Using Solar Panels To Heat Your Home

To use active solar heating to heat your house panels of tubes or pipes called a radiant slab system are installed in the floors or walls of your home.

Using solar panels to heat your home.

Simply set your regular thermostat a degree or two cooler than you would like your home and leave the fan blower on full time. Unlike solar photovoltaic panels which use semiconductors to turn sunlight directly into electricity solar thermal collectors are relatively simple devices simple enough that it s possible to build your own with common materials. A solar heating system will also reduce the amount of air pollution and greenhouse gases that result from your use of fossil fuels for heating or generating the electricity. A lot of energy is used in the home to heat water.

Another option is to install a second thermostat to operate the solar heating. Solar patio covers are part of an emerging category of solar that uses a structure other than the roof of your home or business as the framework for a solar system installation. Using solar energy to heat water is in fact a better option financially than an investment in battery storage and as such should be the first consideration for most homes. Heating your home with an active solar energy system can significantly reduce your fuel bills in the winter.

These structures are often commonly referred to as solar pergolas. When it comes to using solar electricity for water heating there is a surprisingly large number of moving parts and options. There s often a gas electric or oil backup for particularly cold days. In fact about 18 percent of home energy use goes towards heating water according to the u s.

That allows the solar system to heat your home leaving the normal heat system as a backup. When the liquid is heated it is pumped. Typically in these kinds of setups a solar heated storage tank is connected to the radiant system to pump heated liquid through the pipes embedded in the radiant flooring. Alternatives to unglazed solar collectors include evacuated tube solar thermal systems flat plate solar thermal systems and thermodynamic panels.

Solar thermal collectors directly turn the sun s energy into heat where it s collected and tranferred to a hot water tank in your home. In california this week the heat pushed power demand to near record highs solar generation plummeted in the evening the winds slowed faster than expected and the same thing happened in nevada.