Solar Powered Water Heater

[Rgillard]

Hello,

Was just wondering has anyone ever built a solar powered water heater. Seen one in a book which was built of black hosepipe covered with glass bottles. They also used radiators painted black. Was thinking of maybe trying it. Would anyone have an idea to how hot you could heat the water on a good day.

 

[SPIKER]

I thnk it all depends on location, location location, you are in Ireland? as in lepercons?

I thought they got LOTS of rain overcast and very little sunny days!?

Here i States we have local maps which detail how much sun, wind rain you get on average based on location down to the SQ mile. this is very helpfull if you live where sun don't shine then solar is out, if you love where wind don't blow then wind power i sout. get where i'm going here!?

anyhwo check reginal government, as we have resorses to help us get better systems to make our lives run smoothly and cheaper with less energy useage.

also check you may be able to get government grants ect? we do here if we qualify for them, lots of paperwork but can mean 50% or more of a grant to get up and running...

mark M
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[tc35dforme]

A solar collector can be tuned to develop temperatures in the thousands of degrees....not practical for the homeowner.

Its not unusual for a commercially built flat plate water collector to be able to put out a steady stream of 145 - 150 F water in the sun. This temperature with 2 or 3 panels can easily keep up with most domestic loads with adequate storage.

The problem is the initial cost and the unpredictable weather. Here in the US we used to get a nice tax credit for solar installs....that made it worthwhile. These days, they don't give it, and the installation becomes less cost effective. By the time you sort out all the costs, its not quite worth it.

I would expect that any homemade system would be much less effective and less efficient.

That said, my buddy used to heat his pool by running several lengths of black rubber hose on his barn roof and running pool water through it. Did a decent job at taking the edge off, but couldn't keep up in the cooler weather.

Good Luck...

 

[SPIKER]

yep: the guy down the steer: a maintenance guy I worked with built his own too, used 2x6's and screen door glass on the top, inside is all black painted with copper lines of 1/2" dia, that snakes across from a manafold he made it all up and used foam board with foil backing inside and that had a black back to it, tubes sat on this and were tied into plywood backer. room inside nthe box was packed with copper, I don't know for sure but I think he used coil type copper maybe threaded? (not sure if soldered up would hold up on REALLY HOT days without water flowing through it? (unless it was silver soldered or brazed.)) total cost was about $250.00, mostly for copper and patio door glass (this is tempered and has stood up well for years. Made it back in 90's so price now maybe higher?)

He pumps pool water through it and pool will get TOO hot if it is 90 out and full sun if the heater is left running. his is warm by aprl if he wants! but it has high fence 360 around it and full sun all day. collector is ON roof of garage which is back (north) wall of the fence and also protects pool from heavy winds... everopation gets to be a problem according to him it wil loose 2~3" a day when outside temp is 90+ and pool temp is in high70's low 80's with slight brease... it is a 3/4 inground unit with a poly insulation boards around underground part, cut and installed by him prior to back filling with sand.

I have not seen it but him and one other guy talked about them all time, and how WARM/NICE the pools were when getting home (we worked 2nd shift in a food cooking plant which was 100% humidity constantly and 100+ degrees F most days in summer!) he lives just about 1 mile down road from my farm. humm maybe stop in wiht the trucnks on !?

Mark M /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[RichNJKubota]

Check out these solar collectors made in China. There are different manufacturers - this being just one. I will probably use a system with these tubes in the near future. They are better, IMO, than the flat plate collectors.
http://www.sundasolar.com/html/english/index.html

Rich