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Frequently Asked Questions
What makes solar different to design?
The supply cannot be controlled.
Heat arrives when the sun is out.
In whatever quantity the weather allows.
Rarely when hot water is wanted.
Everything else answers that mismatch.
Why is storage a component, not an extra?
Because the gain has to be kept.
A collector heating water nobody draws.
Loses the heat it just collected.
The tank holds the day's gain.
Until the evening it is used.
Is backup really necessary?
In any temperate climate, yes.
No system meets midwinter demand.
Or three overcast days in a row.
It is a pre-heater most of the year.
And a full supply for part of it.
What is stagnation?
The sun shining onto a full hot tank.
The collector has nowhere to send heat.
So its own temperature climbs.
Far above normal operation.
Which damages seals and degrades fluid.
What about freezing?
The opposite problem, equally destructive.
A collector full of water.
On a clear cold night.
Will freeze and burst.
Something has to prevent it.
How are both prevented?
By antifreeze, drainback or control.
Antifreeze fluid lowers the freezing point.
Drainback empties the collector when idle.
And the controller manages both extremes.
A system needs one of them working.
What most affects output?
Orientation and shading.
Far more than collector brand.
A shaded array underperforms any specification.
Survey the roof before choosing panels.
Including shading through the year.