Solar home heat @ tankless water heater
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Can you have both heat and water run from the same solar system or do you need a seperate one
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Replies
If you have enough sunshine and enough surface for lots of panels, you can get both space heat and domestic hot water from the same system, but the closed heating loop needs to be indirectly heated through an exchanger so it doesn't mix with potable water.
But it's rare that you can get all your hot water needs from solar thermal in a cold climate and even rarer to have enough capacity to also heat your house. Passive solar is the most cost-effective form of solar space heating.
Bill,
John Siegenthaler is the guy to read on radiant/solar...
A good recent review!
And his Glitch and Fix series
That said, and as Robert implied, it is cheaper to insulate well, build tight and orient the house to the sun first. But your situation may not apply!
Cheers,
Andrew