Our solar hot water system
Installing solar hot water system is an important step to minimize greenhouse emissions while achieving energy self-sufficiency.
Even though we have our own electricity supply (wind + sun power station) we have chosen the system that does not require recirculating pump to function and hence does not require any external energy supply.
We have chosen the solar collector angle slightly larger than our latitude to improve the performance of solar collectors in winter.
After all, hot water is more precious in winter and in Australian summer there is enough sunshine to to produce hot water at a wide range of angles.
It is a good feeling, having a long shower using the water that we collect ourselves, pressurized by gravity and generously heated by the Sun.
No pollution whatsoever...
In summer there is too much solar energy and water in the stainless steel tank actually boils. For this reason we shade a part of solar heat collector tubes during summer months.
As the hot water in the tank is usually hotter than it is allowed in house taps in Australia, we use a tempering valve that mixes hot solar water with cold water and limits the output tap water temperature to 50 degrees Celsius.
