Are solar water heater cost effective & sustainable? Jupiter solar water heater

If I understand correctly, the most common source of heat is natural gas (combustion). In addition, we heat homes in the winter to keep the house from being too cold. In the summer, we use air conditioning and in the daytime, we also use central air conditioning.

In addition, we use electric lights, we use oil for cooking, we use gasoline for automobiles, etc. So, the list goes on. I also know that all of these are sustainable. But my question is, is a solar water heater cost-effective and sustainable?

Are solar water heater cost effective & sustainable?

A solar water heater costs are in better pricing , depending on size and design. The cost could be higher or lower for the average heating requirements. The cost is far cheaper than running an electric heater. It does not cost anything to sit there. You will need to buy a water filter for it to be efficient, you will need to buy your own backup battery if needed, and it will need to be connected to an inverter.

There are a couple of ways to find out if it is effective and sustainable:

Buy a solar water heater and use it for a while, and see how much you will use. Or use an energy audit if you have one already. 

Check out a list of things that are most expensive.

Check if you have an existing backup battery.

 Are solar water heater cost effective & sustainable

I have used a solar powered water heater on my roof for a couple years now.

I used it for 3 reasons. 

I wanted to reduce my electricity usage. During summer I don't use air conditioner at night. use 3kW of power, so even though I was still using electricity, it wasn't a large amount. 

I live in a house with a lot of water pipes, so even if I did use the tank heater I would need to run it long hours to heat all of the water in the house. Running a tank heater for 10 hours straight gets expensive, but running it during the hours of 5AM - 5PM is only about 1/10th of the cost. 

I didn't want to pay the utility for the cost of electricity. I would rather pay myself for the benefit.

As to it being sustainable.  I still run a tank heater because I haven't figured out a way to power my entire house on solar, but having done the math it's as efficient as I'd like. 

I would recommend this if you aren't planning to run a tank heater. A couple of hundred dollars in installation costs makes it very expensive when you are considering the savings that are hard to get from using other power sources. 

In addition, with a tankless water heater you have a huge tank filled with hot water, whereas with a solar water heater you need a tank which can hold more gallons, thus using less than 1/10 of the energy of a tankless heater.

So, the price of a solar heater is comparable, if not more economical, than the price of the electric heater.

The efficiency is good with solar heaters.

The tank itself lasts much longer with solar heaters.

Also, the warranty is much better.

The biggest advantage with solar heaters is that the output of the panels are significantly good with proper maintenance over the years. 

If you use the whole year to charge the battery, the difference between solar heaters and electric heaters is reduced.

Also their lifetime is great.For these reasons, I suggest you to install an solar water heater, especially if you are planning to use more energy than you are getting from the sun.

If your electricity is really expensive, it would be worthwhile to invest in a solar water heater instead.

In conclusion,  but I think solar water heaters are very cost effective, and an investment in the future.

It is difficult to compare the cost of solar heating with an electric heating element.  The basic idea is, for a particular heat load, to compare the amount of time the heat is needed with the cost to heat.  Electric heat runs 24/7/.  Water heaters can run at any time, but if they are only needed for a few hours a day, they aren't as efficient in cost/energy use as electric heating which runs during those hours.

In the case of electric heating, the heater must be shut off while electric heat is being added to the electric grid.  The heater is turned back on when electric heat has been removed from the electric grid.  If you have an electric heater with a built-in controller that turns itself off when you are out of the house, you won't have to shut the system down and restart the system as you would with a solar heating system.

The cost of electricity also is affected by the efficiency of your panels.  The efficient panels used for solar heating require more panels in terms of cost per watt.  This higher cost translates to higher cost for electricity.

  I would say it is more sustainable.  There is less impact on the environment in building and maintaining a solar heating system.  It does use a lot of energy (especially at night when there is no sun) to heat the water when compared to an electric heating system.  I can think of some benefits to a solar heating system:

Less maintenance required to keep the elements running

My take on it is, it is mostly cost, but there are some nice benefits.

It is an investment in the future. 

If you are interested in a sustainable solution then a solar water heater is likely more efficient in terms of energy use than an electric water heater, especially if you are in a place with more days of sun every year.  

A typical cost of installation for a solar water heater is about a better price, or just about a 10% increase in installation costs compared to electric heat.

Solar water heaters also have another advantage in that there are only a few components that you must store for any length of time.  If there is a power outage that is sufficient to prevent any component from operating then the heat will dissipate or be turned off, no water will be lost, and your solar water heater can still be used.

There are a few solar power water heaters that I have researched and purchased, and while they require less  maintenance, they still come with a high initial cost.  They have a higher installation cost than a comparable electric water heater.