Question by Craig R: Are solar water heaters worth the investment?
Im thinking of having a solar water heater installed and wonder if its worth the investment?
Best answer:
Answer by Mawia
It depends where you live and what type you install.
We lived just off the equator for 18 months and had a 45 gallon drum on the roof of the house – it was painted matte black and at the end of the day, the water was warm enough to take a shower.
If you mean a water heater that is assisted with electricity from solar panels – that might be worth a try. Check out some testimonials first.
My vote would go with in-line natural gas hot water heaters that only heat what you are using at point of use.
Add your own answer in the comments!
May 4th, 2012 @ 11:16 pm
if u r pretty well off then i think u can afford to but install one.it does make good use of solar energy.but u should be living in a place where the sun is quite bright.
May 5th, 2012 @ 12:10 am
You might get the cost of your investment back in 30 years or so. Depending upon where you lived and the type and extent of the installation.
May 5th, 2012 @ 1:03 am
yes they definitely are. you should get your money back in heating savings in 2 or 3 years in a temperate climate. but they dont heat all winter, just assist, you have to have some conventional heating backup.
watch out though, there are a lot of different systems and a lot of cowboys fitting them. best idea is to find a couple of forums and read recommendations from people who have them.
e.g.
http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&client=firefox&rls=FlockInc.%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&hs=LJ5&q=renewable+energy+forum+solar+hot+water&btnG=Search&meta=
May 5th, 2012 @ 1:28 am
If you live in an area where it’s very sunny and warm, then yes, a passive solar heater can at least reduce the amount of gas or electricity you’ll use keeping the water in your tank warm.
If you get cold weather during the winter, however, you probably don’t want to use this, as you’ll only end up cooling the water, and not heating it up.
A lot of people use passive solar heaters for their swimming pool though. If the pool already has a filter pump running, they simply run the water through the heater before dumping it back into the pool.
In both cases, the heater is a mass of copper tubing that’s been curved so that it goes around and around inside metal box that’s been painted black. The box is then placed where the sun will hit it, making it very hot. As water slowly runs through the copper tubing, it absorbs some of the heat from the hot metal, so by the time the water leaves the heater, it’s slightly warmer than when it entered.
May 5th, 2012 @ 1:50 am
My father had one for over 20 years, when we were selling the houses we cut off the gas and had hot water for 6 months before we stopped counting.
May 5th, 2012 @ 2:24 am
Solar water heaters are much cheaper than solar electric panels. A typical solar heater may be $ 2000 – $ 4000. If it displaces an electric water heater, you could get your money back in savings in as little as 3-4 years. I believe all new construction in Hawaii is now required to have them, and in the suburbs there, it seems like every other house has one.
In places where it never freezes, the water is typically just pumped through black tubing in a collector.
If frost is a possibility, there are evacuated tube systems that circulate antifreeze. The antifreeze carries the heat down to an exchanger to heat water in the house.
If energy costs are low in your area, then it’s possible that a solar water heater would not be a benefit. Look in the phone book or LOCAL listings on the internet to see if there are solar installers in your area. If there are, that’s a clue that solar hot water may be viable.
May 5th, 2012 @ 2:40 am
When you speak about something being “worth the investment” you could be speaking about several different things. In any economic consideration you will be balancing installation costs vs running and maintenance costs.
The easiest is a of question savings: will buying one save you money? I think that the answer is clearly yes, however it does depend somewhat on where you live what the climate is like, how much sun you get and how much hot water do you use. The payback time of a system near the Artic circle may be longer than nearer the equator (although the conventional costs of hot water to be offset will also be higher.)
To clarify something another answer seemed to confuse, you will be using solar thermal collectors (to gather the sun’s energy as heat) and not photovoltaic solar collectors (to gather the sun’s energy as electrical power that would have to be converted bact to heat.) A newer type of solar thermal collector is an evacuated tube collector that can produce high temperatures in cold climates. Sometimes they will even use PCM (phase change materials) within the collectors. These are more expensive and the total cost wil have to go up.
In freezing climates you will have to be either installing an antifreeze or a pump down system to prevent damage to the system from freezing. This is an “active” system as it will incorporate pumps.
By comparison, in a relative hot climate “breadbox” heaters can be used which have a storage tank above a coil system or “batch” solar collectors can be used (basically a big can in the sun) these “passive” systems do not have separate pumps as part of the system.
The more parts required for a system the higher the cost. The “payback” period is how long it will take for the savings the system will allow to “pay-back” the costs of the system. Sometimes this is the cost of the entire system but it should be only the added costs over a conventional system that would otherwise have been installed. IE a conventional system may cost $ 1000. If the solar collector system costs 3500 including any necessary (and usually downsized) back up system and it allows for a savings of $ 500 each year then the payback would be 3500 – 1000 or 2500/500 or 5 years. After this time the system would contribute to the overall savings that may have been installed in the home. Payback is also affected by amount of use so a laundrymat or a family of 10 is more likely to be spending a lot of money on hot water. Look also for any available rebates, tax credits or grants that may make the system cheaper. Some designs may give more benefits.
Actual efficiency of the system is something different. A condensing gas water heater may be 95% efficient. This is a measure of how much of the energy that goes in comes out is the desired form. In this case as hot water. “Lost” heat within the house may still be otherwise useful but heat up a flue is wasted. Although the efficiency of a solar collecter system may be only 30% you are still paying for the gas and you don’t pay for the sunlight. (,although you do pay something for electricity for pumps.) You will have to look further at the numbers and as a separate issue judge how secure is the energy supply.
If your concern is not economic but some other measure of satisfaction for the money spent (as in saying “was the movie worth the investment.) You will have to determine for yourself how much you are willing to spend to have a state of the art system that might be the talk of the neighborhood. Is global warming a concern for you? Will this help offset your concerns? Are you trying or do you have to live “off the grid?” These issues will also help to suggest how long of a payback period you are willing to accept.
For actual prices and perhaps some help determining the pay back period you may call on estimates from local companies. Like any other project you should get several estimates. A brief rundown of options might include:
-Hot water coil in an existing heating system (this is the second most common system used) oil, gas, masonry wood stove,
-By product of a heat pump operation
-point of use hot water heaters (on demand or small tanks)
-on demand hot water heaters (point of use or whole house)
-oil or gas hot water cylinders (tanks, this is the most common system used)
-condensing gas hot water cylinders (tanks or sometimes simply heaters)
-solar passive hot water system
-solar active hot water system (with anti freeze or pump down)
there are electric variants of most systems that are often a most expensive last choice. Any solar collector system will need a backup and electric is an inexpensive installation choice that raises operating costs.
May 5th, 2012 @ 2:49 am
I read an article about a guy running a laundromat in Chicago who said they payed for themselves quickly. If they can pay for themselves there, I’d guess they can pay for themselves pretty much any where.
May 5th, 2012 @ 3:39 am
friend.
yes, they work economically.
But there shall be sufficient sun-light for atl east 6 to 8 hours to have a good performance.