Solar water panels
Solar water panels, even in cold northern countries can prove a good investment. Solar water panels are plumbed into a water cylinder; preferably larger than the usual household size so heated water can be stored overnight and ideally for 2 or 3 days during cloudy weather. There are two main systems readily available to individual households – vented and non-vented (requiring considerably more inputs to install). Panels are best installed on south facing roofs, but can also work reasonably well on west and east facing roofs. If you have both, then one panel on each roof may be best. If you only have north facing roofs, then they are unlikely to be worthwhile unless you have some protected area in a garden than you can use instead.
You can pay for a full installation or you can do it yourself if you have a plumber willing to plumb in the system. There are courses available to help with DIY installation.
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Useful links
Energy Saving Trust Introduction to solar water panels
Low Carbon Buildings Certified installers (if you plan to apply for a grant
Navitron Useful source of renewable components
Solartwin renewable energy supplier
Dulas Welsh based renewable energy company
LLani solar Independant solar thermall installers based in mid Wales
Solar Twin Useful questions and answers about solar water panels
We recently had a solar hot water system installed by Sunpowered of Portsmouth - Brilliant. Like a lot of people we previously had our hot water coming on from our boiler 1 hour in the morning and 1 hour in the evening. With the panel in place we have now reduced the boiler turn on to 20 mins in the evening only with this being reduced further by turning the system off altogether on sunnier days. Its now mid September so not really the hottest month but the system is providing all of our hotwater needs from the panel. Will be interesting to see what happens in the winter months with reduced radiated temperatures available with less sunlight. Must say that we are pleasantly surprised by how efficient the system is against what we were lead to believe. Bill & Pam