solar hotwater panel help

Ericjeeper

Ok I am almost finished with the mammouth billboard-drive in theater contraption that will support my 6 solar panels..Not sure how to plumb em.. thinking of teeing in the middle and going each way and back to a tee and into the heat exchanger? I will be setting the panels with about six inches between them to let some wind blow between em to hopefully keep them from flying away, Thanks in advance
or would I be more effective using multiple pumps.. say three panels on each?

Larry Weingarten

Reverse return...

... is how I've always done it. Connect panels together to make one large collector, then run cold in one lower corner and hot out the opposite upper corner. Tilt the entire bank slightly for drainage.

Yours, Larry

hr

more than 4 panels

I would reverse return them, like this. 1" pipe should handle that flow. It may take a bit of pump to fill and purge them, like a swimming pool pump! Or add a valve at every panel.

hot rod

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Bob Gagnon plumbing and heating

i agree with Larry

reverse return, that is how I piped mine, it's easy to purge the air and uses less energy because the flow is easier. If you don't understand maybe someone could post a sketch? can you post any pictures? Thanks for going solar, Bob Gagnon

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Ericjeeper

they are still laying on the ground..

I am waiting on two pieces of glass..But the framework is ready for them..I can post pics once I get the panels up and secured.
I was thinking that I had to tie one into the next.. as the fittings are all on the top and pointing sideways looks like I am going to need a lot of 90s and tees..

Larry Weingarten

It would be nice...

...to see a photo of one of your panels. The usual configuration is sort of a wide capital "I", with four ports. What you describe is different, but in almost no case would you want water heated in one panel to go into another panel. That would be running them in series and would be far less efficient at collecting BTU's.

Yours, Larry

Bob Gagnon plumbing and heating

Oops!

Larry, I hooked up my evac. tube manifolds by hooking them together, then running reverse return. The heated water from one manifold goes through the second manifold. Should I re-pipe it like in Hot Rods diagram? Hot Rod, is that the new version of Siggy's software? Is it easier to save and post? Thanks, Bob Gagnon

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jp_2

larry?

I do agree with larry, but then I started thinking about it more.

if in series, they just act as a 'bigger' collector, seems you could run a higher flow rate and still get the same output.

seems though the prefered connection is parallel & smaller pump.

Weezbo

have you taken a look at BUILDIT SOLAR site?

they have an interesting solar boiler that rotates that is being experimented with...search Builditsolar site... for some more info...

Weezbo

there is a few pieces of info that might be pertinent to

what you are asking...

hr

the cooler the water entering

the higher the efficiency of the panels. Again you are leveraging the delta T. I don't think series would ever be a "prefered" piping. If the last panels on the array are seeing 150° input they won't be doing a lot of work for you.

Parallel works for most systems and panels are typically built to be easily connected in parallel.

As the array grows in size reverse return assures all the panels get balanced flow.

I'm not that familiar with evac tube piping. I would think the same logic would apply. The manufacture should be able to guide you as to the best piping for large panel arrays.

hot rod

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