Solar thermal water heater is a cost-effective means to provide hot water for your houses at all seasons. They use energy from sun as fuel to produce hot water.It consists of three main components:
1. Solar Collector
2. Insulated hot water storage tank
3. Cold water tank with required insulated hot water pipelines and accessories.
Water is heated by the solar thermal energy absorbed by the collectors. The hot water with lower density moves upwards and cold water with higher density moves down from the tank due to gravity head. A bank of collectors can be arranged in a series – parallel combination to get higher quantity of hot water. It will typically supply water at a temperature of 60 – 80°C.
The tanks are made of stainless steel or may be made of G.I sheets or aluminium to avoid corrosion and insulated to reduce heat losses. They are also fitted with electrical heater as a backup for all seasons.
Cold water comes from the over head tank. Hot water from the system is transferred to various utility points through to insulated pipelines. A heat exchanger may be provided when the water is hard.