The thermal advantages by utilizing discharge from different levels in solar storage tanks are investigated, both for a small SDHW system and for a solar combisystem. The investigations showed that it is possible to increase the thermal performance of both types of systems by using two draw-off levels from the solar tanks instead of one draw-off level at a fixed position. The best position of the second draw-off level is in the middle or just above the middle of the tank. For the investigated small SDHW system with a realistic draw off hot water temperature of 40 degrees C and 45 degrees C and an auxiliary volume temperature of 50.5 degrees C the increase of the thermal performance by the second draw-off level is about 6%. For the investigated solar combisystem the increase in thermal performance by using one extra draw-off level, either for the domestic hot water heat exchanger or for the heating system, is about 3%, while an improvement of about 5% is possible by using a second draw-off level both for the domestic hot water heat exchanger and for the heating system. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.