Find a Solar Panel Installer you can trust in Glenfinnan.

You shouldn’t need to maintain your solar panels much at all as long as there’s nothing piled up on top of the panels that could block out the sun. They are installed at an angle, so when it rains the water runs off them and gives them a clean. However, if this doesn’t quite cut it, you can spray them with a hose a few times a year.

If you’re looking to install a solar thermal system in your home, this is usually one of the first concerns several homeowners have. Being fully aware that solar water heating systems are usually more expensive than their counterparts - the conventional water heating systems, the question arises whether or not you’ll be able to save some money from your solar water heating system in the long run. In this article, we aim provide an answer to this important question. Let’s take a closer look!

When it comes to solar thermal systems, the money you’ll be able to save in the long run depends on a wide range of factors. These factor includes:

✓ Your system’s performance.

✓ Your geographical location and solar resource

✓ Your household’s hot water demand

✓ Financing and incentive options that are available.

✓ The cost of fuel that’s being used for your alternative or backup water heating system, if you own one.

✓ The cost of conventional fuels such as oil, electricity or natural gas.

There are several benefits, however, that comes with the installation of a solar water heating system. Since the sun is absolutely free, future fuel shortages and price hikes will have little impact on you. Also, on the average if you decide to fit a solar thermal system your water heating bills is expected to drop about 50 percent to 80 percent. What’s more? The economics are even a lot more attractive when you’re just about to build a new home or refinancing. When you include the price of a solar water system in a 30 year mortgage, it’ll normally amount to very low price per month. Therefore, on a monthly basis you’ll be saving more and paying less.

Solar panels are a great source of energy with numerous benefits that comes with it. However, the main thing that puts off most homeowners or potential buyers is the fact that the equipment are usually very expensive. So if you’re planning to purchase solar panels to be installed in your home, then you’d probably want to know if it’s actually worth the investment or otherwise. In this article, we aim to give you a good insight into how solar panels works and if its a viable investment.

Generally, the length of time it will take for your solar panels to payback and whether you’ll be able to make money from them will be based on the following factors:

✓ The solar panel PV system’s cost.

✓ The amount of the generated electricity that you’re able to use.

✓ Whether as well as the amount you’re paid to the electricity you’re able to generate and export.

To know whether your solar panels are truly worth it, then a higher initial cost to fit the system will require to be settled with the amount you’re able to save through the use of the renewable electricity it produces, rather than making purchases from your electricity company. In other words, the more renewable energy you’re able to use, the more savings you make. If you’re registered for the FIT and paid per kWh of electricity produced, for 50 percent of that, which is assumed to be exported to the grid. Therefore, if you’re able to use more than 50 percent, you’ll be able to benefit from the investment.

If you want to test your solar panel system to see if it’s working properly or just to see what output it’s giving, you can do this using a multimeter to measure current, or amps, and voltage.

Before you start, you’ll need to find the voltage (v) and current (A) ratings of your panel. You should be able to find them on the back of the panel. You should also make sure that it’s a nice clear, sunny day to get the best readings out of your panel. You should also check that it’s safe to be up on your roof!

To measure open circuit voltage, you’ll need to make sure that your solar panel is completely disconnected from your system’s regulator and battery (if you have one). Angle the panel towards the sun, and ensure that your multimeter is set to measure volts. Measure the voltage between the positive and negative terminals by connecting the negative contact on the voltmeter to the negative on the panel and the positive contact on the voltmeter to the positive on the panel.

Then, you can move on to the short circuit current. Follow the same steps as the open circuit voltage, but ensure that your multimeter is set at 10A to start with.

Only try to test your solar panel if it’s safe to do so. If your roof isn’t accessible without scaffolding or specialist equipment, consider speaking to an MCS-registered solar company about your concerns. They may recommend that they come to service your solar panel system.

Solar PV panels work by converting sunlight into electricity. They’re made up of photovoltaic cells, which take in the sun’s rays and turn it into direct current (DC) electricity. The current is then channelled into an inverter, which converts it to alternating current (AC).

Once converted to AC, the electricity is ready to use. It’s fed through a meter and into your property’s consumer unit, and is automatically used to power appliances and heating systems. Your system will automatically switch between your solar electricity supply and the national grid, and export any solar electricity you don’t use to the national grid.

Solar thermal panels are panels that can be used to heat your hot water. The collectors, which are either evacuated tube panels or flat plate collectors, harness heat from the sun and transfer it to a heat transfer liquid that heats up water that is stored in a hot water cylinder. You can use a boiler or immersion heater as a back-up in the winter or to heat the water up further to reach the right temperature.

Evacuated tube panels involve a bank of glass tubes mounted on the roof tiles, and while they’re usually more expensive, they’re more efficient than flat plate collectors. They’re exactly what they sound like – flat panels that can be fixed onto your roof tiles or integrated into the roof.

Having a solar thermal system will reduce your energy bills since heat from the sun is free, so you won’t have to rely on your traditional heating as much. You’ll also be doing your bit for the environment – if you have a natural gas heating system, you could save up to 295kg of CO2 every year.

Another benefit to solar thermal panels is that you might be eligible for payments through the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI), which is a Government scheme to encourage people to take up renewable heating technologies. As long as you have your system installed by an MCS-registered installer and you meet a few other requirements, you could receive payments of up to £525 per year for seven years. And since the average solar thermal panel system costs £5,500, you could pay off over half of your system just with these payments. That’s not even considering that you could save up to £60 a year on your energy bills if you have a gas system.

When you’re about to transform from the standard electricity to solar energy, what determines your solar system’s size is the amount of solar that’s required. The amount of solar that you’ll need, on the other hand, requires considering the end goal, be it to increase money savings, reduce environmental contamination, maximize Returns On Investment ( ROI), or just to copy what the neighbour’s done.

In order the determine the number of solar panels that is needed, the first step would be to calculate the number of kWhs that’s currently being used. A kWh is what’s used to determine the amount of energy that has been incorporated over time which the utility uses to bill you. What’s strongly recommended to create a suitable range is a 6 to 12 months average of your household electricity bill. Other factors that can play a key role in the determination of the number of solar panel needed include the following:

✓ Sunlight exposure hours. In order to know just how much energy your solar panels will generate, there’s a need to know the number of direct sunlight hours you should expect on a daily basis. For example if you stay in a region that’s usually very sunny, then it’ll be reasonable to expect more energy production per panel than regions that are usually cloudy.

✓ Angle and size of the roof. Roofs with a lot of workable space may require to let go of some efficiency opting for larger and cost effective panels to achieve the targeted energy. However not all homeowners have sufficient roof space or shade coverage for the solar panel they actually want. Also, the degree at which the roof slants will also determine if the sunlight is hitting the panels well enough and the amount of energy that can be generated thereof.