A Solar Hot Water Primer - Ken Olson. ©2001 Ken OlsonThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Go to Sidebar 1, Maintain Temperature Stratification in Your Tank Go to Sidebar 2, Rust Never Sleeps: Open Loop vs. Closed Loop Hot water represents the second largest energy consumer in American households. A typical 80 gallon (300 l) electric hot water tank serving a family of four will consume approximately 150 million BTUs in its seven year lifetime. This will cost approximately US$3,600 (at US$0.08 per KWH), not accounting for fuel cost increases. Then it will be replaced by another one just like it. An investment in a solar water heating system will beat the stock market any day, any decade, risk free. In this article I'm going to cover the most common options for solar water heating, basic principles of operation, and some historical perspective on what has worked and what has not.
Below: A Typical Solar Flat Plate Water Heater. Turn the thermostat down. Caution! Book: The Integral Passive Solar Water Heater. Solar Water Heating System Basics. What is Solar Water Heating? Solar water heating collectors capture and retain heat from the sun and transfer this heat to a liquid. Solar thermal heat is trapped using the “greenhouse effect,” in this case is the ability of a reflective surface to transmit short wave radiation and reflect long wave radiation. Heat and infrared radiation (IR) are produced when short wave radiation light hits a collector’s absorber, which is then trapped inside the collector. Fluid, usually water, in contact with the absorber collects the trapped heat to transfer it to storage.
Two principles govern solar thermal collectors. Second, heat loss is more rapid if the temperature difference between a hot object and its environment is larger, in this case between the temperature of the collector surface and the ambient temperature. The most basic approach to solar heating of water is to simply put a tank filled with water into the sun. A more common collector is called a flat plate collector. Solar Water Heating Projects and Plans. Solar water heating systems have a good economic payoff, and are manageable systems to install or build as a DIY project. Some of the solar water heating designs are very simple and low cost. You can save as much as $7000 by building your own system. There are just over one hundred projects with full construction details listed below -- all free. The projects range from simple batch heaters for warm climates through closed loop and drain back systems that will work in any climate. One of the systems is our own $1,000 solar water heating system that has provided a solar fraction in excess of 90% through our cold Montana winter.
My thanks to the people who have built systems, and then taken the time to send in pictures and descriptions for others to use. Directory for this page: Information on pumps, heat exchangers, heat storage tanks Controllers, pipe insulation, backdraft dampers and other components for solar space heating systems here... Solar Water Heater kits or packages... Questions? Free Solar Water Heating Projects & Plans. Solar water heating systems have a good economic payoff, and are manageable systems to install or build as a DIY project. Some of the solar water heating designs are very simple and low cost. You can save as much as $7000 by building your own system. There are just over one hundred projects with full construction details listed below -- all free. The projects range from simple batch heaters for warm climates through closed loop and drain back systems that will work in any climate. One of the systems is our own $1,000 solar water heating system that has provided a solar fraction in excess of 90% through our cold Montana winter.
My thanks to the people who have built systems, and then taken the time to send in pictures and descriptions for others to use. Directory for this page: Information on pumps, heat exchangers, heat storage tanks Controllers, pipe insulation, backdraft dampers and other components for solar space heating systems here... Solar Water Heater kits or packages... Questions? Recycle A Refrigerator Into A Solar Water Heater. Related Content CD and DVD Recycling The CD Recycling Center of America announced that it has chosen the United States Postal Service as ... Design and instruction about how to recycle a refrigerator into a solar water heater. Recycle a Refrigerator Into a Solar Water Heater Everyone knows that refrigerators are good for storing cold.
What everyone doesn't know is that fridges are also very good for storing heat . . . as Miles K. Ever go riding or walking through the countryside . . . and discover an old, abandoned Frigidaire, Kelvinator, or what-have-you just sitting there collecting dirt, leaves, and field mice? For a while, I felt good knowing that I was helping to clean up the countryside, and recycle tons of valuable metals (thereby reducing the need for mining). "Surely," I said to myself, "there must be some useful function that a precision-made, well insulated 'cabinet' can serve.
" The Solar Water Collector The Solar Water Heater Storage Tank Recycling the Refrigerator OK. Miles K. 5 Gallon Bucket Solar Hot Water Heater. Heating water is probably one of the biggest line items on your energy bill. The average American family of 4 in 2012 spent between $250 and $550 that year to heat hot water. A cleverly designed solar hot water system can eliminate 50% to 100% of that cost, depending on usage. DIY Solar Hot Water Heater This is the “gateway drug” for heating water with the sun.
You can build it yourself, in an afternoon, with 20$ in supplies. After you prove to yourself that indeed this solar hot water thing isn’t snake oil, you can move on to more advanced solar hot water systems. This small, un-insulated – and possibly toxic – DIY solar heater has a few advantages to balance out its problems. All you need for this project is a clean tire inner tube and a length of hose with a faucet end. This picture and the tutorial that accompanies it are published on MotherEarthNews.com 5 Gallon Bucket Solar Water Heater You knew that this was coming, right? This great little invention is called the “Sun Bucket.”
