How does Solar Heating work?

The principles are quite straightforward. Solar Panel Collectors absorb energy from the sun to heat a fluid that is pumped in a sealed circuit to an indirect coil within a hot water cylinder to heat the domestic hot water. A typical Solar Panel System can provide up to 70% of a households domestic hot water requirements per annum.

You can also utilize a solar panel system to help provide a heat source to an under floor heating system.

Solar Panel collectors use solar radiation to generate heat, this means that they don’t rely just on direct sunlight but also defused light, so they also work on cloudy days.

A typical household solar heating system consists of a solar panel (or solar collector) with a heat transfer fluid flowing through it to transport the heat energy collected to somewhere useful, usually a hot water tank or household radiators.

The solar panel is located somewhere with good light levels throughout the day, often on the roof of the building. A pump pushes the heat transfer liquid (often just treated water) through the panel. The heat is thus taken from the panel and transferred to a storage container.