A solar hot water panel is a solar water heater that makes use of the energy from the sun to heat water or some other liquid. This liquid is then carried to somewhere else in the home that can make use of the generated heat. Installing a hot water solar panel is probably the easiest and least expensive way that the average home owner can become involved with solar energy.

It requires thousands of dollars less than installing a solar heating panels to heat up the house. And it has almost immediate payback benefits as it starts to save you money from the moment it’s installed and up and running. To conserve energy, insulation is very important in a solar hot water system. You don’t want to go through the effort of installing solar hot water panels to save money and then lose it because you have poor insulation.

You need good insulation mainly in two places: 1) around the heat transfer pipes (which is usually 3/4 inches in diameter) and 2) around the heat storage unit.