Closing the Circuit: Installing The Solar Water Heater
This second installment in a series explains how to install our homemade solar water heater.
January/February 1986
By Mother Earth News Editors
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[1] These solar collectors heat freeze protected water, which is cycled within a continuous circuit. [2](MIDDLE) The insulated heat exchanger tank transfers warmth from the closed loop to the hot water tank supply. [3] The differential controller.
STAFF PHOTOS
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We featured plans for building a homemade solar water heater in MOTHER NO. 93; now we'll show you how to put it—or a similar commercially made model—to work.
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Regardless of the season, the demand for hot water in many households invariably seems to outstrip the supply. And even though basic conservation measures do a lot to combat the problem, the energy consumed in heating water for baths, laundry, and dishes can be surprisingly expensive.
It's no wonder, then, that a number of homeowners have sought help from the sun to preheat the supply that enters their domestic water heaters. This method of temperature boosting is uncomplicated, relatively inexpensive, and easily adaptable to existing plumbing. So, since we explained how you can build a bargain-priced, commercialquality waterheating collector panel in last year's May/June issue (No. 93, page 146), we'll now describe how to put it, or its store-bought cousin, to use with a minimum of fuss.
INSTALLATION BASICS
Essentially, all you'll be doing is circulating solar-heated water through a continuous loop of plumbing that runs from the roof mounted panels down to a heat exchanger, through a pump, and back to the panels again. The heat exchanger is simply a tank-within-a-tank that transfers the approximately 140°F warmth of the loop water to the considerably cooler supply reservoir surrounding it.
Fittings tapped into that reservoir allow it to be placed in line between the well or city water source that feeds your house and the cold water inlet pipe to your electric or gas hot water heater.
Unfortunately, installation isn't quite that easy, since the pump must be regulated to keep it from operating when sunlight is not available. Therefore, the system must include a differential controller that utilizes sensors at the collectors and in the storage reservoir to govern the pump's operation. More sophisticated controllers incorporate features that deactivate the pump at preset upper and lower temperature limits and provide for freeze protection by intermittently circulating the closed-loop water or opening a drain-down valve. (A minimal-investment system could use a nontoxic antifreeze as a transfer fluid to achieve the same goal.)
Of course, for any installation to work, your site must be suitable for a solar application. Whether you plan on having a roof—or a wallmounted system, make sure that no obstructions—especially buildings or trees—will be in front of the collector panels. Remember that you'll be using hot water the whole year round, so in addition to sighting the morning—to—evening swing of the sun (the azimuth), check the solar altitude at the winter and summer solstices. (For more detailed guidelines, see the mini-manual in issue 96. In addition, an excellent reference source for this information is The Passive Solar Energy Book, by Edward Mazria . . . published by Rodale Press, 33 E. Minor St., Emmaus, PA 18049, and available at bookstores for $14.95.) And, while you're at it, make a quick check of your proposed plumbing path, looking specifically for obstacles such as ductwork, headers, wiring, or waterlines that could thwart your efforts to get the copper tubing from point A to point B.
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