| Flat Plate Collectors are a low-cost, efficient Solar Collector for Solar Hot Water Heating. Like Their name implies, they are flat, and therefore, like standard solar panels, are subject to the whim of the sun, and are only efficient for the few hours of the day that the sun is directly overhead. Early and late in the day, when the sun is low in the sky flat plates will not operate as efficiently as an evacuated tube solar collector would.
However, the low cost of flat plate collectors makes them a very popular, proven, and cost-effective choice for Solar Hot Water Heating in most climates, but particularly in warmer climates where the sun is generally higher in the sky year round, and winter weather is not nearly as cold as in most parts of the north. |
