Evacuated Solar Tube Panels

Evacuated Tube solar water heaters are made up of rows of parallel, glass tubes (nomally 20-30 tubes).A single solar panel is sufficient for up to a 200litre cylinder, but you can fit more for high water usage, or for heating swimming pools or underfloor heating.

Glass-Glass tubes consists of two glass tubes which are fused together at one end. The inner tube is coated with a selective surface that absorbs solar energy well but inhibits radiative heat loss. The air is withdrawn ("evacuated") from the space between the two glass tubes to form a vacuum, which eliminates conductive and convective heat loss. These tubes perform very well in overcast conditions as well as low temperatures. Because the tube is 100% glass, the problem with loss of vacuum due to a broken seal is greatly minimized. Glass-glass solar tubes may be used in a number of different ways, including direct flow, heat pipe, or U pipe configuration.

In a nutshell, how this system works is fairly straightforward

The Evacuated solar tubes convert the suns radiation into heat within the panel via a manifold that sits above the tubes. Water is pumped around a pressurized loop from your hot water cylinder, water flows through the manifold where it is heated by the evacuated tubes in the panel, hot water then flows back to the cylinder. Here it passes through a coil to heat your hot water.

With no moving parts, it is very efficient and needs very little maintenance, which means it is highly reliable.

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