Solar Water Heater Experiment

I tested a solar water heater with a bucket of water to create a thermosiphon. The water is heated by the sun and this heating creates a convection current. The water will flow from the tubing on the right side of the barrel, through the solar water heater, and then back to the barrel on the left side. No pumps or electricity was used to make this work. At the sun's peak during the day the water reaches temperatures of up to 130 degrees Fahrenheit. Isn't fluid mechanics awesome?

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[BooKittyRadley]

Great video!

I have a few questions about this design. Am I correct in saying that there are no tubes inside the barrel itself? And the tubing is connected to the barrel by something like garden hose valves? Also, how does this unit perform when ambient temps drop below 55F? One more...did you post more details somewhere else on the web? (I'm a broke ass, and am trying to build a solar water heater which uses a food grade plastic barrel and cpvc painted black.)

Thanks! :-)

[nuclearboy2003]

@BooKittyRadley You are correct in that there are no tubes inside the barrel. I used hose connectors through the side of the barrel with silicone glue. They are like garden hose valves/connectors that you can find in Lowes/Home Depot. I am using CPVC because garden hose and regular PVC melt at the high temperatures. I was getting 190 degree F temperatures in February with this configuration. Below 55 F, the unit is still producing hot water at 150 F or higher.

[nuclearboy2003]

@BooKittyRadley Also, I would recommend that you have a drainback system for during the day so that if you are using straight water it does not freeze or burst your piping. If you are trying to heat something else, I would recommend using a heat exchanger type of system, where there are separate tubes in your bucket. This is so you can use antifreeze in your solar flat plate collector. The antifreeze will heat up the tubes running through the barrel.I am writing a book now on how to build this.

[nuclearboy2003]

The flow rate is about 1 gallon per minute to 1.5 gallons per minute (GPM).

[321ozzy]

Thank you for sharing your experiment with us.

I have some questions I would like to ask.

Could you explain a little bit how you connected the tubes inside the panel ?

I mean, is there a big horizontally-positioned tube at the bottom and one at the top -- connected by vertically-positioned thinner tubes?

Thank you in advance for your answers and time.

[nuclearboy2003]

The tubes were connected by hose connectors bought from a store Home Depot and the hose was bought from another store called Lowes. The panel actually has two male connectors both on the top and bottom. I simply bought two female garden hose connectors and it fit perfectly. I used plumbers tape for a better seal.

Hope this information helps- I apologize for the delay, just saw your comment.

[oilspeculatorhater]

Hello Great work. Say what is the black box made of, are their tubes inside? Thank you.

[BooKittyRadley]

@nuclearboy2003

Thanks for the detailed reply. This experiment of yours has me very excited about solar water heating. Here in Texas, we have fairly mild winters, so a setup using the same principles (but much lower rent) might conceivably work until peak daily temps drop below 50. If that is the case, then between a wood heater and a solar water heating device, I will not have to suffer.

Thanks for sharing this with us. :-)

[nuclearboy2003]

Thanks!

[sgadekar]

Excellent !!!!!