solar panels

Bob Gagnon plumbing and heating

there are a lot of misconceptions about solar heating that just keep getting repeated. The weatherman said yesterday that we were 1/2 way to the summer solstice, the longest sun, and we still need plenty of heating here. It was zero degrees today and my tubes were making 150 degrees at 9 AM. solar space heating is a needed extension of solar domestic hot water. So we need more collectors and a bigger tank, big deal. Pay back will be a long time but you can continue send your money overseas, where some oil producing counties may use it against us, or you can go solar. Bob Gagnon

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Mark_7

solar panels

What manufacture of solar panels are being used? We're looking at the possibility of added them to are heating side.

Andruid_2

Thermomax

Thermomax makes evacuated tube collectors. I just installed a panel of sixty tubes. It was heating the storage tank during overcast weather conditions. Their web page is http://www.thermomax.com

Larry Weingarten

Here ya go!

http://www.solar-rating.org/ This is the home page for SRCC which rates collectors and systems. Plenty to read!

Yours, Larry

jp_2

Wow Andruid!!

care to give us some details on your system? location?, pictures?

Nick Ciasullo

Solar Panels

Mark,

I rep Viessmann and they offer two different solar panels - the traditional flat plate units that they make themselves, and the thermomax unit that they install into their own heat exchanger.

That being said, I would not suggest you install solar panels to heat your home, if I am reading your request correctly. You would need too many of them with a huge amount of water storage. You are trying to heat your house with energy from the sun on the shortest days of the year. You will likely never see your payback. If you are going to do it to do your part for the environment, then you have to figure out what you are going to do with all the heat during the long days of summer, or you will have to figure out how to cover them up.

Most people will use solar to heat their domestic water, as that usage stays constant most of the year. With the solar tax credit currently available, you may see a payback within 10 years or so. The typical family of 4 in my area (Philadelphia) will reduce fuel oil consumption by about 125 gallons / year.

Does this help?

Andruid_2

pics of system in Bellingham, WA

First of all, it is true that seeing a payback for the system won't come for a long time. For these folks it's the principal that matters. Sorry I don't have pics of the collectors themselves, but I attached two pictures of the mechanical setup. In the first pic, you see the PAW solar pump pack that pumps from the collectors through the bottom exchanger of a 120 gal dual exchanger tank. In the second picture you'll see the tank. Also if you look closely in the second picture you'll see the SMT400 solar control (top center) which also has excellent data logging abilities. A Buderus GB condensing boiler heats the top exchanger so they'll have DHW during the rainy season. When the solar panel heats the bottom half of the tank enough, the tank will also supply the radiant floors . . . through a plate exchanger and controlled by a Wirsbo Promix with outdoor reset.