Amount of energy needed for Solar Hot Water

We all use hot water everyday. They are often used for washing, cleaning and in the winter even heating. It does not matter is you are looking to install a solar hot water system or just wishing to learn more about solar heating out team here at Southern Green Energy will give you a a straight forward and honest explanation of hot water systems.

Although solar hot water is the most efficient form of water heating, there is still energy requires for it to operate properly. So just how much do you need? That depends on how much hot water you use and how big your system is.

An average household of 4-5 people will generally use around 300L of hot water everyday. The average temperature of the hot water in the storage tank will be around 60 degrees C. But the the actual amount of hot water used at the tap is generally 30% more. Of course, this depends on just how much cold water is mixed in and of course the cold water temperature.

The amount of hot water for such the average household could easily be reduced by 25-40% by simply installing a low flow shower head. In fact, a tap flow rate of 8L/min is enough for a good strong enjoyable shower.

The amount of energy needed to heat the water in the tank to 60 degrees C will depend on just how cold the water is to start with and of course, this will change through the year depending on the temperatures.