Solar Thermal Collectors are simple and efficient systems designed to soak up the sun’s heat and use it to heat your hot water tank. They can be installed retrofitted in the form of evacuated tubes or as part of a new roof installation as a flat panel in-roof kit.
Solar Thermal collectors only work towards heating your domestic hot water so don’t really have any effect on space heating costs, but can offer considerable savings on your hot water bills. They are also amongst the cheapest of the technologies to install. You will need a special DHW cylinder to take advantage of the panels so factor this in your costs.
Solar thermal collectors work without any input from the owner and simply offer additional heating for the hot water system whenever there is some element of sunshine. They will work in cloudier conditions but to a much lesser degree than when in full sunlight.
These type of systems offer most of their benefit in the summer months when days are longer and sun shines brighter and higher than at other times of the year. This can be great as you can effectively turn off your boiler for the summer months and solely use the panels to heat your hot water. Conversely,in the winter months the gain is predictably much lower and you do need an alternative source of heat for your water during these months.
Other than the obvious environmental benefits from using a renewable source for heating, you will be able to make significant savings on the cots of heating your hot water. On top of his you may be eligible for receiving the governments RHI payments which offer a cash incentive payable to those installing eligible renewable technologies.
Overall a Solar thermal collector is a relatively simple addition to any household for relatively little cost. As they only benefit the Hot Water side of your heating they are limited to the financial gains and RHI payments available over other renewable technologies.
Increasingly, we are seeing more and more Solar thermal collectors installed in new builds to achieve increased levels of sustainability being achieved. Whether combining them with other renewable heat sources or adding them to an existing fossil fuel system they will offer very realistic savings and returns from day one.
To find out more about Solar thermal collectors, please contact the office on 01248 421044 or drop us an email to info@menaiheating.co.uk.
