An Inexpensive Thermosiphoning Collector System

Image Gallery   PHOTO: FOTOLIA/MAGRAPHICS.EU

In our technologically advanced country, it's all too easy to get in the habit of assuming that complicated solutions to problems are more thorough and, therefore, somehow superior to simpler approaches. Take the usual attempts to capture energy from the sun, for example: A typical commercial solar domestic hot water system has a pump, several collectors, a maze of plumbing, numerous temperature probes, and a differential thermostat.

But, you may well wonder: Are all those components really necessary? Well, as we recently found out, it's entirely possible to build an effective solar water heater that doesn't require a single watt of electricity to get its liquid from one place to another.

Dynamics of a Solar Water Heater

Our water-heating setup circulates through the courtesy of an everyday physical phenomenon: Heated fluids rise because their lower density (in comparison to the same substances when they're cooler) reduces the influence of the force of gravity per unit of volume. Hence, circulation occurs when cold water in the system falls from the storage tank (which sits about two feet above the top of the collectors). At the same time, water inside the sun catchers is heated and tends to rise back toward the storage tank. The imbalance in densities (and therefore in gravitational attraction) forms a complete convective loop.

Because the "pump" of the thermosiphon setup is the heat of the sun itself, the intensity of that radiation regulates the volume of flow through the pipes. In fact, when the sun stops shining on the collectors, the system is effectively shut off.