The Plan

Solar hot water panels are normally placed on the roof.  This high location usually provides the most unobstructed access to sunlight, particularly here in New England with so many 40 foot tall trees.

But my plan is to put my solar hot water panels on the ground.  This has both advantages and disadvantages.

The primary advantage is that I don't have to mount panels way up on my roof and risk damaging the roof or having water leak from the piping through my roof and my walls.  Another advantage is that I don't have to find room on my roof for the solar hot water panels.  I already have an array of 16 solar PV panels up on the roof, and finding more space is a challenge (though not impossible).  Also, I had to remove a beautiful oak tree to create good sun conditions on that part of the roof, and I am not interested in taking down another oak tree.

The primary disadvantage (for my location) is lack of great solar coverage.  For the location that I have planned, there may be no solar coverage in the winter at all due to shading from trees.  Fortunately, the solar coverage is good for the other three seasons.  More about that in a separate post.  The other major disadvantage, is that the glass on the solar panels may get destroyed by snow falling off the roof above it.  You see, the location that I am choosing is right next to my house and snow falling off the roof may fall on my solar hot water panels.  This is particularly a concern because the location is right below my solar PV panels.  When snow comes off of the solar PV panels, it tends to come all at once in an avalanche.   It sounds like thunder when it happens.

  In any case, the plan is ground mounted solar hot water panels tilted at 45° to the ground.  I am committed to that at this point.