Every month, homeowners go through the stress of receiving their energy bills. Too often the reaction is “why does it cost so much?” as opposed to “that’s a fair price.” When you combine your home’s rising energy costs with your own concern over carbon footprints, it’s only natural you would be looking for alternative energy sources. One clean energy source rises in the east and sets in the west everyday: the sun. The perfect way to harness the sun’s energy is by installing a solar hot water heater system. It’s a small step towards energy independence, but it’s definitely a step in the right direction.

You don’t have to become an expert in solar panel installation. That’s what industry leader Yorba Linda Solar Panels is there for. Of course it always helps to have some information. Essentially there are two fundamental styles of solar hot water heaters: active systems or passive systems. The active systems will have all the circulating pumps and controls within the unit while the passive systems won’t. No matter which system is the best fit for your home, you will need to incorporate solar panel collectors and water storage tanks

Which System is Best for You

In order to get the most benefits from your solar storage tanks they should be insulated to help seal in heat and keep out the cold. One option would be to install a two-tank storage system. With that unit, the solar hot water heater actually heats up the water before it travels into your standard water heater unit. The other option would be to go with a single tank storage system. With that type of unit you would be combining a back-up solar storage heater inside of a single tank. Picking the right system might come down to a question of available size

How to Collect the Sun

Using solar panel power means you’re never going to run out of your primary source of energy. What about rainy days? A solar hot water heater system is built to store up energy so when the clouds roll in you’ll still enjoy a hot shower. In terms of solar collectors there are three basic types to choose from. The most popular are the flat plate collectors. These are most often mounted on your roof. The second type involve an integral collector-storage system where the cold water travels through specially design black tubs which heat the water and pour it back into your home water heater system for use. Finally, evacuated-tube solar collectors use side by side rows of clear glass tubes. The evacuated-tube systems are commonly used in commercial buildings because of their expand size.

You can find out plenty information and cost estimates about these types of systems over at Yorba Linda Solar Panels.