Heating it up with Solar, Part Two
The second option for solar water heating is the Indirect Solar Water System. In this system, water is not heated directly, as it is in the direct system. Instead, fluids that are good at soaking up heat are used to absorb energy from the sun. Indirect heating soaks up rays of sun and transfers them to heated pipes which have a thin copper laminate on the back of them.
Now that you know it is possible to have electricity and hot water through solar energy, you may have another question:
Is it possible to heat our homes with solar energy as well?
The answer is: yes of course. As long as the sun can shine, we have a resource that is available to us on a daily basis. There are even ways for us to utilize this resource on cloudy days, by way of back-up systems. As far as energy from the sun to heat up our homes, that concept is possible too, because of “Radiant Heating Systems.”
You may have seen some of these in Extreme Home Make Over, or in Modern Home magazine. If you are living in an older home or a cabin in the woods, you might heat your home with the help of a fire place, or your home may have an outdated radiator system. Well, you are in luck, because there are solar water systems that are made specifically for heating homes. These take the place of big, bulky furnaces, which come with high gas bills.
A radiant heating system is connected to a water system that runs under the floor of your house. Sometimes they are even connected to wall panel radiators. With this new and modern technology, the heat is radiated up through the floor boards. How comfy it must be to step out of a shower in the midst of winter, only to find yourself standing on warm floors! It can’t get better than that.
In order to have this system constructed in your home, you must have a storage tank large enough to store at least 2-3 gallons of water for every square foot of the solar collector. This water is then piped through plastic tubing under your floors. This is the perfect solution for heat, because it is cost effective.
The advantage of this kind of system is that it will allow you to regulate the heat that radiates into the rooms of your home, because each room will house its own thermostat.
This is another system that you can create yourself, if you don’t want to hire someone to do it for you. These days, everything comes in ready-made kits for the consumer. After all, with today’s economy, it’s all about saving money.
