What is Solar Water Heater?
A solar water heater is a hot water system that utilizes solar energy (energy from sunlight) to heat water in cost-effective solutions. It fits on a terrace or any open space on the top of the building where it gets sunlight is then used to heat water and store it in an insulated tank. The solar water heater does not connect to the electricity grid; however, used to get the sunlight throughout the day to heat the water, and store it in the storage tank for your home, or any other desired applications.
The solar water heater incorporates high density compressed PUF insulation and an efficient heating element, which is capable of helping it to store hot water up to 48 hours. Therefore, it is best suitable for homes, apartments, hostels, and several other buildings. The solar water heater for home is made up of anti-corrosive material and advanced technology. Some of the features such as energy efficiency, durability, safe to use, and easy installation are the main reasons for which, the solar water heater has acknowledged in the market.
The solar water heater is developed by all standards of quality and safety, thus ensuring safety for use at home. SolarClue is an online platform to buy solar water heater directly from top brands such as Supreme, V Guard, Havells, EMMVEE Solarizer, Racold, and Kamal Solar.
Parts of the Solar Water Heater
A solar water heater consists of a flat plate solar collector, a storage tank (kept at a height behind the collector), and connecting pipes. The collector is comprised of copper tubes welded to copper sheets (both coated with a highly absorbing black coating) with a toughened glass sheet on top, insulating material at the back, and the entire assembly placed in a flat box. There are certain types of solar water heater, where evacuated glass tubes used instead of copper and a separate cover sheet along with an insulating box not required in this case.
Solar Water Heater Working Principle
The solar water heater is installed on the roof of the building, or open ground with the collector, and connected towards facing the sun for continuous water supply. The water flows through the tubes or solar panels are capable of absorbing solar heat to provide hot water. Then the heated water is stored in a tank for further use and the tank covers with a glass lid to prevent the loss of sunlight or heat due to convection and radiation. And, the hot water gets stored in the storage tank remains hot overnight as the tank is insulated. This is all about the working principle of the solar water heater.
The solar water heater price in India is different from several manufacturers and dealers. You can check out the list of prices from the top solar water heater manufacturers at SolarClue and analyze the features of the best solar water heater then select the best one.
Types of Solar Water Heater
There are mostly two types of solar water heaters available on SolarClue.
Flat Plate Collectors System (FPC): It is a typical solar water heating system and known for its longer life. The flat plate collector system is also called a selective coating that consists of an absorber plate and covered on its sun-facing surface with an absorbent coating. The absorber plate is placed in a top open box to protect it from weather and incorporated with a grid of metallic tubes and sheets that allow water to flow. Sheet absorbs the solar radiation falls on it and transfers it to water. The space between both the (front & back) sides of the absorber and the box is filled with insulation to reduce heat losses. Flat plate collectors are stated based on their area, commonly 1x2 m size.
The FPC water heater also can work in colder regions with freezing temperatures, but it needs an anti-freeze solution that makes the system expensive. A heat exchanger with an FPC system is required in those areas with salty water to avoid scale deposition that can impact the heating capability of the system.
Evacuated Tube Collectors System (ETC): This is another type of water heater made up of glass, hence fragile by its nature. It is ideal for colder regions where the temperature is subzero. The places where the water quality is salty, ETC requires regular cleaning due to the deposition of salt on the inner surface of glass tubes.
Each of the evacuated tubes contains a glass outer tube and a metal absorber tube that is attached to a fin. The fin's coating generally absorbs solar energy but prevents radiative heat loss. This particular type of water heating system is used more frequently for U.S. commercial applications as compared to other uses.
Both the types of water heaters are manufactured with, or without a pump, available on SolarClue. The water heater with a pump is used to move water from collectors to the storage tank. The other water heater without a pump is used utilizing the thermosiphon principle to move water from collectors to the storage tank automatically.
