A few questions from a total tyro here. My wife and I are considering a solar setup to provide some of the heat for our hot water (both "potable" and for forced hot water heating.) The intention is to try to stop burning as much oil as we do to heat the water. We live in central Massachusetts.
1) Is there enough sunlight in the Northeast US to make this feasible/cost effective? (I'm thinking both of short winter days and overcast days all year.) This ain't exactly SoCal...
2) What about winter weather? We are in the "snow belt", so we often have a lot of snow on our roof. Would we have to clean off the panels after each snow storm? What about ice storms, which occassionally put an inch or two of ice on everything?
3) Our roof slopes basically to the southwest and the northeast. My understanding is that a south-sloping roof is ideal. How troublesome would this be?
4) Are there in fact water heating systems to do this sort of thing? How tough are they to retrofit in a two-story house with the current system (oil burner, hot water tank) in the basement?
5) Is there anything else I'm not thinking of?
Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks!
Burke