Solar Water Heating Panel

When people opt to implement a solar water heating system in their homes, they’re going to have to select either an active or passive solar water heating system. Passive systems are generally used in warmer climates where the temperatures in the winter time do not reach freezing, or do not stay there for long amounts of time. Active solar water heating systems are employed in colder climates, particularly the indirect circulation systems which use antifreeze in the pipe coils to heat the water that is in the storage tank. Whatever system is employed, there’s also a choice that needs to be made in the type of solar water heating panel for the system to work.

Types of Panels

There are three basic types of solar water heating panels. The first is known as a flat plate collector, which is generally a glazed flat plate that is insulated and contains a dark absorbent plate that sits underneath one glass or plastic cover. There are some flat plate solar water heating panels that are unglazed and have an absorbent plate that’s made from metal instead of glass or plastic and is used to help heat swimming pools and other larger water supplies.

Another sort of solar water heating panel is the integral collector storage system which is also called the ‘batch’ system by some. These systems employ a glazed box instead of a plate and have one black tube or tank in it, through that the water passes to become heated. When the water passes through the tubes into the glazed box, it becomes heated by the sun’s rays so that the backup heater in the storage tank does not have to do much if any work.

The 3rd sort of solar water heating panels is the abandoned tube solar collector which is usually employed in commercial settings instead of residential. In this type of collector, there are rows of glass tubes that have an outer and inner tube. The inner tube is formed out of metal and is attached to a fin which has a coating on it to stop heat loss.

Each of these types of solar water heating panels is used as the first stage of the water heating process since they utilize the sun’s rays to start to heat the water, which is then pushed by assorted means into the storage tank to await use in the individual’s home or in a commercial setting.