Assessing your solar water heater system's performance metrics is crucial to determine its impact and efficiency of operation of the solar energy. To perform this evaluation, you need to track several key metrics, which are listed below:
Temperature Difference: This metric measures the difference between the water heating target temperature and the current water temperature after being heated by the solar system. A higher temperature difference would generally translate to a more optimized operation of the system.
Efficiency Ratio: Also known as the exergy efficiency or the solar collector system (S.C.S.) efficiency, this metric quantifies the ratio of the thermal energy gained by the fluid circuit to the incident solar energy. The efficiency ratio of a typical solar water heater system ranges from 30% to 60% and the figure depends on the solar collector type and system type.