Solar water heaters

[pelaut]

I grew up in a cottage in Florida where we put a 2x4 frame encompassing 10 sqft of area on the roof, painted the 2x4's and the space inside with Brea (tar), ran black heater hose in tight "esses" to fill the frame, layed glass over the whole thing (sealing with Brea again), and voi-la! We had solar heated water for under $15 (in today's money) that lasted for years.

On the other hand I lived in Indonesia and France with instant propane (tankless) heaters and in the Caribbean for years with instant electric (tankless). All worked superbly well, cost under $150 (in today's money) and never caused problems.

On still another hand, you can put in a $1500 solar unit, buy a Chevy Volt and dream you're saving a polar bear.

 

[Seamonkey]

Our new place here in Sosua only has solar water heating and we have not had a hot morning shower in about 11 weeks because of the lack of sun. We had electric water heating in our condo and that was perfect and well worth the extra cost to start the day off right. I would never install solar heating without having an electric backup unless you enjoy cold showers.

 

[lisagauss]

Our new place here in Sosua only has solar water heating and we have not had a hot morning shower in about 11 weeks because of the lack of sun. We had electric water heating in our condo and that was perfect and well worth the extra cost to start the day off right. I would never install solar heating without having an electric backup unless you enjoy cold showers.

Uf! Thats a big draw back.

 

[pelaut]

Seamonkey: "We had electric water heating in our condo and that was perfect and well worth the extra cost..."

What extra cost? $1500 or more for solar (incl. installation) — how many years will it take for propane or el. costs to catch up to the initial outlay differential?

 

[web]

I have Evergreen ESE Solar panels - they are like 15,000 pesos each. Pm me if you want to know where you can get them. Basically one panel charges one battery per day so depending on the number of batteries you have, you can figure it out.

 

[windeguy]

I have Evergreen ESE Solar panels - they are like 15,000 pesos each. Pm me if you want to know where you can get them. Basically one panel charges one battery per day so depending on the number of batteries you have, you can figure it out.

How many KwH do you use in a month?

 

[lisagauss]

I have Evergreen ESE Solar panels - they are like 15,000 pesos each. Pm me if you want to know where you can get them. Basically one panel charges one battery per day so depending on the number of batteries you have, you can figure it out.

You are using your solar panels to charge your inverter batteries?

 

[Tom F.]

Evergreen modules are photovoltaics not thermal. Evergreen recently went out of business in Mass. and moved the production to China. Not sure if they are using the same name. From the price, it is probably a 100w panel or so. Be careful that it is designed for charging batteries and not to connect to net metering system. They are rated at different voltages and the panels under 200w are generally for battery charging. This should really be on a separate thread.

 

[web]

they have a capacity to charge at 2 kw hours per day per panel

 

[web]

yes they do

 

[Tom F.]

That would require more like 350-400 watt panels depending on if you are talking about energy produced or energy available for use. There are always loses in the distribution and with the inverter. At RD$15,000 you are getting it below wholesale cost.

 

[web]

That would require more like 350-400 watt panels depending on if you are talking about energy produced or energy available for use. There are always loses in the distribution and with the inverter. At RD$15,000 you are getting it below wholesale cost.

Not really sure these are 225 Watt panels

 

[Tom F.]

225w are probably producing around 1.1-1.3 kw hrs daily as your go through the seasons.

 

[web]

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