BOY do I wish I had a sunny Southern exposure. [but no, not willing to give up the large shade trees ] This is not your typical expensive solar water heater. Many of these systems are built with recycled components for just a few hundred dollars. The payback is just a few years, and they are non-polluting. INTEGRAL: It is used in conjunction with your current water heater - heating the water BEFORE it goes into your current water heater. 70% or more of yearly hot water demand is met just from this unit. PASSIVE: No moving parts. Turn on a hot water tap and preheated water flows from the IPSWH to the existing water heater. http://www.motherearthnews.com/DIY/1984-01...ter-Heater.aspx [caution: 9MB PDF] http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Water...ISPWH/IPSWH.pdf http://www.epsea.org/wtr.html
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Sufferin' Prius Envy @ Aug 29 2007, 04:22 PM) [snapback]504021[/snapback]</div> Yeah, I have the same situation - we have a 90 ft high Sycamore + other trees that shade all of the southern facing parts of our roof. However, my brother-in-law has something like this in his house. They get most of the water heated by solar with a standard water heater for backup.
yep, that's about what our system is. works well too! i have switched a lot of our hot water consumption to the daytime and we rarely use the water heater. let me see if i can get a shot of what's on our roof...
This is great. Thanks for posting it. The commercial systems seem a bit pricey and overdone. <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(galaxee @ Aug 29 2007, 08:38 PM) [snapback]504137[/snapback]</div> Did you build it yourself? Can you share any plans / info?
ha, no, we're renters. we've got a standard panel of pipes up on the roof, but the concept is the same.
