Is solar water heating system worth installing?

Question

I am thinking of getting solar water heating system. I have heard some negative comments on usability and ongoing maintenance. I would like to hear from anyone who has any personal experience in solar water system.

Answer 1

Tankless water heating is a good idea too...

http://www.rinnai.us/Products/water_heat...

Answer 2

Hitachi, wrong.  voice of reason, wrong.  let me ask you Mr voice of reason, how do you know the system wont make the money back?  whats your experience other than being the voice of reason?  I'm seeing a less than 10 year payback in a standard 2 panel, 80 gallon solar thermal system that only does domestic hot water, and guess what?? I'm in the industry, i do this for a living.  You want your system to pay for itself in less than 8 years, then add a heating hot water coil in your hvac duct to preheat the air.  a total cost for the heat in the duct and domestic hot water, installed, is roughly $12,000 with almost $6,000 taken off with tax benefits, where applied, which is most states.  itachi, do you know what is involved in installing and maintaining these systems?  it doesn't look like it.  like nish said, its simple plumbing.  how many times has your hot water tank sprang leaks in the copper lines?  the only routine maintenance is to flush and change the glycol every 5 years, which is usually covered by the installer.  get educated before you spout random mis information.

Answer 3

It does not need to be hard, in fact it doesn't need to be expensive either. Just keep simplicity in mind, and you might need a little patience. I personally use solar for my hot water... from my cistern water is gravity fed through a series of black tubing facing the southern sky. The tubes stay full constantly and because their is so much length of it, it produces a good amount of hot water at any given time. But again, patience is a virtue so at times I have also used a wood powered water heater for extra hot baths.

Answer 4

The best  I can do is tell you of my parent's experience .  But it's interesting: it seems solar water heating isn't at all new--the military was using it on remote Pacific bases clear back in 1950!  According to them, it worked just fine.

Answer 5

it is not worth is it require maitance out the wazoo even though it claims to almost never needs to be seviced and you make alot more carbon emissions installing and repairing it than it save you from mking all in all it's a good idea that just doesn't work in the end

Answer 6

Depends on many things including the brand, where you are located (will it get a large amount of direct sunlight), how hot do you need your water, how much water are you using.

Answer 7

From a purely economic perspective, no; you will never be able to recover the cost of the system via the energy savings you will realize.  You may, however, realize other benefits of an intangeble nature.  For example, it may make you feel better about your self.  While these cannot be evaluated using classic economics, they are still worth having.  You will have to decide for yourself if the intangeble benefits are worth the price.

Answer 8

It's one of the best things you can do, because it is relatively cheap for what you get (just beware of companies trying to make a killing). It heats the water even if the sky is overcast. For every degree it heats the water, you don't need to use other energy (electricity or oil...) to heat.

About maintenance: the evacuated tubes don't seem to stand the test of time so well,possibly because of the different expansion of the glass tube and the metal caps, but the flat panel elements are very good, they last very well. Around here I know of several running since about 20 years without any maintenance to speak of. It is more likely for the pump to wear out than the panels. Ours are only three years old, never had any trouble. The installation is standard plumbing, nothing complicated.