Hi Guys
If you have off-grid and time & space on your hands - then you don't have to be very efficient, especially if you live on your own
Where I live there's lots of sunshine & I have a water supply from an elevated spring that gives me a 2-bar head - or maybe a bit more
So I have a "solar shower" with the solar part outside in the sun and the shower part inside in a conventional shower cubicle with hot & cold taps etc etc
The "solar panel" is a rectangle of 8mm black plastic sheeting measuring 1400mm X 1600mm, more or less - on a timber support frame, aligned to the sunshine, on which is wound 100 metres of 20mm black "alkathene" poly pipe - ordinary farm stuff - in a big, flat, sun-facing spiral. It's held flat on the black plastic sheet by about a million cable ties
Cold water at 2 bar goes in and - when there's direct sunshine - really hot water come out and goes to the shower cubicle. The water's hot-enough that you have to feed in quite a bit of cold. There's enough hot water for a good shower and then enough left over to think "well I might as well stand here until the hot runs out as both the water and the energy are free
Of course there are two downsides: There's no storage of hot water - it's just direct on line. And it only works when the sun shines. But, since I have a wetback on the stove for winter or overcast, and since I'm on holiday whenever I'm there - who cares. When the sun shines you can have a shower
It has worked well for years. And. since there are no moving parts, it will still be working well when I'm dead
Next, then, is a similar panel, probably mounted flat, and a nearby small insulated tank into which I would like to think water will thermosiphon, getting hotter and hotter with each cycle, whenever the sun shines. I guess it's probably only 10% efficient in turning solar energy into hot water - but if it's simple and it works, then who cares?
My question is - does anyone have experience with a low-tech, thermosiphoning, pump-free, water heater? If they do - I'd like to hear about it. No sense re-inventing the wheel
Cheers, Mike
If you have off-grid and time & space on your hands - then you don't have to be very efficient, especially if you live on your own
Where I live there's lots of sunshine & I have a water supply from an elevated spring that gives me a 2-bar head - or maybe a bit more
So I have a "solar shower" with the solar part outside in the sun and the shower part inside in a conventional shower cubicle with hot & cold taps etc etc
The "solar panel" is a rectangle of 8mm black plastic sheeting measuring 1400mm X 1600mm, more or less - on a timber support frame, aligned to the sunshine, on which is wound 100 metres of 20mm black "alkathene" poly pipe - ordinary farm stuff - in a big, flat, sun-facing spiral. It's held flat on the black plastic sheet by about a million cable ties
Cold water at 2 bar goes in and - when there's direct sunshine - really hot water come out and goes to the shower cubicle. The water's hot-enough that you have to feed in quite a bit of cold. There's enough hot water for a good shower and then enough left over to think "well I might as well stand here until the hot runs out as both the water and the energy are free
Of course there are two downsides: There's no storage of hot water - it's just direct on line. And it only works when the sun shines. But, since I have a wetback on the stove for winter or overcast, and since I'm on holiday whenever I'm there - who cares. When the sun shines you can have a shower
It has worked well for years. And. since there are no moving parts, it will still be working well when I'm dead
Next, then, is a similar panel, probably mounted flat, and a nearby small insulated tank into which I would like to think water will thermosiphon, getting hotter and hotter with each cycle, whenever the sun shines. I guess it's probably only 10% efficient in turning solar energy into hot water - but if it's simple and it works, then who cares?
My question is - does anyone have experience with a low-tech, thermosiphoning, pump-free, water heater? If they do - I'd like to hear about it. No sense re-inventing the wheel
Cheers, Mike