I have something like this im building. It is a hybrid between a pop can collector and cpvc water radiant heating. It will have 300 pop cans in a sealed, insulated box with cpvc pipes sitting on the pop cans. I tested the sealed pop can furnace already and temps from 205 to 245F have been recorded. (The heat cant get out) So I figured that these temps should take water and heat it up pretty well. The water will then be pumped to an auxillary heater such as this to blow hot air in the basmnt
Does the water in the storage tank need to be treated with chemicals like a swimming pool or hot tub to control the growth of things such as bacteria, algae etc? I'm guessing that water would get kind of scummy after a while and that would gum up the pump and the tubing of your under-floor radiant heating.
@ken79491261 Hi, being constatly dark and often getting over 120F, the water in the tank is fine. I have not treated it in any way. It would be no probelm to syphon it out and replace it if needed, but so far, it has been fine.
@GScottVideos Thanks for the quick reply! What a wonderful system you have! I'm very encouraged by your experience and I'm definitely doing something like it on my vacation property this spring. Fuel oil in Quebec is expensive... I checked out the pumps you use and I think I would use 12 volt DC pumps instead of the 115 volt AC pumps you use. Something like: wwwDOTrenewcanadaDOTcom/dc_circulating_pumps.html What do you use to control your pumps?
dear scott, i would like to try with pumps a little cheeper , like 40 or 50 dollars. the two you have , i cant aford them right now. do you have any ideals. thanks
@hayworth111 Hi, I have two pumps - the Taco 009, which I needed because my pex run out to the collectors and then through the serpentine pex collector round trip is more than 700 feet through 1/2" pex. I should have used 3/4" pex for that long a run to the collector. The second pump is a much smaller, Taco 006, which I use to circulate the water from the thermal storage tank for under floor radiant heat. Prices are at Pex Supply (YouTube won't let me post the actual link).
Scott this is great stuff! How large is the room(s) you are heating from the tank? If you were to build this setup today, how much would you guess it would cost?
@preparedchipmunk Hi, the room we are heating is our family room, where we spend most of our time. It is about 20' X 15'. There is an open airway to the other areas of the house and some heat flows out, but it works out well and this room is warmer than the rest of the house. The thermal storage tank is inexpensive. I used pressure treated plywood, but there was really no need for that. I think the EPDM pond liner might have been the most expensive part, at maybe $70 - $80.
Great job. Thanks for the ideas. I never even thought of building my own storage tank... This will be awesome for our Off-Grid cabin. I was worried about cPVC and PEX for drinking water and the chemicals that would off-gas. Using this hot water in the hose to transfer heat to our DRINKABLE water in our existing propane hot water heater is Awesome.
thanks for showing your setup..one question..after a sunny day how long can you heat the the radiant flooring lines before the tank gets too cool? or should i ask, how long does your 150? gallons of hot water last starting at 140f?
@CheapEnergyIdeas Hi, I have about 200 gallons of thermal storage. During the winter months, I run the radiant constantly (as long as storage temp os over 80F). We also take showers, wash clothes, etc., so there is a lot of constant daily demand. Even so, during the winter months, the tank can still recharge to about 120F durng the day and is about down to 90F the next morning, so I have about 24 hours worth of storage with those 200 gallons.
@ScalerWave Yes, radiant floor heat is delightful! When your feet are warm, yo feel warmer. It is completely silent and very comfortable. Best of all it is free, courtesy of the sun!
do you think you can make thermal stoage tank out of Concrete. Make a box run your pex inside the box. then pour the concrete in. 6 x6 thermal mass, maybe put underground?
@thestonemaster81 Hi, I would consider space heating without a thermal stoage tank - just run the fluid from the collector through pex against the underside of your floor - but for domestic hot water, with sporadic demand, you'll need a thermal storage tank. Otherwise, the water will freeze in the collector on winter nights and boil when you aren't circulating it.
can you please go over how to make the tank... and what is needed.. and as far as under the house...you are using copper pipe right under the floor boards with a cover under the pipe.. is that right??? can you tell us more??
