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Solar Thermal : Domestic Hot Water
Since 2010 we have been operating The Edgewater with a combination of oil and solar to meet our hot water needs . The investment in Solar has been worth it. We've seen a reduction of 2,000 gallons of oil annually in our consumption. That’s a decrease of almost 25%...a very significant savings !
The solar hot water system is a closed loop system that preheats water before it is heated by a traditional oil fired system. This is a closed loop system because the liquid traveling through the solar panels never enters the domestic water supply. Rather the heated liquid is captured in an 1000 gallon hot water tank to preheat the domestic water before being consumed by our guests. We have a schematic on our site that depicts this process for those of you interested in the engineering. For us it simply means that more sunshine we have in Old Orchard Beach, the more water we can preheat with our solar panels and the less carbon that we emit into the atmosphere!
Our solar hot water system is designed to be efficient during peak and off peak periods. This flexibility is achieved through two types of panels located on our roof (which gets direct sun due to our ocean front location). The primary type of solar panel we have is a flat plate collector which can reach surface temperatures close to 180F during peak summer months. These panels are extremely efficient during our high hot water demand periods, but because they are not insolated their performance diminishes with the changing angles of the sun. Located alongside these two racks of flat panels are a rack of evacuated tube collectors designed to capture solar rays during less favorable periods of the year. These tubes are insulated and can reach surface temperatures of 140F during off peak periods, but they do not reach the maximum temperatures of the flat plate collectors during the peak summer months. By combining these types of panels we can produce a steady supply of hot water consistent with our occupancy.
Geysey Heat Exchangers:
In July 2010 we installed two heat exchanger units in our laundry room. This enables us to recapture lost heat from the dryers and convert it to hot water. The savings reduces consumption of heating oil by about 150 gal per year. In addition to the recaptured energy, we are able to reduce workroom air temperatures by about 5F and improve conditions for our staff. The heat exchanger units are depicted in a schematic found in the section on solar thermal hot water.
Goals:
We are gathering data to determine the feasibility of expanding our solar thermal system. If possible we would like to eliminate one boiler unit and downsize the other boiler unit. By achieving these changes we could possibly eliminate another 1000 gallons of fuel oil consumption.
