Thanks to a few generous solar grants from the state and federal government, we have a new 'you beaut' solar hot water system.
Its pretty clever in the way they've set it up. The water circulates through the panels and is stored in the 200 litre tank. This tank can store water close to boiling. When we turn on the hot water tap, the system either mixes the hot water down with cold water to a normal temperature, or the gas booster (the unit above the tank) heats the water as it comes out of the tank.
It means that we don't use any fossil fuel to store the water in the tank itself.
The panels above are on the north-facing section of the roof - the best possible placement in Oz.
Getting away from an electic hot water system also means that my brain has been ticking away on the possibilities that we could get a water radiator in the two rooms of the house that need it in winter... don't know if there are products that would allow us to cycle water through the hot water tank, but I'm assuming that I should be able to find something. However, that's a job for another day!
1 comment:
Is the tank that you have different from a regular hot water tank? Also I can't see the pictures for whatever reason so are your solar panels simply a flat solar collector or are they tubes? Does most everybody in Oz heat their water with solar??
Post a Comment