on a wall facing the sun, or it could be be free-standing.

The collector can be a simple glass topped box with copper pipes in it, or a set of metal tubes surrounded by a evacuated (near vacuum) glass cylinder. A parabolic mirror can also be added to concentrate the sun’s light on the tube. They are usually black inside to further help with heating the water

A simple water heating system would pump cold water out to a collector to be heated, the heated water flows back to a collection tank. This type of collector can provide enough hot water for a family, for very little or no monthly cost.

The hot water could then be stored in a hot water tank. The volume of this tank will be larger with solar heating systems in order to allow for bad weather.

The working fluid for the absorber may be the hot water from the tank, but more usually at least in pumped systems will be a separate loop of fluid continuing anti-freeze and a corrosion inhibitor which delivers heat to the tank through a heat exchanger – a coil of copper tubing within the tank.

If a central heating system is also present and heats water then either the solar heat will be concentrated in a pre-heating tank that feeds into the tank heated by the central heating, or the solar heat exchanger will be lower in the tank than the hotter one.

The water from the collector can reach very high temperatures in good sunshine, or if the pump fails. Designs should allow for relief of pressure.

 

DIY Solar Water Heating

For most people when they think about Solar Power they immediately think about the solar panels that you currently see being used on people roofs to create electricity, but the power of the sun can be harnessed in another way. The suns energy can be used to heat water for your home, and you made be surprised that you can build a DIY Solar Water Heater, and that it really isn’t that hard to do.

This basic idea really isn’t a new one, the ancient Greeks used crude mirrors and lenses that used direct sunlight to heat water. Then in 1920s some communities had a fully functional solar water heating systems that provided water to their homes.

The solar heated water has direct uses in your home for example for showering or for washing the dishes. Once the water has been heated, nothing more has to be done to the water other than simply make it available. That’s typically done by storing the heated water in essentially the same way as with ordinary water heaters, in a large insulated water tank.

How does solar water heating work?

The way the water is heated is really the same as what happens is a greenhouse. A solar water heater panel is like a large, thin and double-paned windows, that contain a series of channels, tubes and pipes. The water is pumped through these channels and heated by the suns energy, and this heated water is then stored in an insulated water tank.

In the ordinary hot water system the water heater storage unit, heats the water. With a solar-powered water heating system there’s no need to, since the water that enters the tank is usually between 95F-150F (35C-66C). The storage tank acts like a big thermos bottle. It’s double-lined and/or made of well-insulated material so the heat doesn’t dissipate much out the walls of the tank.

The temperature range of such systems is fully adequate for bathing, cleaning clothes and other ordinary applications. The only difficulties are ensuring enough sunlight to generate enough heat, and minimal loss of heat through the panels and pipes. So you really have to think about where you place your panels.

In the average home the cost of heating water is roughly a third of the total energy bill. By building your own solar heating panels you not only be saving money on the building of the panels but also on your energy bills. The process of actually building the panels is relatively easy, but it is recommended to learn as much as you can before starting to build. On the internet you will find a wealth manuals and information that will take you right through the whole process from start to finish.

You should be able to find the majority of materials you need to build the panels in your local hardware store, and if not you can also have a look on the internet.

Building a solar water heater one of the easier ways you could save money on your utility bill, but you will also be doing your bit to help the environment.  If you want to learn more on how to build your own solar water heater I would recommend you have a look at DIY Hot Water today.

How to use Solar Heating in your home, and help reduce your utility bills

Solar heating is a style of building construction which uses the energy of sunshine to heat a building. Active solar heat uses pumps which move air or a liquid from the solar collector sometimes into the building or sometimes into a storage area. Passive solar heat relies on the design and structure of the house to collect, store and distribute heat throughout the building. A well designed adobe house will use principles of passive solar heating.

The collector is placed on or forms the roof of a building, on a wall facing the sun, or may be free-standing. The working fluid is either pumped or driven by convection through it. Active control or simple physics ensures it only moves when a net gain in heat will occur. The collector can be a simple glass topped box with copper pipes in it, or a set of metal tubes surrounded by a evacuated (near vacuum) glass cylinder. A parabolic mirror can also be added to concentrate the sun’s light on the tube.

A simple water heating system would pump cold water out to a collector to be heated, the heated water flows back to a collection tank. This type of collector can provide enough hot water for a family, for very little or no monthly cost.

Heat is stored in a hot water tank. The volume of this tank will be larger with solar heat systems in order to allow for bad weather, and because the optimum final temperature for the absorber is lower than a typical immersion or combustion heater.

 

 

The working fluid for the absorber may be the hot water from the tank, but more usually at least in pumped systems will be a separate loop of fluid containing anti-freeze and a corrosion inhibitor which delivers heat to the tank through a heat exchanger – a coil of copper tubing within the tank.

If a central heating system is also present and heats water then either the solar heat will be concentrated in a pre-heating tank that feeds into the tank heated by the central heating, or the solar heat exchanger will be lower in the tank than the hotter one.

The water from the collector can reach very high temperatures in good sunshine, or if the pump fails. Designs should allow for relief of pressure.

 

Solar Homes use the power of the sun to heat their homes and reduce their utility bills

In the beginning you will need to decide whether you want an “active” or a “passive” solar homes system. Passive systems do not use mechanical devices to distribute solar heat from the collector. Examples of passive systems for space heating is a sunspace or solar greenhouse on the south side of the house.

Although passive systems are simpler than active systems, they may be impractical for a variety of reasons (for example, building an effective sunspace may not be possible).

Active solar heating systems consist of collectors that collect and absorb solar radiation and electric fans or pumps that transfer and distribute the solar heat in liquid or air from the collectors. They may have a storage system to provide heat when the sun is not shining. An active system may be more flexible than a passive system in terms of siting and installation. Choosing the appropriate solar energy system depends on factors such as the site, design, and heating needs of your house. Local covenants may restrict your options; for example homeowner associations may not allow you to install solar collectors on certain parts of your house.

It is usually most economical to design an active system to provide 40% to 80% of the home’s heating needs. . A well designed and insulated home that incorporates passive solar heating techniques will require a smaller and less costly heating system of any type, and may need very little supplemental heat other than solar.

You can position collectors in different locations but in general, the optimum collector orientation is true south. Collectors usually receive the most sunlight when placed on the roof. In some cases, however, the roof may be too shady or you (or your neighbors) may not like the look of collectors on the roof. If this is the case, you may mount the collectors on a supporting structure on the ground, or on the south wall of the house, where there is enough sunlight for the collectors to perform satisfactorily.