Imagine the comfort of walking on floors warmed by the sun - by radiant floor heating coils that draw part of their energy from solar collectors. Use the solar heat in the summer to heat an outdoor pool or spa.

The EnerWorks solar hot water appliance works in all seasons, is freeze protected and is designed to reduce, not replace, your existing natural gas, electric, oil or propane hot water and home heating service. The appliance does not affect the quantity of hot water produced or the speed at which cold water is heated, making it an ideal environmental solution.

A solar hot water heating system can also be used for renovations where adding in floor heating is not practical. Fan coil units, which are small radiators with fans for forced air heating can be added to individual rooms. See How It Works!

The owners of this passive solar home, built in the seventies, wanted to incorporate solar hot water heating in their already efficient house. In floor heating was not practical, so Suncatcher Solar installed four fan coil units and a radiant wall. The heat is collected through the four solar thermal collecters on the roof, and the small PV panel on the right supplies backup power to run the circulation pumps for the heating system. It also runs a few other small appliances, should there be a power outage.

Solar hot water collectors can also be used with geothermal systems to absorb excess heat in the summer and provide supplementary heat in the winter. This is a good solution for large homes with large heating loads where natural gas or propane are not readily available as a backup.