Making everything about your home more sustainable with the help of a solar water heater

When you talk about making your home more sustainable, you often think of insulation, installing solar panels or a heat pump. What about solar water heaters and what is the payback period? You can read it in this article.

What exactly is a solar water heater?

A solar boiler ensures that water is heated with energy from the sun. Good for the environment and wallet. Energy from the sun is completely free. This is in contrast to, for example, natural gas or fuel oil. In addition, there are no CO2 emissions when heating water.

According to Milieu Centraal, 1 to 2 percent of Dutch households have a solar water heater. To compare: 20 percent of the Dutch have solar panels on their roof.

How does it work?

In the first step, thermal panels placed on the roof absorb the sunlight. These panels are also called solar collector. Light from the sun is converted into heat.

This heat is then transferred in the form of hot water or hot vapor to a water reservoir, controlled by the heat controller. This is only possible when the temperature in the collector is higher than that of the water stored in the water tank.

Was there not enough radiation? Then an additional heating system is required. This allows the water to be brought to the desired temperature. In this way you can use hot water all year round with a solar water heater.

What should you pay attention to when purchasing a solar water heater?

It is important to look at the possibilities of creating a natural gas-free home. In the months of November, December, January and February, a solar water heater produces little hot water. An HR boiler or a heat pump is necessary in addition to a solar water heater. It is smart to opt for an efficient solar collector with vacuum tubes in the cold Netherlands. That extends the season for which you can generate hot water considerably and so you can also shower for free on a sunny early November or late February day.

Do you prefer solar panels or the solar water heater?

If you have solar panels installed on your roof, your energy bill will be a lot lower. The payback period for solar panels is less than 5 years. You also have the option of receiving a feed-in compensation. With a solar boiler, the payback time at a gas price of €1.45 per m3, without subsidy, is around 10 years. If you receive a subsidy, this will even drop to 5-6 years. On average, such a boiler lasts 25 to 30 years. Returning hot water for a return fee is of course not possible here.

At the moment, given the high electricity and gas prices, both the solar boiler and solar panels are very interesting. In the future, the net metering scheme will disappear, so that it will no longer be possible to exchange solar power in the summer for expensive electricity from gas in the winter. Purchasing a solar water heater would be even more interesting in this scenario.