What is the difference between the single-walled and double-walled solar panels?
The difference relates to the design of the solar tubes. The standard tubes are double-walled, with a vacuum between the two walls of the glass. The centre is filled with air and the heat pipe runs up through the centre. The single walled tube is entirely filled with vacuum, and the vacuum is sealed by a glass-metal weld sealing the heat pipe to the glass. This is technically much more difficult to do; hence the cost is much higher. The single walled tube has a marginal advantage over the double-walled tube in that it reacts much quicker to sunlight (e.g. in winter it starts to heat water within 5-10minutes rather than 10-15minutes, and in summer the single walled tubes will start heating in just 30-45seconds whereas the double-walled tubes will take 2-3minutes) – so it is slightly more efficient in marginal conditions.
The difference relates to the design of the solar tubes. The standard tubes are double-walled, with a vacuum between the two walls of the glass. The centre is filled with air and the heat pipe runs up through the centre. The single walled tube is entirely filled with a vacuum, and a glass-metal weld sealing the heat pipe to the glass seals the vacuum. The single walled tube has a marginal advantage over the double-walled tube in that it reacts much quicker to sunlight. A 10tube single walled panel (70mm diameter tubes) produces about 10% less heat than a standard 20tube double-walled panel (47mm diameter tubes).
The difference relates to the design of the solar tubes. The standard tubes are double-walled, with a vacuum between the two walls of the glass. The centre is filled with air and the heatpipe runs up through the centre. The single walled tube is entirely filled with vacuum, and the vacuum is sealed by a glass-metal weld sealing the heatpipe to the glass. This is technically much more difficult to do, hence the cost is much higher. The single walled tube has a marginal advantage over the double-walled tube in that it reacts much quicker to sunlight (eg it starts to heat water within 5-10minutes rather than 10-15minutes) – so it is slightly more efficient in marginal conditions. However, it also cools down quicker, whereas the standard tube will continue to heat for 10-15minutes after the sun goes in. A 10tube single walled panel (70mm diameter tubes) produces about 10% less heat than a standard 20tube double-walled panel (47mm diameter tubes).
The difference relates to the design of the solar tubes. The standard tubes are double-walled, with a vacuum between the two walls of the glass. The centre is filled with air and the heatpipe runs up through the centre. The single walled tube is entirely filled with vacuum, and the vacuum is sealed by a glass-metal weld sealing the heatpipe to the glass. This is technically much more difficult to do, hence the cost is much higher. The single walled tube has a marginal advantage over the double-walled tube in that it reacts much quicker to sunlight (eg in winter it starts to heat water within 5-10minutes rather than 10-15minutes, and in summer the single walled tubes will start heating in just 30-45seconds whereas the double-walled tubes will take 2-3minutes) – so it is slightly more efficient in marginal conditions. However, it also cools down quicker, whereas the standard tube will continue to heat for 10-15minutes after the sun goes in. A 10tube single walled panel (70mm diameter tub
