Solar Thermal systems use energy from the sun and convert it into heat energy, which can be used to heat your hot water.
The system can provide for almost all your hot water requirements in the summer months. In the winter months, your boiler will work alongside the solar thermal system to heat the water.
Solar thermal systems are one of the cheapest and most established renewable technologies.
Solar Thermal systems are made up of a collector, (usually flat-panel, or evacuated tube), a pump station, a controller, and a storage cylinder.
When the collector heats up from the sun, the controller senses this and starts a pump, which circulates a heat transfer liquid around the system to the hot water cylinder where it heats up a body of water.
The hot water in the cylinder is fed to your taps and showers, providing hot water for your home.
Systems can be integrated into existing cylinders or new twin coil cylinders can be fitted.
Using sunlight to heat swimming pools can often give the fastest payback of any renewable energy installation.
The solar system will maintain the pools temperature throughout the summer months but some auxiliary heating will be required to get the swimming pool up to temperature to begin with.
Heating a pool conventionally is becoming prohibitively costly. Pools can have over 200 times the water volume of domestic hot water systems.
Swimming Pool boilers tend to be less efficient than domestic boilers.They often use even more expensive fuels such as oil or LPG.
Solar heating systems are virtually maintenance-free and silent. Fuel demand and CO2 emissions can be reduced by over 90%
The system can also provide domestic hot water throughout the year, making it a worthwhile investment, even when the the pool isn't being used.
