Water heating solar panels and clouds

[sven]

I live in Belgium and cloudy days are in abundance here (except now in the middle of summer). I know PV cells still produce some usable power on cloudy days, but I was wondering if these water heating panels still heat the water. I tried searching for it here, but figuring out what search terms to try for this particular question seemed too difficult.

I'm hoping (read: I'm certain) someone here has experience with this and I would be grateful with some real data.

I could do some tests myself, but in the middle of summer we are blessed with less to no clouds, so it would take me a couple of months to test.

Sven

[pyrocasto]

From what I know, a flat panel collector will collect almost 0 heat on cloudy days. If you have an abundance of clouds I would suggest a Trough collector. Never tested one but they are suppossed to still create heat on cloudy days. Or at least some.

[Trivo]

Sven

Solar water collectors require direct sunlight to heat, if you cant feel the heat on your face it wont be working. In western australia in winter there is a lot of broken cloud and the panels dont get a chance to heat up before the next cloud

Trivo

[sven]

That's a bit of a downer. I'm glad I asked. I'm guessing solar energy is out of the question for me, until I can scrounge the money for the fairly expensive solar panels.

Thanks for the info.

Sven

[hotwired]

What is a trough collecter panel.

[pyrocasto]

This is a trought collector: http://www.mantec.ac.za/mecheng/star_lab/Trough%20construction/COLLECTOR.JPG

Multiplys light so when it's cloudy you are still suppossed to get some heat.