solar hot water not so hot in mornings.?
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That was the record of hours for April and May with the new solar hot water heater. Typically 5 hours a day of making the water warming during the overcast Seattle spring weather.
Question by Celestiel Queen: solar hot water not so hot in mornings.?
our brand new solar hot water heater is letting us down.i think we need to turn on the booster if we ever want a hot shower in the mornings. a bit disapointing to say the least. is any one else having the same problem.
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5 Responses to solar hot water not so hot in mornings.?
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nightime=no sun. no sun=no hot water in the mornings.
i’m sorry, but DUH!
take a shower at night. or get a new REGULAR heater.
I know..I'm a genius.
July 19, 2013 at 4:12 am
solar=sun which gets hotter through the morning.
either your sun isnt hot enough, your heater is not adequate for the amount of water your heating or you used all your hot water the evening before.
freckleface
July 19, 2013 at 4:27 am
This is one shortcoming of solar. It is worth putting up with. You may be able to improve on the problem by increasing the insulation on the storage tanks and piping.
len b
July 19, 2013 at 4:44 am
That’s because there is no sun at night silly.
Rollin_West
July 19, 2013 at 5:03 am
The sarcastic answers are correct, no sun in the morning so no solar heated water.
If you have lots of hot water in the evening after a good sunny day I’d say the system works as it should.
The easiest improvement would be to add more insulation to the outside of the water heater tank. This would reduce the heat lost from the tank during the night.
If the insulation doesn’t help you might just want to consider making the booster switch turn on automatically.
Most of the systems I’ve come across (my own included) only use the sun to preheat the water. The solar preheated water is then moved into the “normal” water heater. If the sun doesn’t cooperate the regular water heater takes over automatically.
Lastly a long shot possibility-
Some homes contain a system which makes sure you always have instant hot water when you turn on the shower or sink. These systems circulate hot water in a loop so the line always has freshly heated water ready at your tap. Having this type of thing would be constantly using up your heated water over night. If you have something like this get it turned off.
If you ever do find out that your system has some sort of a problem I’d be interested in knowing what it was, please tag me with an email.
scott h
July 19, 2013 at 5:32 am