The Basics of Solar

Solar collectors are mounted upon the roof. They harness the energy that is generated from the sun. The energy is transferred  into a water/glycol solution at temperatures  that can equal or surpass that  of your average household hydronic boiler. From there, the solution is then usually circulated through a heat exchanger..

A heat exchanger is a device that transfers heat   between two mediums.  It may be a storage tank,  a radiant heating system, or even an absorption cooling system. It may even be all of those things.

 It will be necessary to provide storage for the heat provided by the solar collectors. The amount could range from one hundred gallons to two thousand gallons. 

For residential applications an indirect hot water heater is often the perfect solution to both storage and heat exchanger.

Controls are an integral part of any Solar Collection system. They can range from a simple differential temperature controller  that just turns your system on and off based on system temperatures,  to a state of the art computerized control system with  infinite inputs and outputs. Realistically, the more environmental variables that you monitor, to dynamically change your systems configuration, the more efficient your system will become. This ultimately results in a higher level of comfort and economy.