On Thu, 20 Jan 2005 09:31:00 -0000, "Bob Mannix"
wrote:

A couple of years ago, I couldn't find DIY solar water heating kits (you
could build your own manky system Blue Peter style, giving the satisfaction
of true DIY but little else, I fancy, or pay someone a huge amount to
install one).

Having revisited the scene I find kits are now available eg:

http://www.solartwin.com/

Just taking this as an example, a DIY kit, with a simple plumbing
arrangement (for those of us with tanks!), with an additional pv panel to
drive the pump, is £1900.

I would surmise savings in the region £100-200/year (guess) giving a payback
time of 10+years.

Does anyone have experience of such kits, with regard to savings, and this
kit in particular, with regard to its quality?

Hi,

Vacuum tube collectors are available at fairly reasonable prices:

http://search.ebay.co.uk/solar-heater_W0QQsofocusZbsQQsbrftogZ1QQfromZR10QQcatref ZC6QQsoloctogZ9QQsotrtypeZ1QQsotrvalueZ1QQsadistan ceZ200QQsopostalZKT89AXQQsosortpropertyZ1QQcoactio nZcompareQQcopagenumZ1QQcoentrypageZsearch

There's plenty of info on the WWW about making a solar water heating
system, at a guess the rest of the parts to complete a system would
cost £50-100, given a water cylinder with an indirect coil is already
available.

cheers,
Pete.