SOLAR HOT WATER SYSTEMS - RESIDENTIAL

Solar Split System

• Split system design provides solar heated water without a storage vessel on the roof
• Ground mounted stainless steel storage cylinder offers durability and a space saving design
• Sunplus Solar collector designed to be located neatly on a tiled or steel roof

Solar Gas Split System

• The Sunplus Solar pre-heater combined with the Bosch high flow heater is the most efficient style of solar gas heater available
• Use less than half the gas of average solar gas storage heater
• Has the highest solar contribution of any product in its range according to RECs ratings

Converting Existing Hot Water System

If you have an existing hot water system that you would like to keep, you can use a solar hot water system to preheat the water to your existing system.

You can also convert or retrofit your existing electric off-peak hot water system to a solar hot water system by putting solar hot water panels on your roof and connecting them to your existing tank via a small pump. The panels and pump make up a retrofit kit that is suitable for most off-peak electric boosted hot water systems.

WHICH SYSTEM DO YOU NEED?

ALL GLASS EVACUATED TUBES

All glass evacuated tubes are the absorber of the solar water heater. They absorb solar energy converting it into heat for use in water heating. The space between the two glass layers is evacuated to form a vacuum. Evacuated tubes have already been used for years in Germany, Canada, China and the UK. There are several types of evacuated tubes in use in the solar industry. Sunplus Solar uses the most common "twin-glass tube". This type of tube is chosen for its reliability, performance and low manufacturing cost.

Each solar tube consists of two glass tubes made from extremely strong borosilicate glass. The outer tube is transparent allowing light rays to pass through with minimal reflection. The inner tube is coated with a special selective coating (Al-N/Al) which features excellent solar radiation absorption and minimal reflection properties. The top of the two tubes are fused together and the air contained in the space between the two layers of glass is pumped out while exposing the tube to high temperatures. This "evacuation" of the gasses forms a vacuum, which is an important factor in the performance of the evacuated tubes.

Why a vacuum? As you would know if you have used a glass lined thermos flask, a vacuum is an excellent insulator. This is important because once the evacuated tube absorbs the radiation from the sun and converts it to heat, we don't want to loose it. The vacuum helps to achieve this. The insulation properties are so good that while the inside of the tube may be 150oC / 304oF , the outer tube is cold to touch. This means that solar tube water heaters can perform well even in cold weather when flat plate collectors perform poorly due to heat loss (during high Delta-T conditions).

In order to maintain the vacuum between the two glass layers, a barium getter is used (the same as in television tubes). During manufacture of the solar tube this getter is exposed to high temperatures which causes the bottom of the evacuated tube to be coated with a pure layer of barium. This barium layer actively absorbs any CO, CO2, N2, O2, H2O and H2 out-gassed from the solar tube during storage and operation, thus helping to maintaining the vacuum. The barium layer also provides a clear visual indicator of the vacuum status. The silver coloured barium layer will turn white if the vacuum is ever lost. This makes it easy to determine whether or not a tube is in good condition.