can a solar water heater be hooked with a tankless water system?

Question

i am thinking about saving cost and energy. want to get a tankless water heater. i would like to have a solar water heater too, but heard that u need a stoage tank for the solar heater. not sure if i can combine the two. anyone got an answer for me?

Answer 1

you could have a 2 panel 80 gallon tank solar thermal system backed up by a tankless. but if you have a tankless, you dont need anything else, it wont work with solar panels, you must have a storage tank. if you have the money, do it. (roughly $10,000) installed with a heating element in your air handler to pre heat your air in the winter. payback around 5 years pending tax credits. if thats to complicated, just do tankless, they are awesome. do both if you have the dough. your neighbors will be jealous.

Answer 2

The only way that I know that you could do it is to have a storage tank then have a pump on the tank to the inlet of the tankless water heater.

Just putting a storage tank before the tankless heater will help some by tempering the water some.

This will change the gpm capacity up a little bit for the tankless heater.

Answer 3

You could install the solar upstream of your
tankless heater. Less delta 'T` less energy use.
The solar system would need an insulated tank
and piping. It might have a long payback on the
expense.

Answer 4

don,t think you can, the tankless water heater alone will save you a lot,
a solar heater depends on heat,and storage, not pressure like the tankless,
but i could be wrong,

Answer 5

go tankless,it only turns on when you need hot water.Plus solar power is upfront exspensive.