Architects & Consultants
If you have a project that you would like help with or if you are interested in having a Sunwater Representative come to your office and give a presentation please Contact SunWater Solar. We will help guide you through the design process for a solar water heating system and advise you on your particular project.
Title 24
Whether you are having trouble passing your energy audit required for title 24 or would like to pass with flying colors, solar water heating is the answer.
A solar hot water system will allow you more flexibility in the overall building design while keeping the carbon shadow down. Contact us to learn how.
Some Design Considerations
- Solar water heating systems (solar thermal)—unlike solar electric (photovoltaic)—is stored and used on a daily basis. Therefore, you cannot bank the energy produced in the summer to use in the winter. This is a key concept to keep in mind when designing a solar thermal system. If the solar thermal system is sized for winter, it will be heavily oversized for summer. This is typically seen in solar thermal assisted space heating systems without a summer load.
- Because solar water heating energy cannot be stored in the summer for winter use, the optimal angle of the collectors is typically different from a solar electric (photovoltaic) module. If you are designing the system to be "low" visibility and "low" angle, expect poor performance in the winter and exaggerated performance in the summer. Each area and system type has a different optimal angle. Contact us for more information.
- Overheating. One item to pay attention to when designing a solar thermal system is load versus production. If the load in the summer is a small fraction of the solar water system's production, then the system can be stressed and have premature failure if not designed correctly. In addition, the economic payback for the project is reduced as the collectors are lying stagnant during their peak performance season.
- Other than swimming pool systems, solar thermal systems require storage. Typically anywhere from 1-2 gallons per square foot of solar collector. With water holding around 7.4 gallons per cubic foot, finding a space for the storage tank should be considered in the design of the building or property.