Solar hot water storage tank for potable water

[David HK]

Has anyone on this forum made their own solar hot water storage tank for domestic potable water?

If yes, what materials did you use - copper, steel, stainless steel etc?

Was the tank pressurised or vented?

What was the working PSI for a pressurised tank?

Did the tank include a mains voltage immersion heater or another electric heater using RE voltages 12, 24, 48 VDC etc?

How many heat exchanger coils were built in for solar hot water transfer? The reason I mention this question is that some tanks are now made with two solar hot water coils from separate systems.

What was the capacity of the tank?

Any other useful information would be welcome.

David in HK

[artv]

Hi David,......I'm in the process of getting the kinks worked out right now.
All I have is a roof-top collector (~3.5gal) , a 12gal hot water tank and a 32gal tank, their hooked in series.
Everything is under house pressure, it just circulates through collector and tanks until it gets to a min. 100F, then it enters house.
One of the problems I have right now is ,when up to temp. the system is heating my cold water side. But I'm going to put in a check valve on the cold out ,I think this will solve the problem.
Here's a crude drawing
really pretty simple ......
I'm sure you're aware of Garys' site (build it solar) it has all kinds of ideas.........not sure if this was any help or not......good luck......artv

[David HK]

Artv,

Thanks for the posting.

I do in fact have a solar hot water heater that has been in use for about six years now. I think the Americans call it a 'batch' type water heater. For those who are not familiar with this reference the water is heated in the pipes that are located in the heat collector box and is not circulated to another storage tank.

 I am now thinking out ideas to provide a dedicated storage tank.

David in HK

[WindriderNM]

I made a temporary hot water heater for use this summer I have a 4ft x 8ft panel connected to an old 50 gal elect glass lined tank on a 4ft stand, the top of the panel going to the bottom of the tank and the bottom of the panel going connected to a fitting about 3/4 up the tank. This thermal siphons. The cold water comes from a water tower. This makes more hot water then we can use even in the morning before sun comes up.