My DIY dual solar water heaters

[Bossrox]

I have summer & winter heaters. The summer heater in the 1st pic is on a hinge hooked to a hoist above it then to a winch for tracking the sun. It's done with pex pipe & I can easily get a tank of 150 degree water from it late spring to early fall but in the winter the suns angle is too steep to work well & that's when I kick in the 2nd heater in the other pic which is stationary. Each heater has it's own thermostat controlled pump. Each heater has dump valves on them to drain the coils if freezing is expected.

 

[RobertGreen]

That's pretty neat. Could you give a few more details?
Is that pex or copper pipe inside? Is the glazing glass or polycarbonate or ?
What is the total collector area in square feet or meters? And what size is your tank?
Do you use a heat exchanger to transfer the collected heat to your tank, or does it simply recirculate the water in the tank?
I've seen a few that recirculated the water in an insulated but nonpressurized tank through the heat collector, then used a diy heat exchanger to heat the water which is meant to be consumed.

 

[Bossrox]

Yeah sure, they're using pex, the 1st smaller pivoting collector is 6 1/2x3 ft, the bigger stationary is 4x13ft. Using tempered glass on them. Is getting pumped into a standard 30 gallon tank heater. I have some video's up on them to find out more @

 

[circus]

Thanks for sharing on your channel. I did, sort of similar, heating schemes 13 years ago after being gouged buying propane. The main difference is I factored in, it can't use electricity and has to be hands off. Been quietly doing it's own thing ever since.
PS At first I thought "hot rocks" was some sort of thermal buffer for your solar air heaters. Music

 

[Solarwaterheater]

Yeah sure, they're using pex, the 1st smaller pivoting collector is 6 1/2x3 ft, the bigger stationary is 4x13ft. Using tempered glass on them. Is getting pumped into a standard 30 gallon tank heater. I have some video's up on them to find out more @

I'm struggling to get higher temps.

Why can't i get high temps?

Hello to any one who reads this! Lol. I built my first solar water heater! It's 1/2" pex under a piece of Polyethylene terephthalate glycol, or PETG plastic. Inside the pex I have RV fluid/antifreeze so it doesn't burst at night with freezing temps. I have an Aquastat attached to the pex loop...

diysolarforum.com

Any suggestions? Besides sizing, I know that is probably one of my main issues right now. But I don't know if I have much more space to dedicate to this project.

 

[SolarPrep]

Do you have insulation on the back side of your collectors? The standard is 1" polyisocyanurate.


Good luck!

 

[Solarwaterheater]

Do you have insulation on the back side of your collectors? The standard is 1" polyisocyanurate.


Good luck!

 

[Solarwaterheater]

I don't yet. I thought about adding some foam board insulation after i looked at the back side with my ir thermometer and saw the hot spots where the coil isn't. I have some of this left over from another project that I'm going to use on the back.

Owens Corning FOAMULAR 250 2 in. x 48 in. x 8 ft. R-10 Scored Squared Edge Foam Board Insulation Sheathing 52DD - The Home Depot

FOAMULAR Extruded Polystyrene (XPS) Rigid Foam Insulation offers a comprehensive product line of insulation boards in a wide choice of sizes, thicknesses and edges with a Lifetime Limited Warranty for

www.homedepot.com

 

[Bossrox]

I'm struggling to get higher temps.

Why can't i get high temps?

Hello to any one who reads this! Lol. I built my first solar water heater! It's 1/2" pex under a piece of Polyethylene terephthalate glycol, or PETG plastic. Inside the pex I have RV fluid/antifreeze so it doesn't burst at night with freezing temps. I have an Aquastat attached to the pex loop...

diysolarforum.com

Any suggestions? Besides sizing, I know that is probably one of my main issues right now. But I don't know if I have much more space to dedicate to this project.

It sounds like you're using a heat exchange method. I don't know but that would seem a less efficient method to transfer heat. Nnot having to worry about freezing is a plus but heated water going into a tank of water will be the best heat transfer & insulating the backside improves the box temp & heat retention.