Solex Roofing Installation Manual 33
Solex Energy Ltd +44(0)1305 837223 www.solexenergy.co.uk
Plumbing Installation – combined space and water heating
There are several methods of using
solar heat for both water and space
heating:
The simplest way of combining solar
water and space heating is to use a
thermal store as the central element of
the system. All heat inputs are put into
this, and all heat requirements,
including hot water, taken from it. See
the section on installing thermal stores
for more information.
An alternative to this is to use a flat
plate heat exchanger to put the solar
heat into a pumped radiator or
underfloor heating circuit. Underfloor
heating is the delivery method of
choice, as it can operate effectively in
some cases with supply temperatures
down to 25
o
C. With this method of
ustilising solar heating, it should be
noted that the only heat storage
available is where the underfloor
heating is installed in a concrete floor
slab or screed with a reasonable
thermal mass.
A hot water cylinder is also required,
installed as for the hot water systems
shown above. A three port valve on
the outlet of the solar roof selects the
hot water cylinder coil or the flat plate
heat exchanger as necessary, under
the control of the solar controller.
More on installing flat plate heat
exchangers may be found below.
A third method is to use a convector
radiator to distribute the solar heat.
This uses a three port valve to switch
the solar heat, as in the system above.
