Should You Invest in a Solar Water Heater?
South End Plumbing, Heating, & Air Expert Tips

Should You Invest in a Roof Mount Solar Water Heater?
Installing a solar hot water heater is one popular approach for homeowners to lower their electrical bill. These systems utilize renewable resource to reduce the need for grid power while providing high volumes of hot water.
In this article, we’ll describe how solar warm water heaters work, examine popular brands, provide pointers on choosing the best one for you, and most importantly – show you how much cash you can conserve.
Definition of a Solar Water Heater
Unlike conventional water heaters, solar water heaters don’t utilize energy from the grid to heat water. Instead, these high-efficiency home appliances use devoted solar collectors on your rooftop to draw power from the sun. The solar power gathered is then used to heat the water in your house.
Solar hot water heaters have actually been extremely popular in the past due to the fact that they lowered your electric bill and permit you to warm up your water with the energy from the sun. The solar collectors directly warm your water, and do not supply any other solar power to your house.
More recently, people have actually been opting for electrical heat pump water heaters, which are paired with house solar panel systems. Electric heat pump utilize grid energy to heat your water, nevertheless, when coupled with a home solar system, they have the ability to still run on solar electrical power.
If you aren’t able to install a complete home solar system, or if you have an off-grid home, a standalone solar water heater can be a fantastic option.
How Do Solar Water Heaters Operate?
Solar water heating unit can produce enough warm water to fulfill most of your daily domestic hot water requirements.
There are 2 primary types of solar hot water heater offered for property and commercial use:
- Active solar hot water heater
- Passive solar water heaters
Each of these works in a different way and includes different equipment.

Active Solar Hot Water Heaters
Active solar water heaters utilize a pump to circulate warm water from the solar collectors, or absorbers, to your house. These are typically set up in areas with colder climates, as the water gets stored in a tank that can be kept indoors to prevent freezing.
There are 2 various kinds of active solar water heaters:
- Active direct systems, where the water is heated directly in collectors, and is then sent out to your faucet and showerheads. The solar batteries are usually metal or glass tubes.
- Active indirect systems, in which a heat transfer fluid, like propylene glycol, is heated up within the solar collectors, and after that moves the heat to the supply of water with a heat exchanger in a closed-loop system. Some heat loss takes place while the transfer fluid flows the system.
Passive Solar Water Heaters
Passive solar water heaters do not utilize circulating pumps to move hot water. Instead, they rely on convection as the circulation system, where hotter water rises to the surface area and cold water sinks, in order to circulate water.
Passive solar water supply are usually less expensive than active ones, as they don’t need unique devices to pump the water.
There are 2 primary kinds of passive solar hot water heater:
- Important collector solar water heaters are big, black water tank that are constructed into an isolated box with a top that lets sunshine through. The sunshine heats up the water directly in the black tanks, which then streams into your pipes system when you require warm water.
- Passive thermosyphon systems use metal flat plate collectors to heat little batches of water on your roofing. When you open your hot water valves, warm water in the top of the batch collector flows down from your roof to your faucets. These typically are designed to contain 40 gallons of water.
Many passive systems consist of a tankless heating unit as a backup energy source, which can either be gas or electric.
What are the most popular brands of solar water heaters?
As solar technology continues to find brand-new applications in our lives, more business are producing solar heating units. These are some of the most popular models on the market today.
- Apricus and Rheem are two of the more popular solar water heaters.
- Duda Diesel manufactures equipment that uses biodiesel and other alternative fuels. They use a series of solar water heaters for domestic and industrial usage.
- SunEarth offers a series of solar power services for houses and organizations, including solar water heating unit and aspects.
- Sunbank Solar produces collectors, pumps, plates, and other parts for solar water heater.
How much you spend on a solar warm water heating system depends on what kind of system and what size system you get.
Smaller sized passive solar water heater systems might cost around $3,000, while a larger active system could run you more than $10,000.
How to pick the best solar water heater
Each type of solar water heating unit works best in various environments.
- Integral collector storage systems can weigh over 400 pounds, so you need to ensure your roof can support the weight of a heavy water tank.
- Direct systems work best in areas that don’t typically see temperatures below freezing. In cold environments, indirect active systems are more resistant to freezing damage.
- Have more roof than ground area? A thermosyphon solar water heater fits on your roofing, which leaves you more space in your living area
- Want your solar heating unit to do double responsibility? Invest in an indirect flowing system. The heating fluid can be redirected to heat your pool or hot tub in between working to supply your house with heated water.
- Households that use more hot water during daylight hours gain from integral passive systems. By producing numerous small batches of warmed water, family members won’t have to stress over having enough warm water for morning showers.
You likewise have to think about how much sunshine your home gets, how much hot water you utilize on a daily basis, and your spending plan.
When looking for solar hot water heater alternatives, search for scores from the Solar Rating and Certification Corporation (SRCC). SRCC ratings allow you to quickly compare different brand names and designs using professional third-party data.
Just how much money can you save with a solar hot water heater?
Solar hot water heater require a hefty in advance investment – in some cases around $5,000.
Nevertheless, after setup, a solar warm water system will gradually start to repay their worth in the form of lower energy bills. In fact, solar hot water heating systems can generally cut your water heating costs by anywhere from 50% to 80%!
When you reach completion of your solar repayment duration, your solar hot water heater will be producing nearly totally free hot water for the staying lifetime of the system! Plus, due to the fact that solar water heaters don’t have moving parts, they have fairly low maintenance expenses.
Keep in mind, depending on just how much hot water you use, you might need to count on a backup grid-tied hot water system.
To determine your prospective savings, you’ll require to know:
- How much hot water your household needs daily.
- The expense of sustaining your backup heating system. Contact your local energy company for more information on energy costs for backup heaters.
- The SRRC or solar power aspect score for your desired equipment. These numbers offer you a concept of how effectively your home appliance will utilize collected solar power.
- How much of your warm water use occurs during daylight hours. Utilizing more warm water when there’s less sun available means more reliance on pricey grid energy.
- The life expectancy of your solar water heating system. The longer your heating unit components last, the more cash you’ll save.
With this info, you can figure out the yearly operating expense of your solar hot water heater. Compare this to your routine monthly utility spending to see how much energy savings you could manage changing to solar.
What refunds and rewards are offered for solar water heaters?
The Investment Tax Credit, likewise known as the federal solar tax credit, uses a credit equal to 26% of the expenses of installing a solar hot water heater. Let’s state your solar water heating system costs $5,000. You’ll receive a tax credit of $1,300, bringing the overall cost of your system down to just $3,700.
Your regional utility business might provide unique discounts or rebates for the installation of certified devices. Hawaii Energy uses rebates of $750 to customers who set up a solar water heating system.
Should I get a solar hot water heater or a home solar panel system?
Solar water heaters were a popular choice till a few years ago. The present trend is for property owners to just get a photovoltaic panel system set up instead.
Why? Due to the fact that the cost of solar panels has actually fallen a lot recently. The most affordable option is to match a property solar panel system with an electrical water heater. The solar panel system will not only cover your hot water costs, but the energy costs of your entire home. Plus, electrical hot water heater are more efficient than even the highest quality solar water heaters.
Obviously, solar hot water heater can be beneficial in many cases. They are more reliable than solar panels at their particular function – heating water. The sunshine just needs to warm the water, not get become electricity that then powers a system to warm the water.
Solar water heaters also require much less roofing system area than a complete planetary system. If you have major space restrictions, solar warm water heaters could be the very best method for you to take advantage of solar energy.