solar hw installed by other co. ??? Right! Tim

hot_rod

if anyone has some. I'd like some Sunmaster pics or any of the older evac tube installs. Corning, Owens Illinois, Phillips, Sanyo, and a handful of others built evac tubes in the 80's

hr

tim smith

solar hw installed by other co on our boiler job, ?? correct Tim

Just wondering about how y'all install your dump zone. We are in Seattle, "not a whole lot of dump required but the way this other co. did the dump zone, I question it as to being correct,right or otherwise. They used a baseboard radiator, fin tube and stuck in on the wall vertically in the basement. This in no way looks right to me! I don't do solar at this time but just wondering what you all think. I find it to be funky at best and 2nd I think it will cook the basement in summer. Any feed back appreciated. Tim

Paul Pollets

Could you..

post a pic? I'll want to bet there are Apricus tubes on the roof.

To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"

tim smith

Paul, I think they are Apricus tubes, Tim

Josh_10

Tim,

We are using 2 methods for heat dump. #1 is to install some ground loops if you have the luxury of throwing them in during the groundwork. Another method we use is to install a fin tube under the panels so they can't be seen with a zone valve. Email me if you want diagrams.

And be careful! There is a company installing Apricus that starts with an S that has NO CLUE how to integrate with heating. They have some weird ideas.

klaus

Josh

Would you please e-mail me your diagrams?

Thanks, Rich L

Ron Huber_2

dump zone

Is where those tubes belong. There is an outfit up here that sells lots of these systems (around 28 a year) and they also have no clue, they put the dump zone outside on the wall of the house, I guess it at least does not add to the heat in the basement, but it is still pretty funky and not very professional. It is cheaper and more effective to have a control like the Caleffi or Heliodyne's Delta pro to dump excess heat at night through the panels themselves. Delta Pro can be set to dump when in vacation (unoccupied) mode and you can set the temperature that starts the dump process.

Mark Custis

I agree with Rod

I have also seen small fan coil units made just for dumping.

hot_rod

the re-cool function

seems to work very well with flat panel collectors. I doubt evac tubes would re-radiate much?

We ran the system at Caleffi with the re-cool functio, on the I-solar control, and it would drag a 185F tank down to 138F by morning. No other load on the tank.

A contractor in Chicago showed me pictures of evac tube overheat system he installs.

A piece of commercial fin tube along side the tube array. A 3 way thermostatic valve diverts through the fin tube at an adjusted temperature. funky looking but simple and effective.

I know one company building a dump radiator into the evc tube header, keep it all on the roof.

Use it or lose it with excessive solar.

hr

Larry Weingarten

This discussion...

... seems to give flat plates an advantage as it is possible simply to thermostatically vent the box, putting a cap on overheating risk.

Yours, Larry

hot_rod

A flat panel with a thermostatic trap door

on the back side to vent the absorber plate.

It is, or was, built by a Dutch manufacturer I believe. I met a contractor in Canada that had imported and installed some of these. Simple concept, but added complexity and cost to the panel.

hr

Ron Huber_2

Daystar

Was a manufacturer who had a built in heat dump, I still have three I took down several years ago. I will try to dig one out of my stock in the "Energy Source heating hall of fame"(barn) and take a picture of one. It was a fin tube section mounted on top of the panel, enclosed by a bird screen front and back with a solid top, basically when the panel went into stagnation the panel would thermosyphon up through the fin tube. I am not sure how well this worked, but they were a high quality panel for its' time.

Larry Weingarten

Here's one version...

... from the Peoples' Solar Sourcebook, 1980. I've found automotive thermostats work for me. Winds up being inexpensive and reliable.

Yours, Larry

scott markle_2

Larry,

With all due respect to the pioneers. This looks like the kind of stuff that has long since made it's way to the scrap heap.

I appreciate the grass roots garage inventor spirit of the first energy crises. and enjoy looking through vintage material from that period. It's amusing how "full circle" we have come.

I can't imagine that enough air would move through that hole to make much of a difference. While I'm certain that many good things can still come out of the "garage" I think it's fortunate that this time around established players and real engineering and testing are behind much of the new the new crop of solar offerings.

In my opinion dump zones are generally an indication of poor solar design. Better to be less ambitious with our solar fraction than depend grid electricity to "shed" the resource we are trying to tap.

hot_rod

but large heating arrays need

full time summer employment. Therein lies the challange of excess energy, called "load sheding" not dump zone by the Germans

hr

Ron Huber_2

Daystar dump

This collector is burried, but was able to pull it out enough to get a shot of the top where the dump "zone" fin tube is located.

Ron Huber_2

I agree

That we have to size the systems properly, but even a properly sized system can stagnate in the summer when customers go off for a weekend or weeks of vacation. And in the 70's and 80's it was not just backyard engineers working on this stuff. The fact that we had printed circuit board differential controllers was considered hot stuff, this was before computers and software as we know it today. And now we have controls to take care of this overheat potential, just not everyone is on board using them yet. If we thought we saw some off the wall weird &%#! back then, just wait to you see the crap that will be marketed this time around and the Bozo's that will be selling it and putting it in. I keep running into competition that is trying to sell customers on systems tied in to baseboard distribution systems, or telling them that a 120 tube evacuated tube system will give them 80% of their heating needs up here in NH, that ain't gonna happen

Larry Weingarten

HR, I'll see...

... what I can find. Ever heard of KTA evacuated tubes? (Knapp Thermal Appliance)!

By the way, I use automotive thermostats to vent my panels. They work simply and reliably and prevent the spraying of hot vodka all over the oak tree beside the house ;~)

I'll venture that the best engineering appears to be simple.

Yours, Larry