Make A Solar Water Heater For Under $5. Instructables user, TheNaib, has written a tutorial on how to create a solar thermal water heater for under five dollars. It will involve a fair amount of DIY, but nothing too complicated. It's designed as a fun project, but with some tweaking it could see real applications, "Its a great way to learn about using the renewable energy of the sun to produce useful effects, in this case hot water. You can use these instructions to build a device that will actually heat enough water to use in the home, but it would require modifications. "Not only is it creating hot water using completely renewable energy, but it is also created from recycled scrap parts like the coolant grill from a refrigerator. If you do try this out, be warned that it can really heat up water quickly, and to quite an impressive temperature, "A word of warning, this panel works VERY WELL. We tested it on a very sunny day and within seconds the water coming out of the panel was hot enough TO SCALD.
A Solar Water Heater Made of PET Bottles | The Temas Blog. « Environment-Friendly Mexican Diapers? | Home | Environment Provisions in LAC Constitutions Added to Tools Section » By Keith R | July 2, 2007 Topics: Renewable Sources, Waste & Recycling | 32 Comments » (4 votes, average: 4.75 out of 5) Loading ... Synopsis in English: The government of the southern Brazilian state of Paraná has been conducting an interesting experiment in environmental design utilizing waste materials. Since August 2006 state agencies have sponsored projects to construct solar water heaters constructed from used PET bottles and “long life” (aseptic) milk packaging.
It’s estimated that if the heater is used to heat the water for two bathrooms, it can save as much as 120 kilowatts per month. The concept was first proposed by José Alano, who in 2004 had received the Ecology award from the Brazilian magazine Superinteressante (“Super interesting”). Desde a Agência Estadual de Noticias de Paraná (AEN): Economia – O aquecedor solar também poupa energia elétrica.
Leave a Reply. A Simple DIY Solar Water Heating System. Search The Renewable Energy site for Do-It-Yourselfers System schematic -- Thermosyphon Solar Water Heater As shown in the schematic, when sun is on the Solar Panel, the water in the panel is heated, becomes less dense and rises up into the Storage Tank. The heated water leaving the panel is replaced by cool water flowing from the bottom of the Storage Tank into the lower connection on the collector.
This continuous natural circulation of the water through the collector and tank heats the tank water over time. Sun and gravity take care of the circulating the water, so no pump is needed. The system as shown here does not have freeze protection, so it must be used in non-freezing climates, or be drained for the winter. Building the Collector I used a roll of aluminum 10 " wide, which I cut to length and fit under the tubes. There is a 3/4 insulation sheet behind the plywood and another thinner plywood on the back to protect the insulation sheet. Collector Installation Storage Tank and Plumbing. Plans For Various Passive Solar Heaters. The Do It Yourself Passive Solar Window Heater How To Make A Passive Solar Heater. This is a very simple and inexpensive project. There are many passive solar heating projects out there, but we must admit, we were very sceptical at first.
In the cold November mornings, what help can a simple bit of styrofoam and aluminum foil really provide? So we decided to make one and see how well it works. This is a very simple project using a couple pieces of styrofoam and some normal kitchen aluminum foil. And a can of black spray paint. How this works: When the sun shines, the black painted area will absorb the heat from the suns rays. Make your own passive solar window heater Paint your solar heater black Homemade passive solar window heater in action In the photos above you can see the homemade passive solar window heater. First choose a south facing window and measure the window frame and decide if you want to cover the window completely or not with your solar heater. Pros and cons of this design. Homemade Absorber Plate. 7 Solar Water Heating System Designs by Michael Hackleman.
(Rob Harlan is a general and solar contractor with 25 years of experience with solar water heating systems in Mendocino County, California. Rob primarily designs and installs photovoltaic systems today.) MH: Rob, will you give a brief history of the last 30 years of solar-water heating system design and implementation? Rob: Solar-water heating systems got a real boost in the 1970s when tax credits were offered by state and federal programs to help folks make the investment. These systems were intended primarily for domestic hot water, i.e., showers, dishwashing, cooking, and clotheswashing.
MH: As I recall, a lot of manufacturers also disappeared when the tax credits went away. Rob: Some designs were indeed flawed—poorly implemented, overly complex, or incorporating untested ideas. MH: There are a few parts that are basic to most solar water heating systems (Fig. 2): collector(s), storage tank, heat transfer medium, and interconnecting plumbing. Rob: Freezing protection. Rob: True. 1. History Of Solar Water Heaters. Pump & Pipe Sizing For A Solar Water Or Space Heating System. Search The Renewable Energy site for Do-It-Yourselfers Overview of Sizing the Plumbing and Pump for Solar Collectors The basic underlying requirement is that you want a pump and plumbing system that will push enough heat transfer fluid (typically water) through your solar collectors to efficiently remove the heat that the sun is depositing in them.
Too little flow, and the collectors will run hotter and less efficiently, too much flow and you are wasting money on bigger pipes and pumps than the system needs, and using more pump power than you need to. The steps involved in the pump and plumbing sizing: Calculate the flow that the collectors need Measure the vertical distance between the top of the collector and the tank water level Calculate the pressure drop and flow velocity for the plumbing system.
Pick a pump that provides 1) the flow estimated in step 1, 2) the vertical lift calculated in step 2, and 3) can handle the pressure drop calculated in step 3. The Example Step 4: Pick a Pump.