Solar water for your home

For private homes, generating heat through solar energy is the most sensible solution from a self-sufficiency point of view. Energy for hot water and heating is generated locally from your roof, without transport costs. The system is dimensioned according to your hot water requirements and is determined mainly by the number of collectors on the roof and the size of the storage cylinder.

Solar thermal is the most environmentally friendly way of reducing the energy consumption of a home in the long term. This prevents the emission of damaging greenhouse gases, thereby slowing down the rate of climate change, without affecting the quality of heating in any way. Solar water systems are easy to integrate with existing heating systems, helping to make you that much less dependent of oil prices.

Heat from solar energy

The basic principle behind solar thermal transfer is easy to grasp: Unroll a garden hosepipe and lay it out in the sun - after a while the water in the hose will get hot.

Thermal collectors work on the same principle, however much more efficiently and without the potential hygiene problems of the garden hose! A special fluid is heated within a closed circuit to a temperature of up to 220 degrees Celsius and pumped into a heat exchanger. This heat is then stored in a domestic hot water storage cylinder. Some solar thermal systems heat only the domestic hot water, others are used for central heating or even to heat a swimming pool.

Heat can still be generated even when the sun is obscured by cloud. Even on cloudy days, thermal systems can still work to a large percentage of their capacity through the diffuse light they receive.

Comprehensible system set-up

Solar thermal systems consist of the following components:
•Collectors (mainly 2 to 6)
•Pipework from roof to hot water cylinder(generally through unused chimneys)
•Solar storage cylinder (replaces existing storage cylinder unless twin coil in existence)
•Solar station (to control solar circuit)
•Solar control unit (for automatic operation of system)
•Expansion vessel (compensates for thermal expansion of solar fluid)

Solar thermal systems are compatible with many types of boiler, whether oil, gas, or wood pellets, even with older devices, and can be installed in a single day.

A solar system saves energy in any heating system, because in summer and late Spring/early Autumn, your boiler does not have to come on as often to heat your home or provide hot water. A solar system can therefore be installed without the need to renew the whole heating system. Indeed, you can install a solar system today and wait several years before replacing the cylinder, boiler and pumps, without any adverse effects. The hot water storage cylinder installed with the solar system can continue to be used with the new cylinder/boiler.