{"id":272,"date":"2017-04-13T15:53:50","date_gmt":"2017-04-13T14:53:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/advice.quotatis.co.uk\/?post_type=project_page_element&p=272"},"modified":"2017-11-01T16:33:58","modified_gmt":"2017-11-01T16:33:58","slug":"flat-plate-collectors","status":"publish","type":"project_page_element","link":"https:\/\/www.local-quotes.co.uk\/advice\/projects\/solar-panels\/flat-plate-collectors\/","title":{"rendered":"Solar Flat Plate Collectors: the Pros and Cons"},"content":{"rendered":"

Solar hot water systems, including flat plate collectors, use sunlight to heat water. They can be combined with a regular boiler, system boiler or immersion heater to ensure that a property is warm and has enough hot water whatever the season or time of day.<\/p>\n

Flat plate collectors are one type of solar hot water system. They come in the form of panels that can be fitted onto roofs, walls or frames. The collectors are quite thin but have a large surface area to absorb as much heat as possible.<\/p>\n

On average, 30cm\u00b2 of panel can generate a day\u2019s worth of hot water for a typical household.<\/p>\n

To help you decide whether you should get flat plate collectors for your property, we\u2019ve come up with a list of their pros and cons.<\/p>\n

Pros<\/h3>\n

Save money on your energy bill<\/h5>\n

As sunlight is free, installing flat plate collectors is a great way to save money on your yearly energy bill. If you have a gas heating system you could save \u00a360 and if you have electric immersion heating you could save \u00a375.<\/p>\n

Earn money through the Renewable Heat Incentive<\/h5>\n

If your system is fitted by an MCS-registered installer<\/a>, you could earn money for using solar power to heat water through the government\u2019s Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI). A 2m\u00b2 system, which is usual for a 2 person household, could earn you \u00a3200 per year. A 6m\u00b2 system, suitable for a 6 person household, could earn you as much as \u00a3485!<\/p>\n

Cut your carbon footprint<\/h5>\n

If you want to help the environment, installing flat plate collectors is a great thing to do. Solar power is a form of renewable energy. By using sunlight instead of non-renewable fuels, you\u2019ll be doing your bit to reduce the use of fossil fuels and cut your carbon footprint.<\/p>\n

Get hot water throughout the year<\/h5>\n

Although winter in the UK is chilly, this doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s not sunny. So you should be able to get some hot water from your solar collectors throughout the year.<\/p>\n

Cons<\/h3>\n

You\u2019ll probably need a backup heater<\/h5>\n

Solar hot water systems can be very efficient. But as it\u2019s not sunny all the time, you\u2019ll probably need a backup heater. You can either combine your solar system with a regular or system boiler or install an immersion heater to boost your water temperature when needed.<\/p>\n

Solar hot water systems aren\u2019t compatible with combi boilers<\/h5>\n

Solar hot water systems need an external hot water cylinder. As combi boilers don\u2019t have one, they\u2019re not compatible with solar hot water systems. So if you have a combi boiler and want a solar hot water system, you\u2019ll have to pay extra to change your boiler.<\/p>\n

Flat plate collectors can be less efficient than other systems<\/h5>\n

Although flat plate collectors are generally very effective, they can be slightly less efficient than evacuated tube solar panels. They are also slightly less compact.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Flat plate collectors have been around since the 1950s. They are made up of a flat plate absorber with an insulated cover, a heat transferring liquid containing antifreeze and an insulated backing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":275,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":[],"tags":[],"tax_works":[8],"class_list":["post-272","project_page_element","type-project_page_element","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tax_works-solar-panels"],"acf":{"price_time":[{"acf_fc_layout":"price","price_title_label":"Price","price_detail_label":"\u00a33,000-\u00a35,000 inc. installation","price_sub_detail_label":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"time_limit","time_title_label":"Installation time","time_detail_label":"1-2 days","time_sub_detail_label":""}],"benefits_inconvenients":[{"benefits":"

