solar tube temperatures

tubes are approx. 10% more efficient than flat panels. In-roof Flat panels are far better looking than tubes. In regard to heating your house solely with panels, rain is not solar.
We have to be realistic here in this country. We get a lot of rain and even though our sunlight, when it happens, will heat hot water quite successsfully, I would definitely recommend that you put in a supplementary heating boiler to look after your heating needs. You can only fit so many panels(SEI website-regulations) on a roof.
If you fit a large buffer tank with your panels you will have to plan for fiiting it in a plant room/garage which may be too far away from your roof panels. Large buffer tanks fitted in doors should be apropriately supported
1 litre water weighs 1kg eg, 1000litre buffer tank weighs at least 1000kg
 
tick tock said:
wow.....do you have UFH????is your buffer tank connected to it????
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You bet.

Macs said:
Reading through the threads most people appear to opt for solar tubes rather than flat panels.

Does anybody know how more efficient tubes are over panels. I assume this is why the choice of tubes as they are more obtrusive and expensive that the panels.

Another query how realistic is it to use solar panels for UFH say for a 3500ft house
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My house UFH on 3 floors + garage, 316m2 iirc. Solar only contributes to the buffer, mine's backed up by a Vaillant gas boiler.
 
tick tock how're the solar stats these days with the ufh??
Thinking of installing panels to garage roof and hooking up to ufh to help with heating costs.
 
i gave up tracking the temps...we havent had our heating on since may.i suppose we will turn on heat by the end of this month. July and August were bad for keeping tank hot..
 
there is a misunderstanding....my panels heat my water tank only..but someday i will get more tubes and bigger tank to do UFH..
 
Macs said:
Reading through the threads most people appear to opt for solar tubes rather than flat panels.

Does anybody know how more efficient tubes are over panels. I assume this is why the choice of tubes as they are more obtrusive and expensive that the panels.

Another query how realistic is it to use solar panels for UFH say for a 3500ft house
Click to expand...

Tubes and flatplates are roughly the same output over a whole year. The difference tends to be that tubes work slightly better in overcast or cold conditions, whereas the flatplates work better on sunny hot days. Overall, tubes extend the season quitre a bit by working better in Spring and Autumn. Both systems give more than you could possibly use during good summer days anyhow.

But tubes will lose their vacuum after about 20 years. If you use the flask type, replacement flasks are only about €5 each, but if you use the tube type (which is a single layer of glass with a small flatplate in the middle of the tube) then replacement tubes are a lot more expensive.

I agree with the previous poster about space heating. Forget it. Doesn't work in Ireland. It was developed in countries like Austria which have more than double our light intensity in December and January. Large arrays of panels would have to have their surplus heat dumped in summer time.

If you have a 1,500L buffer tank already for something like a log gassifying stove, then you will get some benefit from having a few extra panels, but I wouldn't lash out on the tank just to use solar for space heating.
 
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