Save with Solar Hot Water
(Page 5 of 6)
Whatever system you choose, locate the storage tank (and if
practical, the collectors) as close as possible to the
household distribution and backup system to minimize heat
loss from the pipes, and insulate the pipes well.
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REAL LIFE APPLICATIONS
Jay Mead and his wife, Edie Farwell, recently installed a
closed-loop glycol solar hot water system in their home in
Hartland, Vermont. "We live in an environmentally based
cohousing community that has a centralized wood-fired
boiler for all the units," he says, "and we wanted to have
some kind of non-fossil-fueled augmentation for the
boiler." A solar hot water system seemed like an obvious
choice.
So far, their solar domestic hot water system has performed
flawlessly. "It's really quite amazing," Mead says. "On a
cold winter day, when the temperature outside is around
zero, the temperature of the tank registers between 130 and
150 degrees. We've been very impressed." The system's
operation is so subtle that Mead says the only way he can
tell that it's running is the faint sound of the
circulating pump.
Val Roberts and his wife, Rosalie, retired recently to a
remote home in Bancroft, Idaho, where winter temperatures
of 40 degrees below zero are not unusual. But Roberts
didn't hesitate to install a solar hot water system. The
glycol in the solar system offers freeze protection down to
50 below zero.
Besides offsetting a substantial portion of their domestic
hot water needs, the system provides some space heating.
"There are days when we get water as hot as 200 degrees out
of the solar panels, and we can heat the water tanks up to
180 degrees, which act as a heat sink for the times when
the sun isn't shining," he says. The Roberts have a valve
on their domestic hot water line so they don't get scalded.
"We're very satisfied with the system," he says. "We would
definitely recommend it to other homeowners."
Since 1979, more than 16,000 solar hot water heaters have
been installed in Oregon—certainly not the sunniest
spot in the country!—for domestic hot water, swimming
pools and spas (and many of those early systems are still
working). A typical solar hot water heater there provides
between 50 percent and 60 percent of a home's water heating
needs. Oregon currently offers a residential energy tax
credit (based on the system's performance) of up to $1,500
on certified systems. Linking tax credits or other
incentives to system performance is an important new
strategy to minimize tax credit abuses, and has widespread
support in the solar industry.
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