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Choosing a solar hot water system complete with a new hot water heater/tank

Some customers - when building, adding on, or simply replacing an old hot water system; want the works - including a new energy saving solar hot water system and an energy effiecient electric hot water heater for backup. It's a GREAT IDEA! Finally you can have a new energy efficient system tailored to your family's size and needs. No more hot water rationing. And with solar's energy savings, this is one home improvement that will pay for itself quickly. By the way, solar makes economic sense even in the northern regions of the US.

Here's What You Need To Know

FIRST, your system choice should begin with selecting a tank size suitable for your family's needs. Ideally you should allow for 15-18 gals of tank size for each member of your family.

SECOND, you will need an appropriate place to mount a collector. While special situations can usually be accomodated, the ideal is a south facing roof that is not shaded by trees or buildings during most of the day. Anywhere that is within a 30° angle east or west of due south is best. If your angle is more a slightly larger collector will compensate. With the addition of our tilt mounting kit, practically any sunny orientation will be suitable.

THIRD, our catalog includes three complete Pacemaker Solar Heating Systems with matching new energy efficient 50, 80, or 120 gallon heaters/tanks suitable for use in the "Sunbelt" and "South" regions shown below. If you should live further north the following chart will provide an idea of how much additional collector square footage should be added to our standard matched systems.

Use the size of your existing tank divided by the number of gallons produced by 1 square foot of collector in your region to estimate the total square footage of collector area needed. Examples by region for typical tank sizes are shown in the 3 right hand columns
Existing Hot Water Tanks and Collector Size Needed
USA Regions	1 sq ft of collector produces		For a 40-50 gallon  tank - collector  size should be	For a 50-80 gallon  tank - collector  size should be	For a 80-120 gallon  tank - collector  size should be
Sunbelt	2.00 gal		20-25 sq ft	25-40 sq ft	40-60 sq ft
South	1.50 gal		25-32 sq ft	32-50 sq ft	50-80 sq ft
North	1.00 gal		40-50 sq ft	50-80 sq ft	80-120 sq ft
Far North	0.75 gal		50-65 sq ft	65-100 sq ft	100-160 sq ft

Our complete packages include controller, pump, and all valves and components to protect, shut off, and drain your system and to connect it to your existing hot water tank. If a larger collector area size is needed, additional collectors are sold individually that can be "daisy-chained" to suit any application.

FOURTH, installation can be handled by anyone that's capable of using basic hand and power tools following the included instructions. Hot Water System Diagram

• permanently mount the collector on the roof with the included hardware.
• provide water lines to/from the collector and your existing tank (tubing is not included)
• Add the valves and preassembled water tank conversion kit.