Hi All,
I am considering getting a solar heated hot water system and have been quoted for either the flat panels or the tubes. The guy who quoted for the tubes said that they were more efficient, less susceptable to dirt (i.e. bird shit was more likely to splat between them rather than all over them) and any damage was more likely to mean the replacement of a tube or two rather than then whole panel (he obviously had a thing against birds as he cited an example of a bird dropping a stone or some such)
The next guy was all for the flat panels reckoning that the difference in efficiency was marginal, that the tubes had some inherent issue with overheating the heat-transfer fluid and that they were more expensive with no real gain.
I would be extremely interested in other people's experiences and comments to try and sort the wood from the trees.
Cheers