How efficient is solar water heater?
Image by AIDG
Papa Carlos and Mama Coney are helping test the CalSolAgua Batch Solar Water Heater on their rooftop in Guatemala
Question by Graci: How efficient is solar water heater?
How much savings can we get from solar water heater? Say in percent (annually). I don’t know how solar companies can guarantee the benefits of investing solar panels.
Feel free to answer in the comment section below
5 Responses to How efficient is solar water heater?
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depends on the sun.
and the storage you have.
and the amount of hot water you use.
and the insulation.
i don’t know either.
clearly they could claim “the average user saves ????”, and you couldn’t check.
however, a hot shower is quite a luxury, so it’s probably a good investment.
if you were really interested, you could probably do a reasonable calculation.
you’re not using the furnace, so it’s only cooking and hot water.
you could fill a bucket and time it, and calculate how much water you use.
i’m sure someone at the gas company could tell you how much gas it would take to heat that.
keep in mind, in the winter, when it’s harder to calculate because of the furnace, the water comes into the house colder, and so is more expensive to heat.
linlyons
November 2, 2011 at 10:39 am
30% of the average home’s electric bill is used to heat water.
Some solar company guarantee the 82% efficiency. For example a 25% drop (.82 x .30 = 25%) in your electric usage for the first 12 months of operation as based on KwH consumption. If the the electric usage does not drop by this percentage, they will pay the difference between your actual drop in use and the promised 25% drop in use for the first year.
annalou M
November 2, 2011 at 11:21 am
here’s the link that will tell you all the basic things about solar water heaters http://renewableenergyarticles.blogspot.com/2010/03/solar-hot-water-systems-things-to-know.html
Ned
November 2, 2011 at 11:30 am
down here in the Caribbean a 4 x 8 foot solar hot water heater makes water so hot you have to dilute i t with cold to take a shower and saves the heat overnight and into the next day…so many houses here don’t even have electric / gas hot water heaters….which save something on the order of 3,000 kWh a year…..
further north, a solar hot water heater that “pre-heats” the water before it goes to an “insta hot” flash hot water heater ( an electric unit that only uses power when the hot water tap is open) should drop your electric consumption ( for hot water ) by half……
yankee_sailor
November 2, 2011 at 11:46 am
I notice you posted from the Phillipines? If you can afford the initial outlay, I’d say this is a no-brainer.
My brother’s house in Hawaii (large house) saves $ 1000 a year, I would estimate, by having two solar panels the size of ping-pong tables. If I’m doing the math right, that’s 5000-6000 kWh a year.
roderick_young
November 2, 2011 at 12:02 pm