The Best Solar Hot Water Position
The best solar hot water position depends on a few factors:
Orientation of the House
To make the best use of sun, you obviously want a roof area that is not shaded. The ideal orientation is North, so that a maximum of the sun’s energy can be used to heat your water.
As a rough guide, North is where the sun is just before lunch-time. If you are uncertain, you might want to type in your address into Google Maps and see an areal picture of your house. North is at the top.
It is no problem if you are slightly off North, anything between North-West and North-East will work well. And for the cases where only East or West is available, a more efficient panel (Black Chrome) can be used.
Check for Shading
If you have trees around your house, it is best to look at the roof at different times during the day to find the best position. When you do that, remember that the sun’s position varies widely from Summer to Winter.
Position of the Tank
With the tank location, you want to make sure that it is as close as possible to where you use the hot water. Why? Because the water in the pipes is cold. So when you turn your hot water on, the cold water has to run out of the pipes first before the hot water reaches you.
To minimise wasting that cold water, you want to have the tank close by.
Normally an existing tank is positioned in such a way that it is close to water usage. That is why the tank of a split system goes at that same place. The piping to the panels should not be more than 20m, or a larger pump needs to be used.
That is also the reason why we only recommend on-roof systems when the distance between the North-facing roof and the existing tank is under 10m.
We’ll Make Sure
All you need is to roughly estimate which direction your roof faces and how far the tank is from that unshaded roof position. With that information you can use our instant online quoting process and see whether solar hot water is suitable for you.
Our plumbers will always check for the right position and give you the best advise when they actually install the system.
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