Pricing of Solar Water Heater
Pricing of a solar water heater varies from one brand to another as there are several brands available with SolarClue. When it comes to the price of the solar heater, the quality of the product, its durability, and reliability are three important things that do matter for customers. After analyzing such factors, people are only able to find the solar water heater price list from different brands. There are different types of solar water heaters on SolarClue, and according to that cost decides. Individuals who are interested to buy solar water heater can even compare the price as per different manufacturing brands and select the best one which suits their budget.
What does mean by Off-Grid Solar Power System?
Off-Grid Solar System is a type of solar power system run by generating electricity from solar panels and using it to charge a solar battery through a charging controller. That electricity is then adapted using an inverter, which helps to power the home appliances or business’ equipment. The off-grid solar system is not connected in any way to your grid’s power system, hence, providing 100% self-sustaining energy for your usage.
Off-grid solar power systems (entirely self-sustaining) allow you to store and save your solar power or natural energy in batteries for future use, especially when the power grid goes down. The foremost advantage of using the off-grid solar system for home is to run household applications with solar energy during night or anytime when there is less sun exposure and only by saving the electricity in a solar battery.
The solar power system is also known as a stand-alone power system and acknowledged in the market due to several reasons like cheapest price than extending power lines in certain remote areas, 100% independence from electricity retailers, and 100% insured against rising energy prices.
On the other hand, the off-grid solar system for home uses as an appropriate alternative in the remote areas where the grid is unavailable for power supply. SolarClue is an online platform where people can buy a solar power system (Off-grid) on different brands like Supreme, V-Guard, Varistor Solar, and Luminous. The solar system price is varied from one brand to another available with SolarClue.
Components of an Off-Grid Solar Power System
Total of five components used in off-grid solar power system, which are as follows:
Solar Panel – It is one of the important elements of the off-grid solar power system. The solar panel operates based on by depending on the amount of available sunlight in the region, the usable space of roof, and energy consumption needs.
Solar Battery – It is another component of the off-grid solar system and useful to allow the home to continue to run after the sun goes down. Solar battery or solar storage device is responsible for charging the home appliances throughout the day as solar panels generate excess electricity. This is capable of storing solar power for later use of running the household appliances.
Solar Inverter - Solar power system prerequisites a solar inverter to convert the direct current (DC) collected by the solar panel into the alternating current (AC) that enables to run the household appliances and electronics. A stand-alone inverter is an ideal option for off-grid system use. Solar inverters are referred to as a solar converter or a PV inverter.
Solar Charge Controller - The solar charge controller is necessary to save battery backup for operating the different household electronic products. The controller is used in regulating the voltage that solar battery receives, to prevent overcharging, and any damage.
Off-Grid Generator System - It is considered an alternative source of energy as a backup of the system. This is the main requirement during the pick winters when solar production is at its lowest. Off-grid generator systems are also useful to power a home’s electricity needs.
Advantages of Off-Grid Solar System
• Easy installation and helps in keeping the environment clean and green
• Works independently and does not rely on the grid as power outages can occur without any warning
• Facilitates in generating enough power that can be stored and used at night or when the power grid is down
• Useful for remote areas where there is no power access from the grid
• Grid failures and shutdowns do not affect your power supply
• Helps in reducing electricity costs
Application Areas of Off-grid Solar Power Systems
Rural and remote areas - Off-grid solar system offers electricity supply in rural and remote areas with the facilities of long-term and sustainable power generation.
In areas with frequent electricity cuts – Off-grid system provides power back up facilities to those areas, which are facing frequent power cuts due to power transmission malfunctions.
Solar Inverter is an indispensable device used in any solar power system utilizing sunlight or solar energy. A solar inverter is useful in changing the DC (Direct Current) into AC (Alternating Current) using solar power. In other words, the solar inverter is used to change the variable Direct Current (DC) output of the solar products into Alternating Current (AC). And this AC power is pushed into your home to operate your appliances, be it a bulb, fan, or home system.
