this post was submitted on 10 Jan 2026
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just put the water under the sun? why would anyone use solar panels to heat water. you're losing like 90% the sun's energy in trying to capture it as electricity.
That's exactly what these solar panels were. They didn't produce electricity at all. They simply used the solar energy to heat liquid being ran through pipes.
There are non-photoeoectric solar panels. Solar panels that have the only purpose of heating water are very common. They are basically a long winding black tube with water inside. Big surface area + black = lots of heating.
That being said, I don't know if these are photoelectric or just water heating panels.
Okay, but what if night?
You have a giant very well insulated water tank for storage. I had this in a home I lived in and it works surprisingly better than you think it would.
That's really cool, actually! Makes sense, I just never heard of it before.