Harpiris Energy's Suncache: Solar Water Heater made of Plastic - buildaroo.com

Eric from Harpiris Energy tells us about their Suncache product which is a passive solar water heating system made out of plastic. With $2M in grant funding from the Department of Energy, Harpiris Energy brought their Suncache product to the market. The units have been shipping for about a year.

Harpiris Energy just finished installation in two apartment complexes in Sacramento, and they are looking forward to another project in Hanford. This is a passive system where there is no electricity being generating. The cold city water enters the collector when someone turns on the faucet and moves through the copper piping. Subsequently, it extracts heat from the 50 gallons that are held in the unit. Finally, the water enters whatever kind of heating system one uses in their home whether it is a tankless or a conventional water heater.

The Suncache is cheaper and lighter than conventional solar thermal units because the Suncache is made out of plastic. The unit is sent in one big box with all the elements needed to install it. There was a bill passed in California not too long ago to incentivize solar water heaters; the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) just released a draft proposal that is $275M dollars over the next 8 years, includes $35M for marketing. There may potentially be rebates for those installing solar water heaters.

Cost savings: Versus a natural gas system, one can expect to save $150 dollars a year. Compared electric water heaters, one may save $1000 dollars a year. The Suncache costs $2,000 dollars, and with installation, it is about $3,500.

At Harpiris they expect that the solar water heating market is expected to grow tremendously in the next few years due to new incentives in states like California. They are currently looking to recruit new dealers to help them handle the increased demand.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Harpiris
• Energy
• solar
• thermal
• suncache
• water
• heater
• passive

[centervilletn]

what a rip off...a person can build a good solar home water heater for a few hundred dollars that works just as good...why would you pay 3500 dollars for 200 dollars worth of technology?...read some books people..look at plans....this has been done for 100 yrs.

[buildaroo]

@centervilletn so I guess this is for the type of person that would find it difficult to build their own water heater from scratch. I guess that is about 99.9999% of the population.

[gerfriedc]

I guess the horizontal tubes are not part of the mentioned natural circulation system. I wonder if the system is not to lazy when starting because of the high water volume.

[latitude500]

great system, keep up the good work.

[kokopelli314]

The biggest difference is that its made mostly from taxpayers money!