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How Heat is Delivered to a Living Space
Setting up a solar thermal space heating system is only one side of the renewable energy heating coin. The other side is actually delivering the heat the installation generates to your home. Assuming you've chosen an appropriate system for your needs, you have captured the sun's energy and either stored it or have it ready to be dumped straight into the building. What next?
How to Size a Solar Thermal Storage Tank and Collector Array
In practical terms, choosing the right size for your solar thermal hot water storage tank and collector array is one of the most important aspects of system planning. Get the wrong sizes and you could be in trouble - too small and your grid-tied bills will be unnecessarily expensive and the system risks overheating; too large and your installation costs will be too high.
Integrating Solar Thermal and Grid-Tied Heating
Very few solar thermal space heating installations provide 100% of a home's heating requirements year-round, so a grid-tied backup is almost always required. It is obviously a lot more efficient – particularly financially – to use the same heat delivery equipment for both systems wherever possible.
Additional Solar Thermal System Sizing Considerations
Evacuated Tube and Concentrating Collectors
Can I Integrate a Forced-Air Heating System with Solar Thermal?
This is a common question from people who want to retrofit a solar thermal space heating system. The simple answer is "Yes, you can integrate the two systems." The reality of the process is a little more complicated.
The Renewable Energy Installation Toolkit
Any renewable energy installation is a major project, but one of the simplest questions is often "What equipment do I need?"
Controls for an Integrated Forced-Air and Solar Thermal Setup
Control in a batch installation
If your solar thermal system has no storage, the heat gathered by the collectors goes straight to the ducting. When heat is needed, both systems are switched on, so hot solar fluid circulates to the heat exchanger and the furnace blower distributes the heat around the building.
Integrating Solar Thermal Space Heating with Hydronic Systems
Most residential buildings that have an existing grid-tied heating system use a hydronic rather than a forced-air system. This is generally better for integration with solar thermal installations, though that's a big generalization: there are so many different layouts, implementations and requirements that it is impossible to state whether integration is guaranteed.
Controls for an Integrated Hydronic and Solar Thermal Setup
Combining a solar thermal heating system with an existing hydronic installation requires not only plumbing and solar equipment but some extra control gear – both electronic and hydronic – to divert fluid when needed. There are several options available in most cases.
In some situations, you will be able to wire the solar thermal setup into the existing thermostat control system so that the water supply passes through the solar storage tank's exchanger when there's enough heat to do some good.