I understand the principals of solar collectors pre heating water in your hot water tank but can it also be used to pre heat the water in your radiator circuit? Does anyone have any details on this or links to schematics if possilble?
solar hot water understood by can it central heat too?
- Thread starter browfish
- Start date
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In a word no, it wouldn't conduct the heat in the water quick enough to transfer throughout the rad pipework and rads to heat the rooms mainly to do with heat loss and if you could the solar panels would have to be huge, hence ground source and air to heat.
Yes you can - using a thermal store.
But... by definition, the solar gains will be relatively low during the heating season.
But... by definition, the solar gains will be relatively low during the heating season.
Apologies but that's what I was getting at.
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Thanks for that. Explains why i can not find a schematic including the rad or underfloor cicuit. How much of your gas bill actually goes on hot water then? I would have thought the majority goes to heating your home. Therefore the appeal of solar heating isnt so good.
D
DeltaT2
Thermal solar is the best Greenwash product to fit, you can get a cheap Chinese EV panel for £400, connected up correctly it costs nothing to run, no maintenance & free hot water in the Summer. We started fitting them 20 years ago & I don't know one customer that regrets fitting one.
To work it out Browfish, measure how much gas you consume during the summer with the heating off...
Thanks for that
DeltaT2, i dont supposed you could give me a little more info on these panels like where i can get them? Hope that is ok. Probably not a potential customer as i notice you are in glasgow and i am in southampton.
DeltaT2, i dont supposed you could give me a little more info on these panels like where i can get them? Hope that is ok. Probably not a potential customer as i notice you are in glasgow and i am in southampton.
Its been generally thought that about 15% of the gas bill is for heating water.
But as more fancy showers and film star baths become popular the water part will increase.
At the Worcester Energy Seminar last week they showed the water as being 27%. That does not sound typical to me.
Solar gives just enough to heat most of the water during the summer.
The power available from solar is relatively small, is only available during the days and is only significant during the summer. Its at a maximum of about 3 kW during the summer.
During winter there is very little solar energy available and thats when heating is required. So it just does not work then even for hot water alone.
If you did have unlimited summer heat during the day, in winter it would need most of the basement used as a heat store to keep that energy for heating during the night.
Tony
But as more fancy showers and film star baths become popular the water part will increase.
At the Worcester Energy Seminar last week they showed the water as being 27%. That does not sound typical to me.
Solar gives just enough to heat most of the water during the summer.
The power available from solar is relatively small, is only available during the days and is only significant during the summer. Its at a maximum of about 3 kW during the summer.
During winter there is very little solar energy available and thats when heating is required. So it just does not work then even for hot water alone.
If you did have unlimited summer heat during the day, in winter it would need most of the basement used as a heat store to keep that energy for heating during the night.
Tony
to try and help you understand
heat from a solar panel is like putting a big pan off water on a low heat it will gradually heat up now if you insulate the pan it will heat up quicker and retain more heat
now if you try and feed the central heating its like connecting it to several other unheated pans off cold water and miles off pipes the heat wont be enough to even warm the water
heat from a solar panel is like putting a big pan off water on a low heat it will gradually heat up now if you insulate the pan it will heat up quicker and retain more heat
now if you try and feed the central heating its like connecting it to several other unheated pans off cold water and miles off pipes the heat wont be enough to even warm the water
D
DeltaT2
These guys are very good;
http://www.navitron.org.uk/product.php?proID=115
But if you PM me I'll get you another link for cheap panels, sorry I don't have it on this laptop, but on my desktop in the office.
HTH
D
DeltaT2
'blowfish' you need to change your message settings mate or become my friend. I can't sent you a PM. I'll PM you tomorrow........... 
D
DeltaT2
I still can't get the PM thing on this forum to work, so here you go mate, here's the link;
http://www.solarproject.co.uk/Panels.html
http://www.solarproject.co.uk/Panels.html
J
JonasX
Solar can heat a very well insulated house. You need a lot of panels, a large thermal store to store the heat and use only UFH as it runs on very low temperatures. In winter the water temperature gained will be low which is ideal for UFH.
I looked into it, but I do not have the space for the panels and my house has poor insulation. There is only so much you can do to an old house to improve insulation. So I am opting for UFH and Geminox boiler and eliminating the thermals store. I would like to fit a thermal store for the future to have DHW only solar panels, but I do not have the space. Maybe I could build an insulated shed for a thermal store and maybe boiler, at the bottom of the garden one day.
I looked into it, but I do not have the space for the panels and my house has poor insulation. There is only so much you can do to an old house to improve insulation. So I am opting for UFH and Geminox boiler and eliminating the thermals store. I would like to fit a thermal store for the future to have DHW only solar panels, but I do not have the space. Maybe I could build an insulated shed for a thermal store and maybe boiler, at the bottom of the garden one day.
In a typical UK winter you can have a whole week of raining overcast weather with virtually no solar power to heat just the hot water!
Even if you got 100w per panel you would only get 1 KW with 10 panels and over say five hours that would be just 5 kWh. You could easily store it but its heating ability would be for little more than an hour!
In winter you need to heat the property from 4 pm until 9am the next morning except while you are in bed.
As for Geminox boilers, try finding an engineer willing to repair them! Most have never heard of them!
Even if you got 100w per panel you would only get 1 KW with 10 panels and over say five hours that would be just 5 kWh. You could easily store it but its heating ability would be for little more than an hour!
In winter you need to heat the property from 4 pm until 9am the next morning except while you are in bed.
As for Geminox boilers, try finding an engineer willing to repair them! Most have never heard of them!
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