Introduction To Solar - Baxi Solarflo Installation Manual

Fig. 1
Solarflo - Solar Thermal Domestic Hot Water System

Introduction to Solar

Thank you for purchasing a high quality Baxi Solarflo
Solar Thermal Domestic Hot Water System.
The sun is the ultimate source of most of our renewable
energy supplies. Energy from the sun is clean and
abundant.
There is a widely held opinion that the UK does not have
enough sun to make solar systems worthwhile. In fact
parts of the UK have annual solar radiation levels equal
to 60% of those experienced at the equator.
However, this energy is not received uniformly
throughout the year. Some 70% of UK annual radiation is
received over the period April to September and 25% is
received in the months of June and July.
Solar water heating technology captures energy from the
sun and transfers this to a water heater to raise the
water temperature therefore reducing the reliance on
fossil fuel energies such as gas, oil and electricity. Up to
60% of a dwelling's annual hot water requirement can be
provided by a solar water heating system.The balance is
provided by traditional means via a second heat exchanger
connected to a fossil fuel boiler or electrical heating by
electric boiler or immersion heater.
The Baxi Solarflo water heating system provides all the
principal components required for an efficient solar
water heating system.The sun's energy is captured by a
series of solar collector panels through which a special
heat transfer fluid is pumped. As the fluid passes through
the collector panels its temperature is raised.The heated
fluid is circulated through a heat exchanger coil in the base
of the solar storage cylinder transferring the heat gained
to the stored water, gradually raising its temperature.
The cooled fluid then returns to the collector panel to
be heated again. Heating by the solar coil is controlled
by a solar differential temperature controller that ensures
the system will only operate when there is useful solar
heating gain at the collector panel. As the sun's energy
input to the collector panels is variable supplementary
heating by a conventional boiler or electric immersion
heater should be provided.The optional cylinders that
can be supplied with the Baxi Solarflo package provide a
supplementary heat exchanger coil and immersion heater
as standard.
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