Found Old But NEW air/water collectors and tank and exhanger need some help.

[hyp7]

I have a lady that wants to sell some solar collectors that she bought brand new in 1985 but never installed. The problem is I have never herd of a system that is air and water combined system. The collectors seem to be just air but they are still in the box and in a garage and couldnt move them much. Then In her basement she has a new holding tank and heat exchanger thing. Not sure what to offer her beings I cant find no info on the system. On the tank it has a SolarStream sticker, has a controll box with Webb electronics on it and the collectors are Sunlight Industries Inc. Any help would be great!!! And maybe what a system is worth. Thanks Gene

[madlabs]

Can you takes some pics? Hard to say what ya have there.

Do you have any idea what she paid for the system?

Jonathan

[hyp7]

The collectors are 4x10 and they have like a stretched clear membrane and at first look apear to be a air heater. But they came with the tank system. The tank is what she called a preheating tank 80gal.  She told my wife she paid around 7 grand for the set up back in 85 but that seemd pretty hard to belive to me.  Here is a pic of the sticker on the tank and the collector that came with the system. th

[birdhouse]

i'm no solar air/water guru, but...

i'll bet she did pay 7k back in the day.  those systems were far from common place. 

are you wanting to fully utilize the system or just dabble?  if you looking to put the energy into really getting it going, the most i would pay is $1,000 for it all, but i'm a cheap skate! 

what are the negotiations looking like? 

adam

[Frank S]

and also there is the projected shelf life. even though something has never been removed from its original packing, kept is a cool place not exposed to UV or harsh temperature changes  you are still talking about a nearly 30 year old product.  the components may still be in good shape but quite possibly will need to be re sealed

[hiker]

i entered  --1985  solarstream--on google search...had a couple of sites on the first page--heres one.

  http://www.enviro-friendly.com/siddons-solarstream-history.shtml

[hyp7]

I found that system on google also but this system looks nothing like those and there is no mention of siddon, or heat pump. Thanks though.

[Mary B]

Found this on SolarStream heat exchanger tanks http://www.xstream.co.za/solarstream.html

[hyp7]

Went and looked at the parts again and found out some more info. It is a air collector system. It has what looks like a small furnace with a air intake and an air outlet, also a water inlet and outlet to preheat tank. The furnace has a radiator with a squirrll cage and a water circulation pump. There is a controller box that runs everything by using 3 temp sensors. I have the instruction book and im having a hard time understanding how it works    . It kinda makes sense but then it dont.