Copper pipe will conduct better than the red tubing your using in the tank, if you ever need more heat just use that, heat will be nearly instant and more eficient :)
@MrTpengineer Thanks for your thoughts on the copper pipe. You are right, copper conducts heat more efficiently, but it is much more expensive. Gary on BuildItSolar has done extensive testing and discovered that by using a longer coil of pex, we have a much larger reservoir in the thermal storage tank that is preheated to 100% of tank temperature. With the sporadic demands that we place on hot water for intermittent showers, etc., this approach may be even more efficient than copper!
Hi Icabad. I built my tank based on these plans and just modified it for the area I had to work with:
Unfortunately, youtube won't let me post a link. Check out my website that I mentioned in the video. I've got a link from there to the detailed plans I followed.
I also use solar heat for space heating as well as domestic hot water heating and I have plenty of collector area, so the 200 gallon tank is extra storage as well.
Scott- I think that everyone would benefit from a more thorough explanation of how you built the tank... we see wood and rubber and some insulation... but what would it take to make one of these- what equipment/materials?
Also, don't you waste a lot having the tank as an interim - why not just use a heat exchanger to go right from the incoming hot water to the water going into your hot water heater? If you don't get a lot of sun, doesn't the water get colder and colder until you precooling?
The heater i am using is from iandmelectric and is 12v running off of a solar panel.
lilphil26 3 weeks ago
I have something like this im building. It is a hybrid between a pop can collector and cpvc water radiant heating. It will have 300 pop cans in a sealed, insulated box with cpvc pipes sitting on the pop cans. I tested the sealed pop can furnace already and temps from 205 to 245F have been recorded. (The heat cant get out) So I figured that these temps should take water and heat it up pretty well. The water will then be pumped to an auxillary heater such as this to blow hot air in the basmnt
lilphil26 3 weeks ago
@lilphil26 Very interesting! They guys on SimplySolar would love to hear more about it!
GScottVideos 1 day ago
Does the water in the storage tank need to be treated with chemicals like a swimming pool or hot tub to control the growth of things such as bacteria, algae etc? I'm guessing that water would get kind of scummy after a while and that would gum up the pump and the tubing of your under-floor radiant heating.
ken79491261 3 weeks ago
@ken79491261 Hi, being constatly dark and often getting over 120F, the water in the tank is fine. I have not treated it in any way. It would be no probelm to syphon it out and replace it if needed, but so far, it has been fine.
GScottVideos 3 weeks ago
@GScottVideos Thanks for the quick reply! What a wonderful system you have! I'm very encouraged by your experience and I'm definitely doing something like it on my vacation property this spring. Fuel oil in Quebec is expensive... I checked out the pumps you use and I think I would use 12 volt DC pumps instead of the 115 volt AC pumps you use. Something like: wwwDOTrenewcanadaDOTcom/dc_circulating_pumps.html What do you use to control your pumps?
ken79491261 3 weeks ago
dear scott, i would like to try with pumps a little cheeper , like 40 or 50 dollars. the two you have , i cant aford them right now. do you have any ideals. thanks
hayworth111 1 month ago in playlist Uploaded videos
scott , how many pumps do you use and how much did they cost thanks
hayworth111 1 month ago in playlist Uploaded videos
@hayworth111 Hi, I have two pumps - the Taco 009, which I needed because my pex run out to the collectors and then through the serpentine pex collector round trip is more than 700 feet through 1/2" pex. I should have used 3/4" pex for that long a run to the collector. The second pump is a much smaller, Taco 006, which I use to circulate the water from the thermal storage tank for under floor radiant heat. Prices are at Pex Supply (YouTube won't let me post the actual link).
GScottVideos 1 month ago
@hayworth111 if i find pumps that are cheeper , say 40 or 50 dollars ,will this be ok to use?
hayworth111 4 weeks ago
Scott this is great stuff! How large is the room(s) you are heating from the tank? If you were to build this setup today, how much would you guess it would cost?
preparedchipmunk 1 month ago
@preparedchipmunk Hi, the room we are heating is our family room, where we spend most of our time. It is about 20' X 15'. There is an open airway to the other areas of the house and some heat flows out, but it works out well and this room is warmer than the rest of the house. The thermal storage tank is inexpensive. I used pressure treated plywood, but there was really no need for that. I think the EPDM pond liner might have been the most expensive part, at maybe $70 - $80.
