Question by Amelia S: Why should I buy a solar water heater? (and why are they so costly?)?
Looking to buy one instead of your regular heating system
Best answer:
Answer by Thor
I would suggest it be a preheater or you have a back up.
As to cost you have to figure the pay back time. It can be long. But the more pricey energy is, the greater the benefit.
One reason they are costly is the labor. The other is the material for the collectors. They get their heat from the sun but the sun is hard on things so the materials need to be special.
And they are still a “specialty” item which means not a lot of production and competition which lowers costs.
They can take some maintenace and a little knowledge for the owner.
Good Luck.
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
January 30th, 2012 @ 10:44 pm
Hi, Solar is the way to go forward. It is a clean, free and completely renewable energy source. So once you have made the initial investment of buying a solar heater (they are more expensive than electric geysers, but will become cheaper as sales volumes pick up and more people like you and I begin buying them)
I love the idea of solar heaters — for they help us use energy that is all around us, which isn’t being utilised while we milk other fossil fuel sources dry. So please do consider using solar heaters. I also have a solar cooker — make some of my daily food in it…for more details, you could see
http://www.copperwiki.org/Solar_Power?utm_source=gk_yahooanswers&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=invite
It has an interesting article on Solar Power.
All the best!
Geetanjali