When most people think of solar panels and their applications, they may envision their use on rooftops, in large solar farm fields, attached to roadside call boxes, and even on satellites orbiting the planet. While all good examples of use, they all are of the variety that generate electricity. Not many people think of solar as a reliable means to generate hot water, and unlike the power producing panels, it usually only takes one panel of a certain type to do the job.

In actuality there are multiple panel types and various systems that use both passive and active methods for heating water. With passive systems there is no need for an electric source and water is allowed to flow naturally through a feeding pipe outside the home and into the interior of a heat retention panel that heats the network of pipes and the water within, before the hot water flows out of the top portion and into the top part of the hot water tank. For active systems there is typically the use of a pump that either circulates the water or a special heating fluid that is used to heat the water in more…