Solar Roofs Fireball 20014, Installation Manual

3.0. 

COLLECTOR LOCATION, ORIENTATION AND TILT 

 
Your solar water system will be providing savings for 
your family for decades to come. Because the sun rises 
in the east, crosses over the horizon on the south and 
sets in the west, you want your collector to face as much 
to the south as possible.  

Your system needs the most 

sun it can get!

As long as the collector angle (known as tilt) is at least 
14 degrees up from horizontal, (a typical roof angle is 
14 to 28 degrees) additional tilt usually has little effect 
on total year round performance.  

The exception

 is in 

areas with very sunny winters (as in most areas of 
Colorado) where a higher angle, (facing the collector 
more directly into the winter sun) can help year round 
performance.  

In most areas with 

heavy winter overcast,

 a solar 

collector's orientation on a low pitched roof can face 
anywhere from 45 degrees east to west of south without 
losing more than 8% of the energy it would have 

produced if it were facing directly south.  At 90 degrees 
east to west of south the loss is closer to 20%. 

Exceptions include

 easterly facing systems in areas 

with a lot of morning fog and clear afternoons where 
south facing or west facing would be much better.  The 
opposite can be true if sunny mornings are very often 
followed by rainy afternoons.   

Take these facts into consideration when locating 
your collector and consult with us if you have any 
questions. 

 
ROOF CONDITION: 

 
The condition of your roof should be good although one 
of the features of the Fireball 2001  system is that 
removing and replacing the collector is relatively easy 
for re-roofing.