I've decided to use a solar hot water system to my pool (getting me off the propane ban wagon). I have a barn that has a south-facing roof that I think is perfect. The barn also holds all the pool filtering equipment.
Instead of pushing pool water up 40 feet to the roof, I've decided that I want the rooftop system to be a closed system. Basically using some sort of liquid in the solar side, a small tank with a coil that transfers the heat of the solar liquid to the pool water. In this way, I can use a smaller pump on the solar side and not have to touch my pool system other than a little plumbing.
I've been thinking about using the system to also provide hot water to my house. I think it will work year-round (I live in the Boston area). My barn is about 70 feet away from the house; I was thinking of digging a trench 4 feet down, running the piping between the barn and house, and storing about 100-200 gallons of water in the tank. I was thinking about the use of a recirculating pump between the storage and the solar hot water system.
Does this sound like it makes sense? I'm interested in companies that supply what I need to make this all work: panels for the rooftop. Any assistance or advice is greatly appreciated.
This page is about a solar hot water system I installed in 2018. It provides us with free washing up water and free pre-heated water for the kettle. Water is sent out from below the sink, through the wall and then through about 15 metres of black plastic tubes. The water stays in the tube and heats up during the morning. By 11am the temperature is around 35C (95 F) and later on the temperature can get up to over 45C. (115 F)
As the title says, i was thinking about using a chest cooler (50-100 lt) and a DC water heating element (24v 600w) to harness and store the power of the sun during the day, and use it during the night as "radiator" to keep my room warm.
All it would take would be a few solar panels, an MPPT controller, a small battery/supercondenser array, a heating element and a chest cooler.
I know that hooking up the solar panels directly to the heating elements would not work very well (isssues with impedance matching), that's why i was thinking about using an mppt charge controller and a small battery.
I know a "direct solar water heater" would be more efficient for the job, but it involves way too much plumbing (and i'm not a fan).
Does my idea make sense?
This year, I purchased a home with a solar hot water system. The back-up heating is electrical and appears to work. I don't think the solar portion of the system is working at all. The home inspector did not find anything suspect and thought it was OK at the time, but now I think they just didn't look closely.
Here's what I know:
- 3 collector panels on the roof
- one hot water tank with electrical backup heat, Vaughn model S80SRWHX2050
- concentrator loop is a closed cycle separate from the potable water
- concentrator loop circulation controller is a Rho Sigma model 121. The label is pictured below.
- concentrator loop circulation pump is labeled "Daystar Solar Circulator" model 0250-011, but the housing is stamped with "Taco Cartridge Circulator"
- concentrator loop pressure is ~9 PSIG and ~70 F (even on 80F days) just before the tank inlet
- the pressure and temperature relief valve on the tank started intermittent dripping about six weeks ago
The circulation controller is set to "auto" but I haven't found it turning on even during sunny days. When I switch it to the on position, I can hear an audible buzz, but I cannot tell if it is only coming from the controller box (and its transformer) or the pump. When the controller is on, the pump gets too hot to touch in a few minutes and I can't feel fluid moving in the loop. The label on the pump indicates it should be a 0.75 amp unit, but when I have a kill-a-watt meter plugged in to the controller/pump supply, it measures 1.2-1.3 amps in the on position. It measures 0.2-ish amps with the controller in the auto position.
Concentrator Circulation Controller Label
I've opened a fill/drain valve on the concentrator loop and know that there is _some_ fluid in there. I haven't been up to the roof to check anything up there up close. The home inspector (for whatever their opinion might be worth) didn't see any trouble up there.
The owners' manual for the hot water tank doesn't include information about its thermistor or the pressure that the heat exchanger for the concentrator loop can handle. I have contacted the manufacturer for more detailed technical information.
There is a thermal expansion tank on the
... keep reading on reddit ➡Which are the benefits of solar panels designed for hot water compared to a generic solar panels used for electricity with a heater?
I’m building a home and some people are saying that I should put both on my roof while some are saying to just put normal for electricity.
I just commented on something I saw on an off grid fb page and wondered, does anyone have experience with this:
Dedicate a few pv solar panels for an elctric hot water system, run a cable directly to the thermostat. Even at the lower voltage and lower current, it would still heat, albeit slowly.
Has anyone got experience with this? Did it work or fail & if fail, why?
Hey everyone! I wasn’t sure if this was the right place to post, if you have a better suggestion please let me know below!
Okay, so we have a solar hot water system but I’ve noticed on our bill that our hot water is using a hell of a lot of electricity. We use more in a month than our neighbors do in 3 months. We are a couple with 1 toddler. We both shower once a day, sometimes all together so I doubt we are using that much. I think the problem lies in our system. Out hot water gets extremely hot (like boiling) so I think that is one issue (will get this changed). Another thing is the booster, do you have this turned on 24/7? We do and I don’t know if we should be turning this off? In the meter box the “off peak heater” is switched on. Will turning this off save us money? If I turn the “off peak heater” off will we be paying peak rates when it does heat up or will the water just not heat until the sun comes out? Sorry for the long post! Any advice would be helpful. We have solar hot water and a 6.6kw solar system and our bills are still saying we use more than 6 people.
I’m in Aus if that helps.
I have a 9.3kw solar panel setup, one Powerwall. Have a hot water, gas-fired boiler for baseboard heat. Want to replace the gas with electric boiler. Has anyone had experience running an electric powered boiler/furance heating system off their Panels/Powerwall?
As the title says, i was thinking about using a chest cooler (110 lt) and a DC water heating element (24v 600w) to harness and store the power of the sun during the day, and use it during the night as "radiator" to keep my room warm.
All it would take would be a few solar panels, an MPPT controller, a small battery/supercondenser array, a heating element and a chest cooler.
I know that hooking up the solar panels directly to the heating elements would not work very well (isssues with impedance matching), that's why i was thinking about using an mppt charge controller and a small battery.
I know a "direct solar water heater" would be more efficient for the job, but it involves way too much plumbing (and i'm not a fan).
Does my idea make sense?
I have an older solar thermal hot water heater that does not appear to be heating the water in the tanks. The differential controller and sensors are all new as are the pumps (approx 6 months old). The controller shows that the panel is hot and the tank is cold so it kicks on the pumps which appear to be operating. What is odd is that the left hand pipe in the pictures is warm and it is labelled as going to the panels, while the line labelled as coming from the panels is cold. Both pumps appear to be functioning and the top pump, which feeds into the left pipe, is too hot to touch. There do not appear to be any leaks from collectors or any of the system. Anybody have ideas on whats going on or how to troubleshoot? Thanks in advance!
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