BENEFITS

Solar water heating is very much worthwhile doing.
Calculate how much you spend on propane gas per year, then determine what percentage is used for hot water production.

Questions that you need to ask yourself are:
Do you use part of that cost for space heating, dishwasher and/or pool heating?
Cooking "normally" represents a small percentage of usage.
The cost in Pesos you will arrive at, is what you have the potential to save per year. Take the total solar cost and divide it by the annual savings, this tells you how long it will take to pay off your investment. Just think, after that, you have FREE hot water!
Don't even bother trying to factor in the increasing cost of propane. Every time the cost goes up, your pay back period shortens...YEAH!

Another aspect that people tend to forget is that propane heaters need to be replaced about every 5 years or so, because your heater is no longer in daily use, it lasts longer. What if your propane heater lasts twice as long because you are relying on solar as your main source?

You can also factor in to your savings the cost of a replacement heater, again shortening your pay back.

There is also another important reason to go solar: The environment. Instead of using non-renewable propane you are using the energy of the sun. No harmful effects for the planet. We can save our precious resources.

So there you go! You are being friendly to your wallet and you feel good about being a part of the solution. I live in a house with a solar hot water heater and every time I have a shower I get a kick out the idea that it is free. Too cool!

A few facts: San Miguel enjoys 300 sunny days a year. Even after 2 completely cloudy days you still have warm water, so if you do need to turn on the propane heater, it is doing less heating.

SOLAR SOLUTIONS offers some very affordable solar hot water heaters that employ "evacuated tube" technology that is well suited to the climate here in San Miguel de Allende.