Rob Harlan is a general and solar contractor with 25 years of experience with solar water heating systems in Mendocino County, California. (Rob primarily designs and installs photovoltaic systems today.):
The integral collector/storage is the simplest and historically oldest type of solar water heating system. Paint a tank black, put it in a big crate, insulate it on all sides except the one covered by glass or plastic, and point it at the sun. Water in the tank is heated directly by the sun and stored in the same unit. In the trade, this is also know as a breadbox-type system.
The thermosiphon system is another solar water heating method. Sunlight strikes tubes and fins inside a collector box through which water or glycol is circulating. The inlet and outlet of the collector are plumbed, respectively, to the inlet and outlet of the storage tank. If we were talking about electricity and polarity, we’d say the collector is in parallel with the storage tank. Still, it forms a loop. The heated fluid moves from the collector to the storage tank and back to the collector through a process called thermosiphon. This is a natural convective action. If you plumbed this as an open system, the storage tank could be your own water heater.
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