Installing A Solar Power Water Heater - Will You Save Money

By Adrian Fletcher in Technology on March 29th, 2008

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by Adrian Fletcher

Solar power water heater systems are a way to save money on your utility bills (heating water is usually one of the most costly uses of electricity or gas) so should you install a system or not. This article will ask if it makes sense economically for the home owner to install a solar water heating system.

A Solar power water heater system is normally added onto the current hot water system. It is basically a method of collecting the sun’s thermal energy. This is called a solar collector. It can be a flat plate collector such as a standard water tank or an evacuated tube collector. Both systems has features that increase the efficiency of absorbing heat and insulation to stop it being lost to the surrounding environment.

Water is moved past the flat plate collector or through the tubing. The will heat the water that is then pumped into the home plumbing, water tank or boiler.

The household saves money on the reduced cost that is needed to heat water using the normal heating system, as the solar water system has already partly heated (or in some cases it is hot enough) the water. But is this saving enough to go to the trouble of installing a solar system and the costs that this will entail ?

Before you even think about a solar water heating system check out your existing hot water system. traditional systems have developed and much emphasis has been placed on efficient hot water cylinders or boilers. You can probably save more money by ensuring that this system is efficient and has adequate lagging. This goes for the whole house too. Make sure energy is not being lost because the house has poor insulation.

After this, it comes down to five considerations, that you may have already established when you made the existing hot water system as efficient as possible. These are :

What amount of heated water is used in the house annually - This may be hard to get exactly right. You will probably have to average out the total over a few months, taking into account the fluctuations in usage during the summer and winter months

When will the heated water be used - The solar water system will work better when the sun is hottest, generally midday.

Is the current heating system conducive with the solar system.

What will a solar power water heater system cost - this really depends on the size of the system which is dependent on your usage of hot water. However, prices of solar water systems should drop in future as more emphasis is placed on renewable or free energy sources.

The cost of the energy that your current hot water system uses - this will undoubtedly rise in the future as most of these fuels are finite. The price to find, extract and transport the raw materials will increase and this will be past onto the consumer.

So it seems to make economic sense to install a solar water system in the future or even planning for the future but it is impossible to quantify the savings. What about the present though ? If you research solar power heat systems you will be given figures on the likely amount of energy that they can save. By factoring this into your annual energy usage you will arrive at the amount that can be saved on your monthly bills.

About the Author:

Get more information on solar hot water systems and information on solar powered landscape lighting at solarpowerappliances.com.