GScottVideos 1 month ago
Great job. Thanks for the ideas. I never even thought of building my own storage tank... This will be awesome for our Off-Grid cabin. I was worried about cPVC and PEX for drinking water and the chemicals that would off-gas. Using this hot water in the hose to transfer heat to our DRINKABLE water in our existing propane hot water heater is Awesome.
mickiesplace 2 months ago
@mickiesplace Thanks for your kind words! Please join us on SimplySolar if you haven't already and keep us updated on your project!
GScottVideos 2 months ago
Hi Scott,
Great job guys! I know your tank is covered, but how much humidity does this add to the home?
gbwillson 2 months ago
thanks for showing your setup..one question..after a sunny day how long can you heat the the radiant flooring lines before the tank gets too cool? or should i ask, how long does your 150? gallons of hot water last starting at 140f?
CheapEnergyIdeas 3 months ago
@CheapEnergyIdeas Hi, I have about 200 gallons of thermal storage. During the winter months, I run the radiant constantly (as long as storage temp os over 80F). We also take showers, wash clothes, etc., so there is a lot of constant daily demand. Even so, during the winter months, the tank can still recharge to about 120F durng the day and is about down to 90F the next morning, so I have about 24 hours worth of storage with those 200 gallons.
GScottVideos 3 months ago
Another interesting design. I imagine the radiant floor heat is much nicer than forced air.
ScalerWave 4 months ago
@ScalerWave Yes, radiant floor heat is delightful! When your feet are warm, yo feel warmer. It is completely silent and very comfortable. Best of all it is free, courtesy of the sun!
GScottVideos 3 months ago
do you think you can make thermal stoage tank out of Concrete. Make a box run your pex inside the box. then pour the concrete in. 6 x6 thermal mass, maybe put underground?
thestonemaster81 4 months ago
@thestonemaster81 Hi, That's a quesion for the folks on Simply Solar. I have zero masonry experience. It sure seems reasonable though!
GScottVideos 4 months ago
Why do you need the take.Cant you skip the tamk, Take your city water go out to the solar heater and return it to you hot water heater
thestonemaster81 4 months ago
@thestonemaster81 Hi, I would consider space heating without a thermal stoage tank - just run the fluid from the collector through pex against the underside of your floor - but for domestic hot water, with sporadic demand, you'll need a thermal storage tank. Otherwise, the water will freeze in the collector on winter nights and boil when you aren't circulating it.
GScottVideos 4 months ago
can you please go over how to make the tank... and what is needed.. and as far as under the house...you are using copper pipe right under the floor boards with a cover under the pipe.. is that right??? can you tell us more??
kfrazine 4 months ago
Copper pipe will conduct better than the red tubing your using in the tank, if you ever need more heat just use that, heat will be nearly instant and more eficient :)
MrTpengineer 10 months ago
@MrTpengineer Thanks for your thoughts on the copper pipe. You are right, copper conducts heat more efficiently, but it is much more expensive. Gary on BuildItSolar has done extensive testing and discovered that by using a longer coil of pex, we have a much larger reservoir in the thermal storage tank that is preheated to 100% of tank temperature. With the sporadic demands that we place on hot water for intermittent showers, etc., this approach may be even more efficient than copper!
GScottVideos 7 months ago
@GScottVideos Ok, yea it is expensive :(
MrTpengineer 7 months ago
Hi Icabad. I built my tank based on these plans and just modified it for the area I had to work with:
Unfortunately, youtube won't let me post a link. Check out my website that I mentioned in the video. I've got a link from there to the detailed plans I followed.
I also use solar heat for space heating as well as domestic hot water heating and I have plenty of collector area, so the 200 gallon tank is extra storage as well.
GScottVideos 1 year ago
Scott- I think that everyone would benefit from a more thorough explanation of how you built the tank... we see wood and rubber and some insulation... but what would it take to make one of these- what equipment/materials?
Also, don't you waste a lot having the tank as an interim - why not just use a heat exchanger to go right from the incoming hot water to the water going into your hot water heater? If you don't get a lot of sun, doesn't the water get colder and colder until you precooling?
Icabad 1 year ago
have you thought about using a 250 gallon tote for storing the liquid?
Icabad 1 year ago