Solar central heating
There has been a lot of interest in my post of 10th March which shows you how you can heat your home with solar energy. In Kent Chris Flaherty of Vietech Heating has recently fitted a solar heating system using a 450 litre store.
I have added his photograph to this post so that you can see what one of these large stores looks like – it is about four times the size of a normal domestic cylinder. It has inputs for the solar heat and the back up boiler. The system provides both central heating and water heating.
The red pressure vessel next to the cylinder provides a means of safely allowing for the expansion and the contraction of the heat fluid in the solar heating circuit, which heat up and contracts according to the temperature. The fluid in the circuit is under pressure, to give it a much higher boiling point and to enable it to function efficiently.
Usually these systems are pressurised to around 4 bar. The cylinder will also be pressurised – although not to the same level as the solar circuit, enabling the water to be delivered through the house at a good pressure for showers and baths without the need for power pumps.
Inside the cylinder the water is heated by heat from the solar circuit passing through a specially designed coil, which heats up the water. Usually the solar heat is the lower coil and the fossil fuel back up heat goes through an upper coil.
The overall water in the cylinder is at different temperatures – stratification of heat – to enable different levels of heat to be drawn off for different purposes. The central underfloor heating will usually operate between 30 and 40 degrees Celsius whereas the potable water around 50 degrees Celsius.
There are sensors which provide the information attached inside pockets inside the cylinder about the heat to a digital controller, which controls the delivery of heat from the solar circuit to the cylinder, making sure that the cylinder water does not become too hot.
You will see that solar heating is perfectly viable in the United Kingdom and although it is a skilled technical installation there are Genersys installers like Chris Flaherty (Chris was one of our first installers) with the skill and knowledge to do the job well.
Filed under: climate change, energy, heat, solar, solar energy, solar panels
Hi Robert,
What size storage would you recommend using for a solar heating system, for a house of 280m. sq. Using under floor heating to heat the house.
Ive heard anything from 750 litre to 2000 litre, tho i suspect that about 1000 litre will suffice.
Steven
You should size the cylinder according to the number of panels you deploy to get the best performance. With all Genersys panels you should use 50 litres of stored water per 1 square metres of panel. As each of our panels are 2 square metres you would need 1000 litres if you has 10 panels, 2000 litres if you had 20 panels and so forth.
We’re launching our evacuated flat plate later this month, which will give you better performance in winter for heating. It looks like one of our normal panels.
There are plenty of storage options that combine heat stoarge with potable water facilities. If you give Justyna at Genersys in London a call, she can explain more and help you size your system.
Regards
Robert
Adding Solar Hot Water Heating to any home has quite the list of benefits! First, adding such a system, will increase the value of your home! Secondly, adding a Solar System, great for you - lowers future costs and great for the environment! So why not add a Solar Hot Water Heating System? It’s a win-win situation!
I agree - especially with Genersys
Robert