We get LOTS of sunshine in Southern Arizona.

Without getting too elaborate, here's my idea;

Loop about 100' of plastic pipe in the rooftop.
Connect FROM cold inlet TO my water heater.

During the daytime, ( which is when we use hot water )
Water would be solar-preheated before going to the water heater.

No need for any "controls" except to disconnect it
in the wintertime. ( temps do dip to freezing at nite in mid-winter )

Opinions ???
What kind of pipe ?
Would I need to fasten it to the rooftop ??
rj

"RJ" wrote in message
...

We get LOTS of sunshine in Southern Arizona.

Without getting too elaborate, here's my idea;

Loop about 100' of plastic pipe in the rooftop.
Connect FROM cold inlet TO my water heater.

During the daytime, ( which is when we use hot water )
Water would be solar-preheated before going to the water heater.

No need for any "controls" except to disconnect it
in the wintertime. ( temps do dip to freezing at nite in mid-winter )

You could make a simple batch pre-heater out of an old water heater tank.

http://solarcooking.org/bkerr/SWHeaterRev-1d.pdf
http://www.motherearthnews.com/DIY/1...er-Heater.aspx
http://www.cjonline.com/stories/0414...erheater.shtml
http://www.infinitepower.org/pdf/FactSheet-10.pdf

Bob

"RJ" wrote in message
...

We get LOTS of sunshine in Southern Arizona.

Without getting too elaborate, here's my idea;

Loop about 100' of plastic pipe in the rooftop.
Connect FROM cold inlet TO my water heater.

During the daytime, ( which is when we use hot water )
Water would be solar-preheated before going to the water heater.

No need for any "controls" except to disconnect it
in the wintertime. ( temps do dip to freezing at nite in mid-winter )

Opinions ???
What kind of pipe ?
Would I need to fasten it to the rooftop ??
rj

It will work. When I was in college and living in a mobile home, I made a
solar water heater. It consisted of a 4 x 8 x 8" box insulated with 1" foam
that had aluminum on it. The top was covered with 2 layers of heavy clear
plastic with a 1" space between them. Inside I put in 500 feet of 1/2" Poly
pipe coiled. I hooked the input of the box to the cold water line at a tee
so that the water could go either to the tank or the heater. The output of
the box went to a tee at the TPR valve. The allowed the hot water to rise
into the mobile home and push the colder water back into the coils. Kind of
a self circulating pump. This worked very well for the summer, getting water
that was 175 degrees out of it even on cloudy days. It eventually failed
though because the pipe got a kink in it. Suffice it to say that the entire
500 foot roll of poly melted into a big blob in the box. The concept was
sound though. I later built one out of PVC pipe for our pool and hooked it
in line with the pump and it did work to heat the pool. Depending on the
climate where you live will dictate the method you use to make yours.

LJ

In article ,
"RJ" wrote:

We get LOTS of sunshine in Southern Arizona.

Without getting too elaborate, here's my idea;

Loop about 100' of plastic pipe in the rooftop.
Connect FROM cold inlet TO my water heater.

During the daytime, ( which is when we use hot water )
Water would be solar-preheated before going to the water heater.

No need for any "controls" except to disconnect it
in the wintertime. ( temps do dip to freezing at nite in mid-winter )

Opinions ???
What kind of pipe ?
Would I need to fasten it to the rooftop ??
rj

You might also pop over to alt.solar.thermal with this one. There's a
hell of a lot more energy in the sun's heat than there is in its light.
Makes some people think the photovoltaic aficionados are barking up the
wrong tree.

On Aug 18, 5:53 pm, "RJ" wrote:
We get LOTS of sunshine in Southern Arizona.

Without getting too elaborate, here's my idea;

Loop about 100' of plastic pipe in the rooftop.
Connect FROM cold inlet TO my water heater.

During the daytime, ( which is when we use hot water )
Water would be solar-preheated before going to the water heater.

No need for any "controls" except to disconnect it
in the wintertime. ( temps do dip to freezing at nite in mid-winter )

Opinions ???
What kind of pipe ?
Would I need to fasten it to the rooftop ??
rj

and in winter you use a geothermal ground loop. see your local
plumbing permit office on requirements on both.
the words anti-siphon and check valve come to mind. maybe ask some
school/college science lab to come and design it for you.

"Smitty Two" wrote in message
news
In article ,
"RJ" wrote:

We get LOTS of sunshine in Southern Arizona.

