Solar Power Water Boiler - Cut Utility Bills With Solar Energy

The studies suggest that providing hot water to a family home accounts for nearly a third of the total monthly utlility bill. This is bad enough but it seems that this trend will continue to rise in the future as most of the fuels that are used to create hot water are fossil fuels. Fossils fuels are a finite resource that will get harder to find and pull out of the ground. This will result in higher bills been handed down to the consumers. Bills will rise to the angst of the average consumer but even the large utility corporations and governments are becoming concerned over alternatives to fossil fuels. This is partly to keep their shareholders and voters happy and to address the worries over environmental damage caused by the burning of fossil fuels. One alternative is to use solar power to heat water. It can promise savings on energy bills and a more environmentally friendly approach to creating energy. This article will talk about solar power water boiler systems and how they could be an option for your home.

Solar power water heating is possibly the simplest application of solar energy that we have today. It is simply a matter of harnessing the thermal rays of the sun and applying it to water. There are two common ways of doing this. They are known as the flat plate collector and batch collector systems.

Flat plate collectors are better described as a system of piping that is located on the roof so that it comes into contact with direct sunlight. Water is passed through the piping from a storage tank. During this process the water is heated by the thermal heat. The piping and the backing of the system are designed to make maximum use of the thermal heat passed by the sun. The heated water can then be pased into the homes plumbing system or to another storage tanks or back to the original tank.

A batch collector system is a water tank that has been modified to get the most out of the sun's energy. This includes black surfaces that absorb the thermal energy. The tank is located in a place that will get lots of direct sunlight and is close to the house. The roof is a popular location.

The heated water will then be passed into the regular plumbing system of the home where it can be used for showers, baths, doing the dishes or whatever else you need hot water for. Although the home will still use electricity to heat water, the solar heated water passed to the plumbing system will use less electricity than ordinary water. This can produce quite a saving on energy bills.

The cost of purchasing and installing one of these systems is still fairly expensive depending on the size of system that you require. However once the system is installed, the running costs are virtually nil and the system itself will last up to 25 years. When you factor this into the buying equation you will find that you may have paid off the initial cost within 5 years. The rest of the time you will be saving money on your energy bills. This can really add up over a 20 year period.