Does your site get enough sun?

• Collectors must be installed in a sunny location.  Ideally there will be little or no shade on the collectors from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on winter solstice when the sun is lowest in the sky. 
• Collectors will perform best facing true south, where they will receive the strongest sun year-round.
• South-facing collectors can be mounted on virtually any roof slope. Collectors on a steep roof (i.e. 45-60 degrees) will capture more winter sun.
• Collectors may also be mounted on an east or west facing roof of low slope, ideally less than 30 degrees. 

Aesthetics are important to solar’s image and market acceptance.  We recommend installing collectors in line with the roof instead of propping them up at a steeper angle when possible.

A professional contractor can perform a solar site analysis to estimate the impact of shading on system performance at your site.

Do you have enough space?

40-80 square feet of roof area is typically needed for the collectors in a residential solar water heating system.  Additionally, for most systems you will need space indoors for an 80 gallon storage tank near your conventional water heater.