Jarrod Cram
18th November 2010, 08:42
Ok I started with 7 used early 1990 panels I guess they were made in Mass or Nh here in new england . what I did was strip the panels down to nothing removing glass and insulation and the collectors . Acid washed the glass and re soldered the ends they cut with a saw so they needed repair . A couple panels had some frost damage I was able to repair the riser just by resoldering the tear after I pushed the copper back togather .I used alumiun foil faced foam board 2 inch thick instead of fiber insulation . I built a rack out of PT wood that attached to the roof of my house , I raised the rack 1 inch from the roof surface with metal brackets to allow water and snow to flow buy .The rack is at 50 deg tilt for sun angle and is piched about 10 inches total over about a 20 foot span for drain back to tank. This was the hardest part of the desighn really had to think out every part of routing the pipe and with over 135 feet of 3/4 copper this was fun everthing was fully soldered togather with no plastic or compression unions used . A little more work but provides better flow and insurance . The tank was built from wood and epdm liner with a capacity of 370 gallons and has 65 feet of 3/4 copper and 40 feet of 1/2 inch copper for domestic hot water heat exchange . The sytem so far has provided as much as 70 percent of are hot water so far the tank can hold enough heat after a sunny day for hot water for 24 hours . I am using a taco 009 circulator pump with a flow rate of .03 per square foot of panel I have 144 sq feet . After 2 good days of sun the tank temp was at 151 deg in november in maine . Alot of work but way worth it .I have about 800.00 us dollars in to this system . So pay back I hope should be in about a year or so , If I can start using the sytem for space heating also that would improve the pay back .