Solar Education...what you need to know
Understanding how to get the most out of your Solar Thermal
System is as important as the choice you will have
to make when going ahead and having it fitted.
There are many ways that you can optimise the use of
our systems by learning how and when to heat your hot water to maximize
your
savings.
With conventional hot water systems most families programme
the hot water to come on twice a day, usually once in
the morning and again early evening. This practise when linked with
solar can be most
uneconomical as the majority of families are out at work
or school, and much of the hot water they require later on could have
been heated by
solar whilst they were out.
This is all about the re-education of our hot water use, after
all, you would not leave a room light on in your house on the off
chance you may go back in at some point, so why would we heat a
full tank of water and then leave the house?. With modern High Recovery
cylinders we can boost the water temperature very quickly using
manual override on our programmer if ever we need hot water in a
hurry. Under these circumstances, where possible, it is best to
try to only heat your water late afternoon before you come home
when the solar panels have had their best chance to give you maximum
solar gain. When the system works in this way, during the summer
days of bright sunshine, the chances are your boiler will not even
have to be used to heat your water at all.
During the winter, when solar gain is not as prominent,
the boiler will boost the water temperature, from where the solar
gain left off, to take it to the desired level.
Winter gain is still very important, as even a 10 or 15
degree raise on cold water will mean less work and your boiler will
need to use less energy – therefore saving money.
Of course if you are not out at work all day Solar Thermal can still give you significant savings but it is essential that you learn to manage your hot water requirements much more responsibly by trying only to heat water when required and leave as much of the work as possible to solar gain, which is free.
