Home & Garden

Solar water heaters are very simple devices, which is why their construction is not beyond the average DIY enthusiast. This article briefly describes the various components of a solar water heater.

Solar Collector
This is the part of the system that captures and exploits the heat of the sun. Their construction can vary, but the basic principle is the same. It is a set of pipes containing a liquid (Heating Medium) that is exposed to direct sunlight. When sunlight falls on the pipes, they heat up, heating the liquid inside. This liquid is then pumped to the heat-exchanger coils of a hot water tank.

Commercial units often use copper pipes mounted in evacuated glass tubes which is supposed to increase efficiency. The tubes are then mounted side-by-side on a panel fitted to a roof. The panel often has reflectors that bounce the sunlight/heat that falls between the tubes back up to the tubes.

Evacuated [Read more...]

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For some time, I have taken an interest in solar water heaters. These are simply arrays of pipes containing a liquid that are mounted outside and are heated by the sun. The liquid inside is then passed through a heat-exchanger to heat a tank of hot water. It’s a little like a central-heating radiator used in reverse.

Commercial solar water heaters are very expensive. One designed to supply enough hot water for an average family costs in the region of £7,500, installed, at time of writing.

Anyone with basic DIY skills could build one for considerably less than that. I estimate that I could build one, including a solar array, new hot water cylinder, controller, pump and pipework for under £500.
Fitting it to the roof of most houses might be beyond the capabilities of many DIYers, but I’m fortunate enough to have a flat-roofed porch that gets [Read more...]

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