    \n
  • Save \u00a365 per year compared with gas heating<\/li>\n
  • Earn up to \u00a32345 from the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI)<\/li>\n
  • Get hot water throughout the year<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","inconvenients":"
      \n
    • You\u2019ll need a compatible hot water cylinder or boiler \u2013 combi boilers are not compatible<\/li>\n
    • It could take you 10 years to see a return on your investment<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n"}]},"yoast_head":"\nSolar Flat Plate Collectors: the Pros and Cons - Local Quotes Advice<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Flat plate collectors have been around since the 1950s. They generate heat to produce hot water using the sun, which is a renewable resource. Find out more.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.local-quotes.co.uk\/advice\/projects\/solar-panels\/flat-plate-collectors\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Solar Flat Plate Collectors: the Pros and Cons - Local Quotes Advice\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Flat plate collectors have been around since the 1950s. They generate heat to produce hot water using the sun, which is a renewable resource. Find out more.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.local-quotes.co.uk\/advice\/projects\/solar-panels\/flat-plate-collectors\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Local Quotes Advice\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/en-gb.facebook.com\/Quotatis\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-11-01T16:33:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.local-quotes.co.uk\/advice\/wp-content\/uploads\/3\/2017\/04\/SolarThermal-Flat-Plate.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"751\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"503\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@local_quotes_uk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Solar Flat Plate Collectors: the Pros and Cons - Local Quotes Advice","description":"Flat plate collectors have been around since the 1950s. They generate heat to produce hot water using the sun, which is a renewable resource. Find out more.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.local-quotes.co.uk\/advice\/projects\/solar-panels\/flat-plate-collectors\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Solar Flat Plate Collectors: the Pros and Cons - Local Quotes Advice","og_description":"Flat plate collectors have been around since the 1950s. They generate heat to produce hot water using the sun, which is a renewable resource. Find out more.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.local-quotes.co.uk\/advice\/projects\/solar-panels\/flat-plate-collectors\/","og_site_name":"Local Quotes Advice","article_publisher":"https:\/\/en-gb.facebook.com\/Quotatis\/","article_modified_time":"2017-11-01T16:33:58+00:00","og_image":[{"width":751,"height":503,"url":"https:\/\/www.local-quotes.co.uk\/advice\/wp-content\/uploads\/3\/2017\/04\/SolarThermal-Flat-Plate.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@local_quotes_uk","twitter_misc":{"Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.local-quotes.co.uk\/advice\/projects\/solar-panels\/flat-plate-collectors\/","url":"https:\/\/www.local-quotes.co.uk\/advice\/projects\/solar-panels\/flat-plate-collectors\/","name":"Solar Flat Plate Collectors: the Pros and Cons - Local Quotes Advice","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.local-quotes.co.uk\/advice\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.local-quotes.co.uk\/advice\/projects\/solar-panels\/flat-plate-collectors\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.local-quotes.co.uk\/advice\/projects\/solar-panels\/flat-plate-collectors\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.local-quotes.co.uk\/advice\/wp-content\/uploads\/3\/2017\/04\/SolarThermal-Flat-Plate.jpg","datePublished":"2017-04-13T14:53:50+00:00","dateModified":"2017-11-01T16:33:58+00:00","description":"Flat plate collectors have been around since the 1950s. They generate heat to produce hot water using the sun, which is a renewable resource. Find out more.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.local-quotes.co.uk\/advice\/projects\/solar-panels\/flat-plate-collectors\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.local-quotes.co.uk\/advice\/projects\/solar-panels\/flat-plate-collectors\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.local-quotes.co.uk\/advice\/projects\/solar-panels\/flat-plate-collectors\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.local-quotes.co.uk\/advice\/wp-content\/uploads\/3\/2017\/04\/SolarThermal-Flat-Plate.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.local-quotes.co.uk\/advice\/wp-content\/uploads\/3\/2017\/04\/SolarThermal-Flat-Plate.jpg","width":751,"height":503,"caption":"flat plate collectors"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.local-quotes.co.uk\/advice\/projects\/solar-panels\/flat-plate-collectors\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Project page element","item":"https:\/\/www.local-quotes.co.uk\/advice\/projects\/%tax_works%\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Solar Flat Plate Collectors: the Pros and Cons"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.local-quotes.co.uk\/advice\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.local-quotes.co.uk\/advice\/","name":"Local Quotes Advice","description":"Find out everything you need to know about home improvements with Local Quotes","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.local-quotes.co.uk\/advice\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.local-quotes.co.uk\/advice\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.local-quotes.co.uk\/advice\/#organization","name":"Leads Do Work Ltd","alternateName":"Local-Quotes.co.uk","url":"https:\/\/www.local-quotes.co.uk\/advice\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.local-quotes.co.uk\/advice\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.local-quotes.co.uk\/advice\/wp-content\/uploads\/3\/2024\/09\/512-512-app-icon.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.local-quotes.co.uk\/advice\/wp-content\/uploads\/3\/2024\/09\/512-512-app-icon.png","width":512,"height":512,"caption":"Leads Do Work Ltd"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.local-quotes.co.uk\/advice\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/en-gb.facebook.com\/Quotatis\/","https:\/\/x.com\/local_quotes_uk","https:\/\/instagram.com\/quotatisuk\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/quotatisuk","https:\/\/www.pinterest.co.uk\/quotatis\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/quotatisuk"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.local-quotes.co.uk\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project_page_element\/272"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.local-quotes.co.uk\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project_page_element"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.local-quotes.co.uk\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/project_page_element"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.local-quotes.co.uk\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.local-quotes.co.uk\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.local-quotes.co.uk\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.local-quotes.co.uk\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272"},{"taxonomy":"tax_works","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.local-quotes.co.uk\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_works?post=272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}