In European standards EN 12976—1 and ENV 12977—1, many requirements are defined regarding safety, reliability and durability of solar heating systems. Their objective is to ensure that systems operate reliably, even under extreme conditions such as heavy snow or wind loads or extended stagnation periods during the summer. In addition, the documentation of the system, […]

Requirements on solar domestic hot water stores regarding safety, corrosion protection and drinking water quality are standardized among others in prEN 12897. In addition to these aspects, it is necessary, especially with regard to stores for solar heating systems, to have knowledge about their thermal behaviour. This information is quite important in order to be […]

10.2.1 Collectors In the European standards, requirements for solar collectors regarding safety, reliability and durability have been specified in EN 12975—1. The scope of this standard includes both glazed and unglazed collectors operating with a fluid as the heat transfer medium. Test procedures described in EN 12975—2 for reliability and durability testing, as well as […]

Results of the work carried out by the Working Groups are prENs or prENVs (pr: preliminary;V: pre-standard). These proposed standards are put to a formal vote in the EU/EFTA countries, i. e. for approval of the proposal, to become a regular standard called EN or a pre-standard called ENV Within three months, these countries can […]

As can be seen from the titles of the standards, solar heating systems have been divided into two groups, factory-made and custom-built systems. This division was necessary in order to be able to include the whole spectrum of solar heating systems available on the European market, which ranges from small compact systems (thermosiphon and integral […]

The three current standards for solar heating systems and components consist of seven parts (see Table 10.1) and consider most types of collectors, heat stores and solar heating systems commonly available on the European market. In addition, there is a trilingual standard (English, German and French) standard that explains terminology used in solar engineering. Table […]

Hamid Driick and Huib Visser During recent decades, considerable changes have been realized in the design and construction of solar heating systems. At the beginning, motivated builders usually designed their own ‘alternative’ systems to gain solar energy. In these cases, it was not uncommon to compensate for insufficient expertise with a lot of enthusiasm. Nowadays, […]

System description The Klosterenga residence is a free-standing six-floor building complex with 35 flats and 2901 m2 of heating floor area. The project aims at implementing and demonstrating innovative solar-based technology for new urban housing in the older parts of Oslo. The highlights of the Klosterenga residence are the utilization of active and passive solar […]