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Small Cabin Forum / Off-Grid Living / Anyone using a home-made soloar water heater
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redlandfd
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# Posted: 21 Sep 2012 16:53 - Edited by: redlandfd
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There are a variety of designs on the internet, but experience is the best. Does anyone have a DIY design for a solar water heater that works for short showers, dishwashing, shaving, etc. Anything you know would be helpful

MtnDon
Member
# Posted: 21 Sep 2012 19:03 - Edited by: MtnDon
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Well, yes we do but it's a hybrid system. We use a gas water heater tank made by AO Smith. It has a coil loop inside the tank that connects through the side of the tank. Regular cold and hot connections are on the tank top as usual. The coiled loop is a heat exchanger. We use it A a closed loop system. Drainback allows us to run it without glycol. Our winters are pretty mild although it does freeze most nights Dec thru Feb; but daytime temps are warmer.

We use a roof mounted swimming pool heater that look like a rubber mat. It has rubber tubes running the length at about 6 inch spacing. It is oriented in a manner that allows the water to run back down inside the house when the sun goes bye-bye. The water is circulated by a small DC pump. The pump is powered by its own solar panel. When the sun shines the water is circulated through the solar mat and down to the water tank heat exchanger.

Most of the year we have enough hot water without using any gas at all. If solar is low or the demand is high the burner automatically kicks in.

Rheem and others sell tanks like that as well. Sizes up to 100 gallons. The DIY part comes from cobbling together the old pool heater and pump.

sparky1
Member
# Posted: 22 Sep 2012 12:11
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years ago 1984,when i just had "land" i found a old "Gas" water heater it had a pin hole---i patched that.stripped all the outside stuff off it.another 12 volt water pump water into tank (power from Van house battery),..it held water.put it up on blocks-fire under it--heated it, garden hose out the drain--to the bottom Drain of my Camper trailerGravity Flow..RV pump that was allready in the camper--to the shower-did this almost 2 years.till i got electricity.
1984 boondocking
1984 boondocking


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