These are Solar thermal. It is 86% efficient if you install commercial collectors. It is one of the hottest running collectors. We have received 1st and 2nd place during solar decathlon 2008 held each year in Washington DC. The collectors go on the South side. The # of collectors depend upon the number of people in the house (amount of water usage) and whether you want to heat and dehumidify (we have a solar dehumidifier mainly for the southeastern USA) etc.
This is about 5000 sq.ft home. It is a brand new construction. He used our collectors, warm board for laying down the pex tube. The solar system is hooked up to a 300 gallon tank. This is the primary heat. It goes through a heat exchanger to supply for the radiant floor heating system.
Our home (7000 sq.ft) has been built with ICF (Polysteel.com). We also have installed radiant floor heating. The insulation is with Icynene. The home was heated with natural gas two months
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during 2005 soon after construction. It costed us $450.00 to heat this home (out of this $60.00 is for cooking, clothes dryer etc) Soon after the radiant floor /solar system was turned on, our total gas bill is about 160.00 during winter and $60.00 during summer months. If you can send me your email address, I can send you a study done at a Northern California university. This is an eye opening study. There is an Apricus distributor in your area. He can show you how this system is far superior to any flat panel in particular if the weather gets cold. Hope this helps. I will see if I can find the link to this study.
Our home (7000 sq.ft) has been built with ICF (Polysteel.com). We also have installed radiant floor heating. The insulation is with Icynene. The home was heated with natural gas two months ...»