A solar inverter is just an inverter operated using energy from the sun, which helps several devices working by DC power to run them on AC power. In this way, the consumers can use AC power to operate their required piece of equipment. One can ask why to use Solar Inverter instead of using a normal electric one. The answer is simple - solar inverter makes use of solar energy or sunlight, which is clean and pollution-free.
Usage of DC current and AC current as per Application Areas
• Direct Current electricity from the solar inverter is used to operate LED light, a cell phone charger, Bluetooth speaker and many more small devices that require less power consumption.
• Alternating Current power from solar inverter is utilized for running your big appliances such as TV, refrigerator, and microwave, which require heavy power to run properly.
Advantages of Using Solar Inverter
• Helps in diminishing the impact of unnatural weather change as it works through sunlight
• Help in retaining ecological balance, and decreases the greenhouse effect
• Helps you to save money or electricity cost in the long run
• Known as a reliable and consistent source of energy that can change direct current (DC ) into alternating current (AC)
• Acts as multifunctional electronic device that uses to convert direct current into alternating current to help large energy consumers
• Beneficial for cost-efficiency, easy installation as compared to generators
• Easy to maintain as it works fine even with regular maintenance
Types of Solar Inverter
There are diverse arrays of Solar Inverters available in the market. Some of them are listed below.
1. Grid Tie Inverter or On-Grid Solar Inverter
Grid Tie Inverter or On-Grid Inverter is a type of solar inverter connected to the grid by using solar energy. It produces a pure sine wave that is compatible with the AC waveform produced by the grid. Grid Tie inverter is designed and developed in such a way to automatically turn itself off during the time of power losses to ensure safety or security. For this reason, this particular inverter is unable to provide emergency power during such times (when power not exists).
Grid Tie Inverter is also known as PV inverter that allows consumers to drive any unused or surplus solar energy, which your system has generated back into the grid. And consumers can or cannot receive a feed-in tariff for this electricity (depends on users’ electricity provider, and area of residence).
On-Grid Solar Inverter generally requires its arrangement to be installed with anti-islanding protection. Islanding is a kind of procedure where Grid Tie inverter are deceived and utility grid still functioning even if it has been turned off. It happens due to load circuits produces in the electrical system. When it comes to the cost of such a product, on-grid solar inverter price is varied from one brand to another, based on its capacity.
It is recommended to use Grid Tie solar inverter for home purposes, which can be powered by a utility grid to use a grid tie inverter in their solar system. Moreover this is highly beneficial for the consumers when it comes to electricity saving.
2. Hybrid Solar Inverter
Hybrid Solar Inverter performs the same function as a normal inverter does. It is another kind of inverter, which converts DC electricity into AC electricity that your home can use. It also can use in charging and discharging your solar battery bank.
A hybrid inverter with solar battery charging is a cost-effective solution and convenient to install as compared to other types of inverters (a standard string and battery inverter). The majority of hybrid inverters are installed without batteries, which provide you the flexibility to retrofit a solar battery in the future when required. Hybrid Inverter is known as a multi-mode inverter because it can use to plug batteries into your solar power system, and interfaces the battery by using a technique called DC coupling. People can purchase it as per their requirement as Hybrid Solar Inverter price is reasonable in India, irrespective of its size and volume.
3. Off-Grid Solar Inverter
Off-Grid Inverter is one of the categories of solar inverter, responsible for the conversion of DC (generates by the system’s panels) into AC electricity to use varied home appliances, and commercial equipment. Off-Grid Solar Inverter can transfer excess solar electricity into the grid for consumer’s future use. And, for this reason, Off-Grid inverter is used especially in remote areas, where the house owner can separate it from the grid as per his requirement.
The utmost benefit of using Off-Grid inverter solar system gives your home greater energy independence that means your home is no longer at risk to power disruption caused by the grid or electric tower. Off-Grid Solar Inverter comes with a built-in AC charger alternative, which is also beneficial for users by allowing them to connect it with a backup generator and charge any battery.
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