Remote Living > Heating

Water heater economy

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Bruce S:
Gary at builditsolar is a long time poster here.
He'll answer just about any question you ask, if you send them thru his website
His website and long detailed posts are pretty awesome.

frackers:

--- Quote from: george65 on November 14, 2017, 05:51:31 PM ---I was looking over the numbers I downloaded off the PV watts website yesterday  with regards to panel angles which I thought I would go for summer.
Turns out the summer angle provides the most overall power for the year. I miscalculated that before  and thought I'd take a slight loss which was fine but the correct Summer angle give more power overall  than the " correct" latitude angle.

--- End quote ---
Never seen that site before - it seems to be coming up with pretty good numbers (70% of what I've measured over the last 3 years). The panel angle is a bit hit & miss though, I prefer http://www.solarpaneltilt.com/ which allows for all sorts of adjustments during the year.

MattM:
If gains are 30% for tracking configurations versus stationary ones, it sounds more worthwhile for off grid types than grid tie types.  Off grid types are dependent on the energy and 30% in gains makes it worthwhile, especially the part of the year where output is severely limited.  But grid tie users would simply want to be focused for best performance at the peak usage hours and not muck with the array.

If someone opts for vacuum tube solar water heating, does it need to be tracked to get maximum output most of the time?  PV technology isn't real practical to boost with mirrors, but vacuum tubes should love them.  It would seem one could simply maximize output by mounting them at optimal pitch, yaw, and roll angles for wintertime, and supplementation via mirrors.

OperaHouse:
There is theoretical and practical. Far more are constrained by the site.  My solar panels are not even on my property and by necessity lie almost flat although I am at mid 40's latitude. Unless you are the unibomber living out in the middle of nowhere, site presentation will be an overriding factor. Aside from being slightly larger and everyone being scared as hell of electronics, PV water heating beats evacuated tubes anywhere there is freezing potential at  prices today.

frackers:

--- Quote from: OperaHouse on November 19, 2017, 01:42:48 AM --- PV water heating beats evacuated tubes anywhere there is freezing potential at  prices today.

--- End quote ---
I'd agree with that - I put my tubes in 8 years ago, just before PV prices got affordable here.  If I was doing it again, I'd use all PV and avoid the overheating, the frost protection and the new tank that cost way too much.

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