solar heater

The Mysteries Of Heater Immersion

As the prices of heating fuel soar, many homeowners have become curious about exactly how their home and the water in it are heated, are kept heated and how they might become heated in a more energy-efficient way. Some hot water heaters, for instance, heat the water and keep it warm until it’s used. Other types don’t heat the water until it’s needed, saving the energy needed to keep it hot. Many of the storage types use heater immersion to heat the water. With heater immersion, an electrical element fits into the side of the water tank with the thermostat extending to the exterior of the tank for easy use.

Types Of Heaters

The common storage tank heater can be made more efficient by adding a timer to your heater immersion device to heat the water at off-peak times when energy is less costly. Even if that option is not available in your area, your storage tank can become more efficient by the addition of insulation around it. The less heat is lost to the surrounding area, the less energy is used to keep it warm. You may have an indirect water heater system. This means that your furnace or boiler heats your water while it heats the house. Most often, hot water from a boiler circulates through a heat exchanger in a nearby tank. Less often, a heat exchanger coil filled with water to be heated circulates through a furnace then through the storage tank. Since the exchanger penetrates the tank in either case, it is similar to the heater immersion method. Using modern equipment, this is often the most efficient system. The storage tanks are efficiently insulated, the heating equipment is high-efficiency and the need for the heater to turn on and off is much less frequent.

The on demand water heaters don’t use energy to warm storage tanks. The most efficient ones use natural gas and an electronic ignition to save on energy used in a pilot light. Solar heaters are making a comeback from the 1970s. While the sun’s energy is cost-efficient, the start-up costs are higher since tax credits are no longer available. However, today’s less expensive units compare with electric and propane heaters over the lifetime of the unit while natural gas still beats them all.

Whether you decide on heater immersion, on demand, solar power or some other technology, the most efficient heater for you is the one that uses the fuel you have at hand, works for your climates and personal needs and best integrates with your existing water system.

Using A Solar Heater For Swimming Pool

To keep your swimming pool a source of joyful baths even in cold weather, some source of heating the pool’s water must be employed. Now a day, many people choose to install a solar heater for swimming pool. The reason behind this popularity appears to be the easy and cost-effective way by which a solar heater for swimming pool raises the pool water’s temperature, usually from seven to ten degrees, and provides a warm, comfortable feeling of bath in a free and open space.

Function Of A Solar Heater For Swimming Pool

A solar heater for swimming pool basically works by forcing water of the swimming pool through a filter that leads it into a solar collector. This contains solar heat collected from the sun by means of specially designed panels. The pool water absorbs the collector’s heat and returns into the pool through the pump. Certain kinds of solar heaters serve a dual function i.e. besides heating the pool water in winter they can be run during the night and kept off during daytime. This helps maintain a cooler water temperature during the summer days.

Price And Heating Capacity

The price and heating capacity of a solar heater for swimming pool depend on the heater’s size. The most popular size of the heater is the one with 2’x20’ panels. It costs about $150 a set. Two panel sets i.e. 4’x20’ suffice to heat a 18’-24’ round pool. If you have a 16’ round pool, you can do with smaller panels i.e. 4’x10’.

Installation

Installing a solar heater for swimming pool is fairly easy and usually takes less than an hour. What you need to do is take a hose and clamps and with these, connect the solar panel to the pump. Now roll out the panel to finish your installation. Remember that you need not mount the panels permanently. You may either simply mount them up on the roof or position them by using frames available from the dealer. On first turning on the panels, they will feel hot to touch for some minutes. After that, they’ll cool down.

Maintenance

Though little maintenance is required for a solar heater, keeping balanced water chemistry is important as well as keeping the filter in proper working condition.

Using solar heater for the pool is very beneficial since it is totally free after you pay the initial cost. You can also use solar heaters in conjunction with another swimming pool heater. This brings down the costs by as much as 70 per cent.

Solar Heaters: Wave Of The Future

Solar heat, or energy, is radiation produced by nuclear fission deep within the sun’s core. Solar heat travels to Earth through space via photons, or “packets” of energy. Our Earth’s atmosphere and clouds absorb much of this heat, and the energy varies with the time of day and the season. 1.4 kilowatts per square meter is considered to be the “solar constant;” any substantial change in this wattage would alter or even end life on Earth.

We can make good use of the solar heat that we collect. Primarily, we can tap into solar power stored in water by directing the flowing water through turbines, thus creating hydroelectric power. Since plants are living solar heaters via the process of photosynthesis, we can use a plant’s stored solar energy through natural fuels such as wood, alcohol and methane.

How Do Solar Heaters Work?

To make solar energy work for us, we’ve devised two ways of capturing and using this source of power. “Flat plate collectors” and “concentrating collectors” need large surfaces exposed to the sun to create solar heaters of any purpose. For example, to use the sun’s energy to power a home solar heater for one day requires a collector surface as big as a two-car garage.

Flat plate collectors are just that: flat, thin boxes with transparent covers that are mounted on rooftops facing the sun. To empower solar heaters, the sun’s heat absorbs into the plate and heats either air or water in tubes running within the collector. This type of solar heater is an excellent, predictable way of heating water or a structure, where collectors are concentrated in the roof.

For many industrial heat requirements, flat plate collectors aren’t sufficient. Concentrating collectors in large areas provide much more efficient solar heaters. These collectors actually move to follow the sun, unlike fixed flat plate collectors. They also power solar heaters by using curved mirrors with aluminum or silver reflecting surfaces that gather much more of the sun’s energy than flat plates.

The future of solar heaters is exciting indeed! As we grow more proficient in using the sun as an energy source, we could eliminate the need for gasoline-powered automobiles. We could also generate solar heaters on a large scale. As solar science progresses, we will see government, industry and utility companies forming partnerships to reduce the cost of solar collectors. Imagine: a world without reliance on oil. Peace at last?