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What Is Solar Hot Water?

This page is intended to give a very basic introduction into the operational principles of solar hot water. As you may have guessed already, solar hot water is basically any source of hot water which is effectively powered by the sun. In terms of domestic solar hot water systems, we can define it as a system which is built with the purpose of heating water via the suns radiant energy - to provide us with hot water to be used for showering, cleaning etc.
How solar hot water works is quite simple. In most cases, heat is collected at the plates (or tubes) and is "transferred" to the flowing water through highly heat conducive materials. This water is constantly flowing driven by either the change in temperature alone or a combination of this and a pump. Hot water will rise and cold water will sink in the solar hot water tank and this provides the basic setup for a solar hot water system. In point form, the components of a solar hot water system are as follows:

Components of a solar hot water system

1. The solar collector - Usually either plates or tubes made of specially heat conducive materials.
2. Copper pipes - Provide a path for the water to flow and collect heat.
3. Insulated hot water tank - Keeps the hot water stored for "on-demand" use.
4. Booster system - Either gas or electric booster systems are normally used to make sure hot water supply is not interupted by large periods of solar obstruction (rainy seasons).

Updated 12/12/2011