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There are two main types of radiant heating systems that you can use in your home or office today – each is widely used, and will provide sound financial benefits for you and your family.
Baseboard Heating
These heating systems use radiators on the baseboards of the rooms of your home or office. When you are purchasing the radiators to use in your Solar Heating System, you should choose radiators, or enough radiators, that their recommended square footage of heating space is as large, or larger, than the rooms you intend to heat. This will keep your rooms from having cold spots where the heat just can’t get to. This is a very cost-effective and affordable method for radiant heating with a solar hot water heater, and does not require the floor be removed to install a subfloor radiant floor heating system.
Radiant Floor Heating
The second type of radiant heating system is a floorboard radiant heating system. These systems are installed under the current hardwood, tile, or carpeted floor of your home, and use winding trails of PVC piping underneath to carry hot water through the system, which transfers its heat to the floor system around it, providing efficient heating for any or all of the rooms in your home or office. There are three different types of installation for Radiant Floorboard Heaters, and the right choice for is a decision that needs to be based on several factors including current floor type and your budget. |
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SunMaxx Solar Water Heaters are not simply a great tool for heating your domestic and potable hot water – in fact, many Americans are turning to solar energy to help heat their entire homes and offices because of the rising costs of electricity, fuel oil, and natural gas. It is likely that you have felt the budget crunch that these increasing prices have put on most Americans, and that is why you are looking at Silicon Solar and SunMaxx Solar for a solar solution that is right for you.
The average American household spends 40% or more of its annual energy bills on water and home heating, and with a SunMaxx Solar Water Heater sized to handle radiant heating for your home or office you can eliminate between 65 and 80% of this cost each and every month. This can translate to a savings of hundreds of dollars a year, and several thousands of dollars over the lifetime of your SunMaxx System. |
A floor with Radiant Heating Tubing installed |
| Solar heating is a wise investment! |
| Investing your money in solar heating with SunMaxx is like investing in a stock portfolio – the return on your investment in solar, however, is tax free, and with today’s Federal and State Incentives and Credits, your investment can pay off far earlier than you ever thought. |
| Solar heating is stable in price |
| Once you purchase a solar heating system from SunMaxx there are no surprises. Unlike your electrical and fuel rates, the cost of your solar heating will always stay constant. These prices are not connected to inflation, sociopolitical realities, shortages, or any other exterior factors that can raise the prices of traditional fuel sources dramatically in a short period of time. The biggest upside of this is that, as the costs of these traditional fuel sources continue to rise, the returns on your investment in a SunMaxx Solar Heater will continue to rise at the same rate. |
| Solar heating is eco-friendly! |
| Today it is chic to be green – to live a cleaner, greener, more environmentally friendly lifestyle. Whether you believe in the theory and dangers of global warming or not, you cannot deny that our use of traditional fossil fuels has caused irreversible damage to the environment. Solar Heating Systems help you do your part to leave the world a healthier, more resourceful place for our children and grand-children to live. |
| Which collectors should I use? |
While both Flat Plate Collectors and Evacuated Tube Solar Collectors can be used in radiant heating systems, Silicon Solar strongly recommends that our clients use the SunMaxx Evacuated Tube Solar Collectors.
We make this recommendation because of the unique properties of Evacuated Tube Solar Collectors that make them highly efficient in colder climates and more freeze protected than their Flat Plate Collector cousins. In Northern, colder climates where radiant heating is more likely to be used, Evacuated Tube Collectors are more efficient at collecting sunlight and turning that light into heat regardless of the weather conditions outside. |
| How do I size my SunMaxx System? |
Accurately determining how many SunMaxx Solar Collectors you should use in your radiant heating system can be a complex process, and requires a fair amount of detailed information about your home and your rooms. Our experienced, professional sales team can assist you in making these calculations and determinations.
If you would like to get a rough estimate as to the number of collectors you will need to provide radiant heating for your home or office, you can use the following simple calculations. Please remember that these numbers are not guaranteed accurate, and are intended only to give you an estimation of your initial investment. For proper and accurate sizing, please submit the form by following the link on the last page of this brochure to Silicon Solar Inc, and a sales professional will assist you in your sizing.
Enter Square footage of your home
Multiply the square foot of your home by the sizing factor for your location
(=) Total Square Footage of Collectors you need for heating needs
Divide this number by 36 (square footage of SunMaxx 20 Evacuated Tube Solar Collectors. This gives you the number of collectors you need - please round to the next highest whole number
Sizing Factors:
For houses below the mason dixon line, please multiply by 0.1
For houses above the mason dixon line, please multiply by 0.2 |
If you are using a SunMaxx Solar Water Heater for radiant heating, you will need the system to provide ample heat in the coldest weather and on the shortest days of the year at your location. This means that in the summer, your SunMaxx will be producing far more heat that is required at the time. Essentially, you need a Heat Dump – a way to siphon off extra heat from your system to keep your home comfortable all year round. For extended information on Heat Dumps, please see our Heat Dump Brochure.
There are several different ways to make a heat dump for your SunMaxx Solar Hot Water System. You can use an existing or new Pool/Spa as a destination for the excess heat produced by your system in the summer months – this gives you a heated pool without any added costs beyond your current SunMaxx investment. You can also use a traditional Heat Dump with is generally a radiator fin system placed on the exterior of your home or office which can pull excess heat from the system and radiate it into the open air, keeping your home or office comfortable to live in, no matter how hot your SunMaxx Heater is getting. |
| Back-Up Heater Requirement |
We have stated that your SunMaxx Heater should be used in conjunction with supplemental, or backup heating from a traditional heating source. Your existing gas, fuel or electric water heater can suffice as this backup. This allows you uninterrupted hot water and home heating regardless of the weather, cloud cover, and SunMaxx System efficiency.
It is inadvisable that you rely on 100% solar for your home heating needs. Though these systems operate in all weather conditions, their efficiency can be lowered by cloud cover and extremely cold weather – in these conditions, you do not want your heating system to stop operating – a good backup heater will alleviate this problem and keep your warm and comfortable all year long. |
Key Note: It may be non-cost-effective to provide 100% of your radiant heating needs with your SunMaxx Solar System. Instead, this system should be sized as a supplement to a traditional heating source. When enough energy is being produced your system will operate strictly on solar power, but when the system cannot supply 100% of the demand, the backup traditional heating system will fill in the remaining needed heat. It is not unreasonable that a well-sized SunMaxx Solar Heater could supply 65-80% of your domestic hot water and radiant heating needs, even on the coldest winter days.
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