The water in a solar water heating system needs to be circulated for the system to work. Several methods are used to circulate the water within the system including pumps and the thermo-siphon principle.

Pumped / Active

Active solar water heating systems use a pump to circulate the water within the solar heating system.

One advantage of using a pumped system is that you can easily hide your geyser inside the roof to help improve aesthetics.

The pumps typically used in solar water heating systems are very quiet, draw very little electricity (less than 150 Watts) and are either driven by a solar controller or by a Solar PV panel.

Thermo-siphon

Thermo-siphon systems make use of the fact that hot water rises and cold water sinks. This is a great solution to circulating water within a solar water heating system where the storage tank (geyser) can be installed higher than the solar collector. The solar collector and tank typically need to be close to one another for the process to work efficiently.

Closely Coupled

Closely coupled systems are the solar water heating systems where both the tank (geyser) and solar collector are on the building’s roof. The tank is typically mounted horizontally above the solar collector. In some instances, the solar collector and tank are integrated to form one structure.

The water in a closely coupled system is heated by the solar collector and circulated into the tank using a principle called thermo-siphon. In short, thermo-siphon uses the property where hot water rises and cold water sinks.

Split Systems

Split solar water heating systems allow for the tank to be placed inside the roof – improving the aesthetics of the solution. Split solar water heating systems either use thermo-siphon or pumping to circulate the water within the solar water heating system.

Solar water heating can be used in many different applications such as domestic hot water systems, commercial water heating systems, and industrial water heating systems. Solar water heating makes use of the sunlight received on earth during the day to heat the water. The hot water produced by a solar water heating system can be seen as ‘green’ as no carbon gases were emitted into the atmosphere in the process of generating the energy.

There are many different types and combinations of solar water heating systems on the market today. Some solar water heating systems use flat plat collectors, others use evacuated tubes solar collectors, some use solar pumps for circulation where other use a principle called thermo-siphon – where hot water rises and cold water sinks.

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