Carbon Zero Houses

Projects: Haven

Using the Sun to Heat Water

The Haven Project will be using solar radiation (the heat from the Sun) to provide up to 70% of its hot water and heating.

This will be achieved by installing a solar thermal heating collecting system on the roof of the property. The roof being chosen for the system is almost south facing (south facing being the optimum).

The operation of the solar collector is fairly simple. First, solar absorption - where the infrared radiation from the Sun is absorbed by the evacuated tubes and converted into heat. Then, solar heat - transfer where heat pipes conduct the heat from within the solar tube up to the header pipe. Finally, Solar Energy Storage takes place - this is were water is circulated through the header via intermittent pump cycling. Each time the water circulates through the header the temperature is usually raised by between 5 and 10 °C. This cycle is repeated throughout the day while the temperature of the water in the collectors is higher than that in the storage tank. On a sunny summer day the water temperature can often be raised in excess of 60 °C.