Cleaner comfort with Solar Hot Water
Domestic Hot Water
We love our hot showers and baths after a hard day or early morning. Wouldn't it be nice if that heat comes directly from the sun's energy? A solar collector on your roof captures the sun's energy to heat your water, even on cloudy days. Just imagine having a shower, doing dishes or running a laundry for free with solar heated water!
Hot water is the second highest energy cost in a typical household, after space heating and it represents about 30% of total energy in our homes. Solar leaders Japan and Germany are current leaders in the solar markets, yet BC's climate shows greater solar potential than both countries.
Incentives and Rebates
RECENT UPDATE: SolarBC has recently announced that they are offering a $2,000 point-of-sale discount to individual households (new construction and retrofits) on solar hot water installations. This incentive can be combined with an additional $1,250 from the ecoENERGY retrofit Program (including single collector systems until April 1, 2010).
Solar Hot Water Incentives can now total $3,250 !
For more information visit: www.solarbc.ca
TerraTek Energy Solutions Inc. is a Registered 
Installer
Many homes are suitable or can be made suitable for solar hot water. To know whether your home is solar ready, you need to answer a number of questions:
- Will your roof soon need repair or replacing
- Is at least part of your roof south facing
- Do trees or other structures shade your house between 9am-4pm
- Is there enough space for an additional water tank
Installing a solar thermal system is one of the most reliable and cost effective ways to reduce your electric or gas bill. When properly installed a thermal system can provide up to 60% of your annual hot water, enabling year-round savings on your energy bill. Solar hot water systems have one of the best paybacks in the renewable energy market.
TerraTek is an Authorized Distributor of:
EnerWorks is a Canadian made Solar Hot Water system. They are the only CSA approved system to date and they carry a 10 year warranty. EnerWorks is a closed loop system, which means the solar loop between the collectors and the heat exchanger is pressurized and filled with a food grade glycol and distilled water mixture. By doing this, we enable the system to operate in temperatures of approximately -35 degrees Celsius without freezing.
The EnerWorks system includes a couple of features that no other system offers. Overheat protection is built in to the pump station and the collector. Once the tank reaches maximum temperature, it turns the pump off to avoid overheating the tank. When the collectors get too hot, a damper opens on the back of the collector to allow air to travel behind it. This cools off the collector(s). Another great feature of the system is the Thermosyphon Loop. A lot of solar hot water systems only work when there is a draw on hot water (when you use hot water). EnerWorks will gain heat when there is a draw, but when there isn't a draw, it pulls the cooler water from the bottom of the tank, warms it and allows it to thermosyphon to the top of the tank. Also, it uses a valve that back flushes the heat exchanger to prevent scaling (build up of sediment).
EnerWorks has also recently introduced a thermal energy monitor with their systems www.enerworks.com. This allows the homeowner to view energy savings, cost savings, greenhouse gas emissions saved, and water temperature at any given time.
Pool Heating
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A solar heating system for your pool is an attractive, economical solution for your heating needs. Similar to that of solar hot water, collectors capture free energy from the sun. In turn, your gain from the sun is released into your pool, extend your swimming season and reducing monthly fuel bills. These collectors are easy to install and can be integrated in either existing or new pools.
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