Solar Air-to-Water Heating

Water heating for domestic use, building heating, industrial processes, even air conditioning is one of the largest energy expenses for buildings and facilities. Domestic water heaters supply kitchens, showers, laundries, rest rooms, sinks in janitor closets, etc. Buildings often use hot water to heat cold areas and to reheat air that is "deep cooled" for air conditioning. Industrial processes heat water for thousands of industrial activities.

Water coming from wells or city water mains normally enters a building at 40 to 60 degrees F. Traditional domestic water heaters will boost water temperatures at sinks to 105 to 120 degrees F. Larger buildings often heat water and circulate water at 140 degrees F before cooling it at faucets to 120 degrees F.

Industrial processes operate at a variety of temperatures, but usually supply "make up" water that is lost from the process, from cold well or city water, which must be heated to the operating temperature.

With our solar thermal systems, building operators can solar preheat the water coming into their buildings or processes. This reduces the energy use by the traditional water heater or boiler.

For large water-heating systems, we design a system that best fits the size of the building and the water heating loads. We design and install an air-to-water heat exchanger and water storage tank to fit the spaces available and the daily and seasonal loads. If your systems have a smaller commercial water tank, we can provide a single-unit water preheat and storage tank to handle the heating and storage needs.

We also design systems that take advantage of available summer solar heat capacity, when reduced space heating demands free up solar heating capacity for additional water-heating loads.

PDF of American Solar's Hot Water schematic

Air handler with heat exchanger

Low cost solar hot water heating

With air-to-water heat exchangers, we use the solar heat hitting the exterior surfaces of your building to heat the building's water.