How does it work?

Very simply, the Sun’s energy is absorbed by the Solar Panel, and is then transferred to your domestic water system. There it is stored until you wish to use it. The following diagram provides a more detailed explanation for those of you who are interested in the technical side of the Solar Thermal System. Further down it gets really complicated!!

Solar System
Flat or tubular vacuum collectors absorb energy from the Sun. The energy is transferred to an anti-freeze liquid that is pumped through the collectors. Once heated, the liquid is then pumped to solar coils in the base of your domestic hot water cylinder. While passing through the solar coils, the heat energy in the liquid is transferred to the water in your cylinder. The heated water rises to the top of your cylinder ready for you to use when you turn on your hot water taps. The liquid in the solar coils which has now cooled is pumped back to the solar collector to be replenished with new heat energy and thus the cycle continues. If there is not enough Sun, in the winter for example, then your boiler will top up the heat for you in exactly the same way as it does now.
Vacuum Tube - Direct Flow
In a direct flow vacuum tube design, the antifreeze liquid (used to take heat energy back to your hot water cylinder) is channelled through to the bottom of the tube and then back out. As it does so it picks up the heat collected by the absorber. The advantage of this design is that it more efficient than the others and can be mounted at virtually any angle on your roof or wall and vertically or horizontally.
Vacuum Tube - Heat Pipe
In a heat pipe design, the antifreeze liquid does not enter the vacuum tube and only makes contact with it by way of a heat exchanger. To improve the transfer of energy, some heat pipe designs still use a liquid in the tube but this is sealed in. The liquid evaporates under the heat of the sun and rises in the tube until it reaches the heat exchanger. The vapour then cools, returns to a liquid and runs back into the tube to repeat its cycle. This particular design has the disadvantage that the tubes cannot be laid flat but need an installed angle of at least 25° to operate. However, the advantage is that in the unlikely event of a tube needing to be replaced, this can be achieved without draining the complete system.
Flat-Plate
A flat plate design does not use vacuum technology and thus has the advantage of being a more economical system to install. The disadvantage is that it loses some of its collected heat energy to the atmosphere and is a little less productive. In the summer months this is really no problem but some loss of performance as against the vacuum tubes must otherwise be expected.
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