Without getting too elaborate, here's my idea;

Loop about 100' of plastic pipe in the rooftop.
Connect FROM cold inlet TO my water heater.

During the daytime, ( which is when we use hot water )
Water would be solar-preheated before going to the water heater.

No need for any "controls" except to disconnect it
in the wintertime. ( temps do dip to freezing at nite in mid-winter )

Opinions ???
What kind of pipe ?
Would I need to fasten it to the rooftop ??
rj

You might also pop over to alt.solar.thermal with this one. There's a
hell of a lot more energy in the sun's heat than there is in its light.
Makes some people think the photovoltaic aficionados are barking up the
wrong tree.
See that around here for pool heating, a lot. Just need to make sure the
pipe is rated for potable water, and you have an easy-to-access bypass link
in case it starts leaking.

aem sends...

Smitty Two wrote:

You might also pop over to alt.solar.thermal with this one. There's a
hell of a lot more energy in the sun's heat than there is in its light.
Makes some people think the photovoltaic aficionados are barking up the
wrong tree.

I think so. A $1 foot of 1/2" copper pipe pounded into a groove in a $1 ft^2
of brown-painted aluminum roofing coil stock with a 1.5 Btu/h-F-ft^2 airfilm
conductance at 140 F in full sun in an 80 F sunspace with a $1.50 ft^2 of GE
HP92W 10 mil R1 polycarbonate glazing with 90% solar transmission can collect
225-(140-80)1.5 = 135 Btu/h, at a cost of $3.50/(135/3.41) = 8.8 cents per
peak watt, and people can sit in the sunspace, and the water heater's "waste
heat" can heat the attached house.

Nick

On Sat, 18 Aug 2007 14:53:31 -0700, "RJ"
wrote Re SOLAR ( sort of ):

Loop about 100' of plastic pipe in the rooftop.
Connect FROM cold inlet TO my water heater.

That will work.

Use black poly pipe. Install bypass valves for when you don't want to
use it or need to work on it.
--
To email me directly, remove CLUTTER.

wrote in message
...
Smitty Two wrote:

You might also pop over to alt.solar.thermal with this one. There's a
hell of a lot more energy in the sun's heat than there is in its light.
Makes some people think the photovoltaic aficionados are barking up the
wrong tree.

I think so. A $1 foot of 1/2" copper pipe pounded into a groove in a $1 ft^2
of brown-painted aluminum roofing coil stock with a 1.5 Btu/h-F-ft^2 airfilm
conductance at 140 F in full sun in an 80 F sunspace with a $1.50 ft^2 of GE
HP92W 10 mil R1 polycarbonate glazing with 90% solar transmission can collect
225-(140-80)1.5 = 135 Btu/h, at a cost of $3.50/(135/3.41) = 8.8 cents per
peak watt, and people can sit in the sunspace, and the water heater's "waste
heat" can heat the attached house.

Care to give a little more detail of this construction? What is a "groove in
roofing coil stock" for instance?

Bob

Bob F wrote:
wrote in message

I think so. A $1 foot of 1/2" copper pipe pounded into a groove in a $1 ft^2
of brown-painted aluminum roofing coil stock with a 1.5 Btu/h-F-ft^2 airfilm
conductance at 140 F in full sun in an 80 F sunspace with a $1.50 ft^2 of GE
HP92W 10 mil R1 polycarbonate glazing with 90% solar transmission can collect
225-(140-80)1.5 = 135 Btu/h, at a cost of $3.50/(135/3.41) = 8.8 cents per
peak watt, and people can sit in the sunspace, and the water heater's "waste
heat" can heat the attached house.

Care to give a little more detail of this construction? What is a "groove in
roofing coil stock" for instance?

Perhaps he means to take the flat aluminum flashing and form a U shaped
channel down the middle that is the same width as the copper pipe. The
copper pipe then can be press fitted in this channel or pounded into
this groove.

Anthony

Hi Anthony;

Anthony Matonak wrote:

Bob F wrote:

Care to give a little more detail of this
construction? What is a "groove in roofing
coil stock" for instance?

Perhaps he means to take the flat aluminum flashing
and form a U shaped channel down the middle that is
the same width as the copper pipe. The copper pipe
then can be press fitted in this channel or pounded
into this groove.

With methods like this?
http://www.redrok.com/misc1.htm#wrappingjig
http://www.redrok.com/misc1.htm#beadingjig1

Anthony

Duane

--
Home of the $35 Solar Tracker Receiver
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