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Last Updated: Sunday, October 02, 2011 |
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Active Solar Water Heating System – We get enough sunshine to provide us with the vast majority of our hot water. Our house utilizes a pair of flat plate collectors and a closed loop heat exchanger. A propylene glycol/water mix circulates in the loop to the collectors on the roof. It is heated by the sun to over 200 deg F. It returns, goes to the heat exchanger and heats the domestic water loop which comes from the bottom of the storage tank. Our 66 gallon storage tank can reach 160 deg F at the end of a sunny day. A mixing valve tempers the water before it reaches our fixtures. A differential controller senses the temperature at the flat plate and at the bottom of the tank. When the flat plate is 6 degrees warmer, the pumps turn on. When the temperatures are equal the pumps turn off. |
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Solar Water Heater data from a cold day at the first of January, 2002. |
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Water Heater Storage Tank |
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Solar heating boosts the tank water temp to over 150 deg F. |
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Sensor located outside the tank cools at night |
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Outdoor high temp didn’t reach 40 deg. |
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Overnight low of 13 deg F. |
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Tank is insulated with R-25 jacket, so it stays warm |
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Return loop reached 172 deg F. |
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Usage during the day kept introducing cold water into the tank. |
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Return loop from roof reached 179 deg F. |
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Water to tank reached 163 deg F. |
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Solar Water Heater data from late summer. |
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Who Installs These? In Dallas-Ft.Worth I recommend Phil Fisher of Solar System Installations |