Solar Hot Water

Hot water systems can account for up to 30% of household energy consumption, so it’s important to select an efficient system that will deliver hot water at minimum energy consumption.

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What to Consider

Choosing the Right Solar Hot Water System

Solar hot water systems are efficient products that can deliver hot water with minimum energy consumption.

When choosing which solar hot water system is right for you, some things to consider include:

  • System Size – how many people in your household, the size of your home and your hot water usage.
  • Price – what is your budget?
  • Space available – do I have enough space on the roof to orient the panels in the right direction.
  • Installation practicality – roof access, or if a 2-story home and you need a split system, where will the tank go on the ground?
  • SolarBright will listen to your needs, assess your home and take into account these factors before recommending a solar hot water system that suits you.

How it Works

How Do Split Solar Hot Water Systems Work?

Split solar hot water heaters consist of roof mounted solar collectors to heat the water, a ground level tank to store the water, and a small pump to circulate the water. The are quite simple in operation.

The solar collectors on the roof absorb energy from the sun’s rays in to heat the water.

When the water is heated the small pump switches on to circulate the hot water to the ground based tank, and at the same time replacing it with cold water from the tank.

The graphic opposite from Envirosun shows how their AS split solar system works.

Split systems offer more flexibility and are visually appealing as on the low profile solar collectors are visible in the roof.

 

 

How it Works

How Do Roof Mounted Solar Hot Water Systems Work?

In roof mounted solar hot water systems both the solar collectors and the tank are mounted on the roof.

The tanks is on on the roof just above the collectors and connected to them to form an integrated unit.

The solar collectors absorb the suns energy to heat the water. The heated water naturally rises to the tank in the thermosyphon process (hot water rises, cold water falls.) In the tank the hot waters rises to the top and the colder water sinks to the bottom.

These solar hot water system are known as thermosyphon systems. The graphic opposite from Envirosun, shows how their thermosyphon solar hot water heaters, the TS range, work.

Cold water at the bottom of the tank moves down and enters at the bottom of the collector panels.  As it warms it moves up the panels to the highest point then is piped into the tank.

The thermosyphon process is a continuous cycle driven be the suns energy to provide cheap, environmentally friendly hot water to households.

 

How it Works

How Do Heat Pump Hot Water Systems Work?

The best way to understand how heat pump works hot water systems work is to imagine a fridge working in reverse.

A fridge sucks hot air out of an enclosed space and replaces it with cold air. A heat pump takes heat of the air to heat water in an enclosed tank.

The graphic opposite is from Envirosun and shows the main parts of the Enviroheat heat pump solar hot water.

The Enviroheat uses the heat in the surrounding air to heat the water. The air containing the heat is drawn across the evaporator, turning the refrigerant coolant into a hot gas.

The condenser coil (heat exchanger) uses the hot gas to heat the water in the tank. With this heat transfer the refrigerant gas changes back to a liquid. It is sent back to evaporator and the process starts again.

The Enviroheat efficiently uses the heat in surrounding air and can convert 1kW of electricity into 4kW of heat, even in temperatures down to -7°C.

WHY INSTALL SOLAR HOT WATER

Why Install Solar Hot Water

Solar hot water is an energy efficient way to provide hot water for your family and can use up to 70% less energy than a standard electric hot water heater, saving you money.

Solar hot water is great for the environment with a solar hot water saving up to 2.9 tonnes of green house gas emissions every year.

By installing solar hot water you protect yourself against future energy cost increases.

Take advantage of Australia’s abundant supply of sunlight and install solar hot water, reducing your reliance on expensive, non-renewable gas and electricity.