Solar Power Water Boiler - Saving Money With Solar Energy
By: Adrian Fletcher
Most family homes spend around a third of their energy budget on heating water for daily uses. Heating water for showers, baths, cleaning clothes and a host of other things is done by electricity or gas supplied by utility companies. However the resources that are used to create this electricity or gas are not renewable and are proving increasingly harder to find as more is used up. This puts the pinch on the average household consumer that is finding utility bills steadily going up at above inflation figures. This will only continue as fossil fuels get harder to find and extract.
Thus consumers, governments and even the companies that supply electricity are looking for alternatives that are less harmful to the environment and are a renewable resource. Solar power is a good way to heat water and has been successful for close to 100 years now. This article will discuss cover how you can save money on your household energy bills by installing a solar power water boiler.
Solar water heating is probably the simplest and most popular application of solar energy that is being currently used. It is a simple case of allowing the thermal rays of the sun to come into contact with water. There are two ways of doing this that are popular. They are known as flat plate collectors and batch collectors.
Flat plate collectors are a system of pipes that allow water to pass through them from a storage tank and into the plumbing system or another tank. The pipes are designed to allow the sun's energy to heat the water as it passes through the piping. It is generally attached to a black backing that attracts and absorbs the sunlight. The piping is also place in a location that will get plenty of sunlight like the roof.
A batch collector system is a plain old water tank with a few modifications to, again, utilize the sun's energy to the maximum affect. The tank will be placed in a spot that gets plenty of direct contact with the sun.
The water supplied by either of these systems can then be used in the regular plumbing system of the house where it can be used for everyday usage such as showers, washing up the dishes and cooking. Even though the home will still be connected to the electricity or gas that normally heats the water, the solar heated water will require a lot less energy to heat it than ordinary cooler water. This will help to save on energy bills.
Many people may be put off by the initial cost of installing a solar power hot water system however the costs have come down considerably over the years. If you factor in that it has very few maintenance costs and can last up to 20 years then there is a good chance that you will be saving money. The initial cost will take about 5 years to recover on saved energy bills. This leaves up to 15 years of energy savings. You are also being more environmentally responsible as there is less greenhouse gases being produced using this system.
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