A very efficient method of heating water for houses is by using the solar hot water heater, which is also friendly to the environment. A solar water heating system uses thermal collectors to capture the energy of the sun and then transfers any heat to the water using the fluid system. It may take a small bit of electricity to help pump this fluid to the reservoir or the tank, that is for heat storage so it have be used later.

These types of systems can heat water whether it be for businesses, industries, or homes. The top uses for the water heating through solar heating is for heating the water in swimming pools or for the radiant heat of the floors.

To heat the water for a residence, two models of systems are sold. The first one is a called a compact system, the second one is the pumped system. Both have to usually have another source for energy, either a heating element that is electrically-powered, or the system could be part of the central heating unit and use gas of fuel oil, this would only be used when the water cools to under 50 degrees centigrade. This way you will always have what hot water you need. A great idea would be to use a wood-burning stove along with your solar water heating system, this would work great for the colder temperature zones, and without having to involve fossil fuels or electricity.

The collectors of your solar energy are mainly attached to either a wall which faces to the sun, a building, or the roof of your home. The collector can be free-standing but this is not the normal way it is used. The passive version of the systems pushes fluid the solar collector and the active version of the systems pumps the fluid along the workings of the system.

A collector can be made easily from a box that has been properly insulated with the addition of the glass lid or top. It has a flat solar absorber which is constructed with copper pipes painted black and mounted onto sheet metal or tubes of metal inside a cylinder of glass. The sunlight is concentrated through the parabolic mirror onto the cylinder. Also many of the systems convert the collected sunlight to heat without depending on the outside temperatures.

The solar water heater is both financially sound and environmentally friendly. In the climates that are warm your backup source for energy will not have to be used much, and in the climates that tend to be colder it still will be less the using the traditional version of the hot water heaters.