Solar Thermal Hot Water Heating

What sits on your roof and heats up your household water without using fuel or causing any global pollution? A Solar Thermal Panel is the answer and if it means nothing to you then this page is aimed at giving you a little bit of background information.

Solar Heating Explained

Using the sun to heat water is nothing new, our forbearers were employing it a hundred years ago and it has been commonly used to heat domestic water on the continent for a very long time. But it is only relatively recently that technology has made it more interesting to us Brits. Because we live a little further away from the equator, the sun doesn’t get so high in the sky and as a consequence, our fiery friend is not quite so generous with its energy as it is to many of our more southerly European neighbours. However, the clever design of the latest Solar Thermal Panels uses vacuum technology, not only to squeeze the last drop of energy from every ray of sunlight it receives but also to hold on to it, making them ideal for our latitude throughout the year. They are even used right up into Norway and Sweden!

If you have ever tried to get into a dark coloured car on a clear sunny day you will know just how hot it can be, even in the winter. However, the car feels really hot on the outside too which shows that in fact, it is losing a lot of its heat to the outside air. A Vacuum Solar Thermal Panel works in the same way but is designed to hold on to every bit of the energy it absorbs and to pass it straight to your hot water system. So the Solar Panel actually feels cool to the touch. On a clear summer’s day, your Panel will comfortably heat your complete hot water cylinder to the same temperature that your boiler would have done but using no fuel and causing no pollution! Sometimes the water can get so hot that you’ll be glad that the panel’s performance is automatically limited!!

So why doesn’t everyone have a panel on their roof? Well, one day they will but it’s a bit like double glazing, it takes a while for good things to catch on. The Government and often your local council are committed to helping you purchase a system by way of grants. You can then consider your own outlay against your reduced fuel bills, the increased value in your house and your enhanced HIP report when you come to sell your property. Lastly, but by no means least you can be content in the knowledge that you are reducing your carbon footprint. The average system can shrink a household’s carbon emissions by nearly a tonne every year! Imagine the saving to our environment when we all have these systems operating for us!

As fuel bills spiral, as they will annually, a Solar Thermal Panel or an alternative sustainable energy system will become an obvious choice for all property owners. The sooner you install one the sooner you’ll reap the rewards! If you haven’t spotted a panel yet, just have a look around; they’re already more common than you think. When you see one, just ask the householder how they getting on with it. I’m confident you’ll get a glowing report…