Anyone here use a homemade passive water heater?

[OnionPatch]

I've been looking at different plans online for solar water heaters. After watching Live Earth, we really want to finally start doing something at home to unleash us from fossil fuels but we can't afford the solar heating systems that cost $1000 or more. (And we don't plan on living here for more than three-five years.) A home made passive solar heater would be perfect for us. My husband can make anything if he has a plan. We are in southern CA, where I burn my hand on hose water if the hose is left laying in the sun! We have a great place, facing south, to put the heater. I just wanted to get some advice.

For example, if we use an old heater, like these articles say, do we need to remove the outer shell? This article seems to indicate that. http://www.epsea.org/wtr.html but others don't mention that at all. Or maybe I'm just confused.

Anyway, I would love some advice or comments from anyone who has a passive system or has installed one.

Thanks!

[seemunkee]

1. Have you checked out this site?

http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/WaterHeating/water_heating.htm

[OnionPatch]

6. I hadn't seen that site. Thanks!

Lots of good info there. :D

[librechik]

2. we bought a house with a system and used it for a few years

The pump kept burning out, though. We had to replace it several times over the years. (Good pumps cost about 600-700 bucks!)
My mother's well used the same pump for 35 years before they had to put a new one in. We've talked to plumbers and an engineer, but no one had a good solution for the pump problem because no one could figure out why it happened. It was a homemade system, that's one reason the engineer said he couldn't penetrate its mysteries. There was a 250 gallon tank which would overflow into the pump bucket, and get pumped out as waste (greywater into the yard) when the water reached a certain level.

Eventually we shut the system off and have switched to an electric on-demand water heater (no tank) We love it and have saved money on our energy bill. We removed the 250 gallon tank out of the cellar(what a job--we had to saw it in pieces)So the collectors on the roof are still there, waiting for a better plumbing system to feed.


That being said, everything I've read about solar water systems seems simple and if the design was good and well-executed I'm sure it could be an excellent addition to the house (our solar was made in 1974--technology has improved!) I wish ours worked.

[phildo]

3. www.fieldlines.com

is a pretty good Renewable Energy design/build site.

The folks there have generally done anything / everything at least once, and if it worked well for one, everyone copies.

They can give you some good design or repair tips for your existing equipment.

The site can be a little harsh, but these are guys who either live in deep woods, or spend their day playing with weird equipment instead of people. So do not take offense if some seem jerky, and just tell them what you need help with.

[librechik]

4. thanks, Phildo. I worked with surgeons. I'm used to jerks who know it all!

Bless em!

[OnionPatch]

5. I checked out all those on-demand heaters

and I was very excited about them because I had used them before. They are great. However, they are way out of our price range. At least for our current home. We might consider them when we buy our next home (which we hope to retire in and live out the rest of our days in.)

We shouldn't need a pump for our system. We don't have a well, we're on city water.

Glad to know you love your on-demand system.

[librechik]

7. it was expensive--but our tank system had broken down

and we were tired of replacing the tanks every few years (don't ask) so we refinanced and made the investment.