How Solar Heat Panels Work

A solar water heating system uses solar thermal panels on your roof to heat water to use around your home.

How solar heat panels work.

Solar panels actually comprise many smaller units. Again it all depends on how many panels you have and how much sun exposure you get. Solar water heating systems work in one of 2 ways. It may seem counter intuitive but solar panel efficiency is affected negatively by temperature increases.

Simply put a solar panel works by allowing photons or particles of light to knock electrons free from atoms generating a flow of electricity. There are collector pipes that are connected to an insulated tank. Photovoltaic modules are tested at a temperature of 25 degrees c stc about 77 degrees f and depending on their installed location heat can reduce output efficiency by 10 25. Solar photovoltaic technology or pv is less efficient at converting its fuel into electricity than say a wind turbine.

If you can put an amount of solar panels equal to at least 50 of the pool surface area and mount them in a southerly direction you ll have more heat than you can imagine. Here s a simple summary of how rooftop solar hot water panels work. Luxuriously warm solar heated water flows back into your pool until it s heated to the desired temperature. These systems work by capturing the sun s heat in collectors that heat the home s water supply.

Solar panels are usually made out of a material called monocrystalline crystalline silicon in other words and are typically about 5 5 feet by 3 25 feet and weigh anywhere from two to four pounds. In the simplest panels sun heats water flowing in a circuit through the collector the panel on your roof. But when you re talking about heating water as opposed to powering light bulbs or stereos the sunlight doesn t need to become electricity. Ac energy then flows through the home s electrical panel and is distributed accordingly.

And turning sunlight into heat is no problem. And solar heaters work well in all parts of north america. Fafco s polymer solar collectors use the sun s energy to heat to your cool pool water as it moves through the panels returning the water to the pool with a significant temperature gain. The sun heats the water in the pipes and the water then flows into the tank.

How do solar water heating systems work. The water leaving the collector is hotter than the water entering it and carries its heat toward your hot water tank. It needs to become heat.