Another solar quest..

kevin coppinger_4

from a another contractor re: hot water for a bank of 8 showers at a water park... They were going to either do a Laars pennat boiler or a series of out door tankless water heaters. My though is why not do solar? They will only be used on "sunny" days and only 3 months of the year. They would not even need to be gycoled. Where do I start? I want to keep it as simple as possible. Ty,kpc

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Bob Gagnon plumbing and heating

Way to go

Kevin, it sounds like a great application! On cloudy, rainy days no one will be at the park, they will only be there during the summer when the sun is at it's longest and hottest. If the water is not steaming hot all the time, that might be O.K. too. Solar might not work great everywhere, but some places, like the one you describe, it could kick ****! If I can help in any way, feel free to give me a call anytime, and thanks for going solar.
Bob Gagnon 978-853-4873

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cruizer

I wouldn't say

that people only go to water parks when it's sunny.
If's it's overcast and hot, people do still go.

I'd say this is a great application for evac tubes! Whether it's sunny or not, you're still going to get the hot water needed.

Andrew Hagen_2

Backup

Sounds like a system that might have an instantaneous water heater as a backup. It's going to take a LOT of collectors and a LOT of storage. Stab in the dark: It *might* take 100, 20sf evac tube collectors to provide 75% solar fraction of a 2400 gallon per day load in the northeast US. Yes, that's approx 4000 gallons of storage. Payback would be a lot better if it was used more of the year. However, I may have over or underestimated the domestic load.

F-Chart may be helpful in determining whether solar is a viable option in this case.

Bob Gagnon plumbing and heating

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kevin coppinger_4

Thanks for the replies....

they were talked to about Rinnias but don't want to do the water conditioning...I thought solar would be a better alternative to the Laars/Pennant boilers proposed....It would be a great pr move. kpc

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Bob Gagnon plumbing and heating

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Bob Gagnon plumbing and heating

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Bob Gagnon plumbing and heating

Water Park solar

How about using a parking lot as a solar collector to pre-heat the water. Like Mad Dog's driveway collector. You would get a lot of heat in June, July, and Aug. You wouldn't get much in the winter, but that would be perfect for this application. The sunnier and hotter it is outside, more people would attend the park, and hot water usage would go way up. Rebates along with PR could make this a go. Thanks, Bob Gagnon



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ALH_4

Pex in asphalt

Just a thought, but could pex containing potable water in an asphalt driveway or parking area be a legionella concern? Possibly a heat exchanger between the two would avoid any possibility of this happening.

steveb_4

heat recovery

Solar sounds great! Could this also be a good place to use a heat recovery drain pipe? I'm thinking of the GFX drain pipe shown at http://www.gfxstar.ca/englishindex.html Why send all that expensively generated heat down the drain?

Bob Gagnon plumbing and heating

it is just a

conceptional drawing. I just spent a few minutes drawing it up, who knows if anyone will use it. Does legionella grow in pipes or just tanks? Don't you think the driveway collector would be a great application for this job, Andrew?
Thanks, Bob Gagnon

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ALH_4

It might be a great idea

It seems like the amount of paved area for a facility like this might make it a good application. I hesitate to say for sure, because it might add significantly to the cost of the paved area, and that added cost might buy enough collectors to outperform what the paved area will do. This is where data from a BTU meter on Mad Dog's driveway would be very valuable for making the comparison.

Bob Gagnon plumbing and heating

GFX sounds good

Greywater with heat recovery might be better. Recycled water to flush the toilets.

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Bob Gagnon plumbing and heating

GFX would be good

Greywater heat recovery system might be better. You could recycle the shower water and flush the toilets too.

Bob Gagnon


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scott markle_2

GFX

This is a device, even if it's only half as efficient as it claims. Its especially well suited for showers because draining and use are simultaneous, baths, washing machines etc. wont have as significant recovery. Pressure drop is another potential issue, also the configuration requires a fair amount of vertical drop. not possible for slab on grade.

I have one in my own house, exactly how much recovery I'm getting is hard to say, I have not accurately measured delta T and flow rates. This just seems like a very low tec zero maintenance easy way to save energy. It's not sexy like evacuated tubes. but given the simplicity of incorporating this device I'm surprised more people are not using this. I'm sure high copper prices have hurt this idea

Chris_82

I really like this idea, anyone know of anyone that has done this yet?

Larry C_9

Mobile Sunshades

The parking lot pex preheater may work, but what about all them cars that will shade the asphalt, when you need the heat the most?