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How efficient is your home?
A home can be surveyed to establish its type of construction, how it is heated, how well it is glazed and what if any energy saving features it has. The result of such a survey is a number or "Score" between 1 and 100 where 1 is the worst and 100 is the best. This score is called the 'SAP' rating. The 'SAP' rating is part of the 'Home Information Pack' which must be completed before selling a house in the UK. An average UK home would have a SAP rating of 65

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Key Benefits of Vacuum Tube Solar Panels
High temperature output even in cold weather
Warms water even during winter, as long as the sun is shining
Produces heat even in overcast weather
Easy to fit
Higher efficiency and greater installation flexibility with heat to many of the more expensive brands on the market - as the tubes and headers are all manufactured in the same factory by an OEM supplier.

This high tech unit concentrates the sun's energy at the tip of the copper 'heat tube' - like a solid state magnifying glass!

The vacuum tube solar panel has been around for over 10years, and has proved to be reliable and dependable. The vacuum tubes consist of a double wall glass tube (made from strong borosilicate glass ie pyrex) with a space in the centre which contains the heat pipe. The sun's radiation is absorbed by the selective coating on the inner glass surface, but prevented from re-radiating by the silvered innermost lining. This is in effect like a one-way mirror which has been optimised for infra-red radiation. In fact it is very efficient, of the sun light's energy hitting the tube's surface, 93% is absorbed, whereas only 7% is lost through reflection and re-emission. The presence of the vacuum wall prevents any losses by conduction or convection - just like a thermos flask. Because of this, the system will work even in very low temperatures, unlike traditional flat plate collectors. This is why our system can be used to heat up water at the South Pole Antarctic Science Base - where ambient air temperatures can drop below -40°C.

The heat transferred to the tip of the heat pipe is in turn transferred to a copper manifold in which water circulates to heat the domestic hot water tank. If a tube is placed in direct sunlight on a summer day, the tip temperature can reach 250°C - so the system easily heats domestic hot water cylinders to 60°C even in cooler weather! The manifold is heavily insulated with a 2" thickness of pre-formed rockwool to keep the heat in. Unlike flat plates, these headers are so well insulated that they should not require antifreeze in normal operation - the temperature of the header is unlikely to fall below 10°C even in very cold weather. The more advanced solar controllers include a low-temperature facility- should the temperature of the collector fall below a defined level, the pump will operate to allow the the water at the bottom of the tank to heat the collector slightly. In normal conditions, this would never be necessary - but it acts as a good safety margin.

Actual readings from our sola heating panel at Hindhead

We have to wait for some sunny weather to prove to ourselves the cost effectiveness of this solar heating.

How Much Heat Will I Gain?
Average Daily Irradiation (Insolation) Figures for Each Month of the Year:
(Solar energy reaching each 1m2 of the earth's surface at UK latitudes)

Swimming pools are an ideal application for solar water heating, as the temperature required is quite low - under 30°C. Most installers will recommend flat plates to keep the price down - because the amount of panels required is much larger than for heating domestic hot water - however, if you can buy a high efficiency evacuated tube solar panel for the same money - you might as well enjoy solar heated pool water all year round - instead of just in July and August