Hydraulic concepts for solar heat appliances to support heating and domestic hot water in multi-family houses (solar combisystems) are investigated and compared by means of simulations and hardware-in-the-loop tests. The aim is to find best-practice solutions. The standard for new constructions of multi-family housing is a central buffer storage system with fresh water station, but hot water storage systems are also used. Hydraulic concepts found in market research are compared concerning their efficiency, costs and complexity. Solar combisystems with fresh water stations are not very complex, offer high energy savings and the lowest heat generation cost: 0,19 €/kWh. This makes it the best practice concept for solar combisystems in multi-family houses.