Solar Water Heater build 1

http://texasnaturalbuilders.info - First attempt at building a solar water heater out of 3/4" copper type M, 5' in length with 3/4" tee's and 5" fillers. This manifold is 8 sticks wideand fits in a wooden tray thats 4'x64"

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• solar
• water
• heater
• free
• energy
• hot
• copper
• manifold

[TheDigitalDrummer]

Sounds like Kermit the frog!!!

[TheDudeRulez09]

@TheDigitalDrummer sounds like David the stoned builder..... ;)

[mccunecp]

I have a question what if you got a few radiors like big ones with all the fins and paint them all a flat back and put glass over it and ise that has a watter heatter.

[TheDudeRulez09]

@mccunecp if you were not going to drink the water from the radiators then sure it would work, but you must remember, radiators have things in them that can kill you if you drink it, even if you think washing them out gets rid of the bad stuff you are wrong, it can still kill you.

[mccunecp]

@TheDudeRulez09 you could use a heat exchange if you want to heat drinking watter but if I was going to use radiors for drinking watter I get new ones that dont have you know antifrize and stuff used in them and I thing not sure but you can guy ones that are for drinking water but I like your build I have been thinking of building one my self for heat in my shed in the winter instead of using space heaters and use those only when needed....

[TheDudeRulez09]

@mccunecp I used to work in a factory that made radiators of all types and I warn you to please not use them new or used, they are ran through several chemical bonding processes that are toxic and will kill you! I agree though that using them as a heat transfer unit might work if they were sealed with something between the radiator and the water.

[19GN03]

You can also solder copper strips on each side of the tubes to increase heat to the tubes.

[rjkopp]

Someone else commented on the idea of snaking it back and forth rather than using the T connectors, I think he is right in his thinking. the one I refered to in my previous post, also snaked the pipe rather than creating a manifold. I also wondered about flexible copper, could that make it a little easier for you, less connectors?

[rjkopp]

A few things. I saw one of these home made years ago when I lived in Virginia. They had two of these, I think about 3 ft square and it was 30 degrees out and it heated a 14X70 trailer extremely comfortably, plus created the hot water.

They put their copper tubes in trays made out of reflective rain gutter, painted the tubes black and then closed it over with a sealed tempered glass.

[Rick007191]

Excellent job......

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[TireHome]

@TheDudeRulez09

yes its completely sealed and goes into a tank for later use! I working on some new ideas on my home do cut my bill in half all water that goes into my hot water heater will be go through this but i will have to drain it in winter months.

[dendog21]

Also if you were to enclose your unit in an air tight container with a glass front and put it under a vacuum you would have less heat loss.

[dendog21]

Water will always take the path of least resistance. By having all those T connections, the water will flow the shortest distance from inlet to outlet. meaning quite a bit of water will just sit in the pipe. If you snaked the pipe back and forth you will get hotter water and probably faster

[pvampire]

The only problem I can see with using copper, is that every crack head in a 20 mile radius will be trying to steal the copper for thier next fix..haha actually, I'm not joking they have torn apart homes that were almost completed for the wire and pipes..