Solar water heaters are essentially simple to make and maintenance-free for several decades. In their basic configuration, solar water heaters are a flat-panel solar collector that heats up circulating water.
If you’d like to find out more about solar heating for your home or pool, this booklet: "Heat your home with the sun" is a good place to start.
The water circulation is self-sustained by the convection created by the natural differential in the temperature of cold water in a reservoir and the hot water in the heat collection panel. This self-maintained water-circulation is also called thermosyphon.
Solar water heaters, sometimes called solar domestic hot-water systems, may be a good investment for you and your family ... Although solar water heaters cost more initially than conventional water heaters, the fuel they use—sunshine—is free.
In this EBook the reader can find simple schematic diagrams that illustrate how solar water-heating systems.
This EBook is published by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. This EBook can be downloaded for free from our website [20 p. .5MB].