How Solar Thermal Systems Works

Solar Hot Water

has become the widest use of solar thermal energy. The economics and simplicity of solar water heaters have been adopted across the world and in places like Hawaii and Germany, solar water heaters are mandatory for new buildings. Solar water system can be done through passive or active systems. In a passive system the hot water naturally rises, and the principle of thermosiphon is used to move the hot water from cold to the hot collectors. An Active system uses pumps to move the water through the collectors. In northern USA and Canada active systems are used 100% since freezing requires the use of glycol heating fluid to be used and closed loop active system are the choice.

Solar Pool Heating

has been widely used for decades to help homeowners warm their pools in the summer months. The technology is basic and provide marginal results. Typically, the systems bypass the pool water through black PVC piping to increase the temperatures. These systems are problematic in that they deteriorate quickly and put a large added load on the pump to move water up to the roof. Solar vacuum tube pool heaters overcome many of the problems faced by traditional mat pool heaters. They can provide heat at any outdoor temperature and work in cloudy days as well as windy location without losing heat. Our solar pool heaters use a closed loop with a heat exchanger to isolate the solar system from the highly chlorinated pool water. A closed loop system also provides no extra load on the pool pump.

Solar Space Heating

is growing in popularity as the solar vacuum tubes can provide high energy output even in -30 weather. System using solar space heat usually require a large storage tanks such as 120 gallon or more so that the heat energy can be stored and used over a longer period of time. Large solar heating projects can be paired with solar pool heating in the summer to give homeowners 365 days a year of payback from the investment in their system. Solar heating integrated with Geothermal is also a great way of building a hybrid energy system that provides home owners with multiple heating sources. Hydronic in-floor heating is a very economical way to utilize solar heat as the concrete slab is a great energy store and can be used instead of a large water tank.

How Does It Work?

A solar water heater is a system that harnesses the sun's electricity directly via heat energy. Unlike solar Photo Voltaic the sun's energy is captured in the form of usable heat energy. This type of system is often 4-5 more efficient utilizing 60-80% of the captured heat energy versus 12-16% in a PV system.

A solar collector uses a vacuum tube to capture the sun's heat energy and transfers it to a heating fluid located in a closed solar loop. The heating fluid is then transferred via small pump through an internal heat exchanger located in the bottom of the domestic water tank. The hot fluid loses its heat energy to the colder domestic water and circulates back to the solar collector to be reheated by the sun's thermal energy

A differential controller is used to turn the pump on and off depending on a temperature differential between the heating fluid and the tank's water temperature.

A second heat exchanger located in the top of the water tank can be used to move energy located in the storage tank to a second heating zone such as in floor heating in winter or a pool or hot tub in the summer.

Product Descriptions.

Solar Thermal Heating Package provides both heat for domestic hot water usage but can also be expanded to include other secondary heating sources such as home heating or pool and hot tubs. This system represents the highest performing Pre-Packages solar hot water system in Canada and is CSA F379 certified.

The pre-engineered system is designed as a complete system and uses the revolutionary Plug n Save technology for quick reliable assembly with no soldering required. The state of the art vacuum tube solar water heaters are ideal for Canadian winters with almost no change in performance even at -40.

Advanced Features

UL certified solar storage tank with dual heat exchangers

4.5 Kw back up element

Stainless steel flex housing for quick connections

Pump station with digital RESOL solar controller with option remote monitoring

Pre-mixed solar glycol

Auto Solar Air Vent

SunRain TZ58 1800 30R collectors yielding highest performance in North America

Roof Mount Frame System (optional adjustable ground mount)

Types of Solar Thermal Heating

Our solar thermal heating systems are modular and can do two types of heating zones with one system. We offer turnkey packages that can do domestic hot water, space heating, pool or hot tubs. By combining two or more of these zones you can optimize the investment and increase the systems performance.