Solar Hot Water System - Keep it (Thermo Siphon) simple !

[I_Need_Solar]

My sealed thermo siphon system (20-tube panel, 168 l tank) is now up & running!  Today, a day of slightly hazy sunshine all day, it achieved 50°C  upper cylinder temperature (a 9°C rise) and 47°C lower cylinder temperature (a 24°C rise).  And the only electricity used was in the battery-powered digital thermometers...

My thanks to the advice given by members of this forum, to A J Stone Services for supplying the main system components and much friendly help, BES for the pipe & fittings, and eBay for sundry other items (e.g. HT pipe insulation - see http://navitron.org.uk/forum/index.php?topic=749.0)!

Fitting a thermo-siphon system meant mounting the panel on the edge of a flat roof over a sloping veranda (over the central heating oil tank!), and fitting the new hot water cylinder 1m above the first floor to get a reasonable height difference.  This suited me as there’s no way I can install the panel on the main (2nd floor) roof…  It also means no control system or mains wiring is required.  If we went on holiday in the summer, I would just cover the panel to avoid overheating.

The system has cost a total of just about £1500, which includes some parts which I’ve yet to fit – mains pressure thermostatic shower & plumbing, hot water supply to washing machine, and a TMV.

3-D CAD model of design is (hopefully!) shown below - house wall is cut-away to show old HW tank position beneath new one (I DID cut a hole in the wall for the pipes, but it wasn't quite THAT big...!!); photo to follow soon...

[I_Need_Solar]

And here it is in the 'flesh'.....

[wyleu]

Do You get a lot of shadowing in a westerly sun?

[I_Need_Solar]

Currently (end of March), the shadow of the house begins to pass over the top of the tubes at about 3:30pm, and the panel is fully shaded about an hour & a half later.  It's not really a problem as there are tall trees to the west in a neighbouring garden (and all around, as I am situated in a forested area) that block the sun at around this time anyway.  I realise that a slight improvement in 'sunny hours' would be obtained by moving the panel further from the house, but it was positioned to make it easy to mount to existing beams under the veranda roof.  Mounting it on the main roof is not a DIY option for me....

This was not intended to be an 'ultimate' installation by any means, but one that was optimised for simplicity just to see the effectiveness of a basic solar water heating system.  One day, an extension over the flat roof area will probably carry a panel (or panelS) on the roof in the traditional way for maximum performance....

Matthew

[O MidKnight]

You can be proud of your work.

Like the drawing too.