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Flat plate HX or storage tank for FHW + steam?

Paul Pollets
Paul Pollets Member Posts: 3,662
in THE MAIN WALL
The answer your looking for will depend on how many panels and what type?

Typically a residential DHW solar system will use either a 20 or 30 tube vaccuum array or 2 flat plate collectors. The best storage tanks are made by Viessmann (B-300 79g) dual coil, or V-300 single coil and are made of 316Ti SS. The alternate tanks come in various sizes or material and some have electric element backup. See TriangleTube or Stiebel. I use a Caleffi or Viessmann solar pump module and controller to complete the package. The 80g tank is standard for med. solar DHW loads. Software from various sources can tell you what your loads truly are. (and what temps the panels can produce)


If you're planning on using the DHW solar panels for heating, I'd suspect you'd need a few more panels to meet your load.

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Comments

  • TimS
    TimS Member Posts: 82


    I'm putting panel rads in the new 2nd story and I'm looking at a HX with primary/secondary, and a storage tank (I don't want to use boiler water). I need 18K BTUs/hr on a design day (1 F here in MA). Is one greatly preferred over the other? How do I size the HX? I only see them listed in GPM but no delta T. Who makes storage tanks for this application and how big should I go? I'd like something more insulated than my DHW SuperStor which loses heat more rapidly than I'd like.

    Thanks!

    jim
  • TimS
    TimS Member Posts: 82


    I thought my previous post would generate some engineering discussions but apparently not, so here's a bit more meat :-)

    This weekend another pro-steam friend and I were discussing the issue and ran some quick numbers after a night at the bar. Is it true that a 100 gallon storage tank set for a 50* delta T would supply 40,000 BTUs per cycle? If I have a zone that loses 16K BTUs/hr on a design day, it seems like a 100 gallon tank would supply the zone nicely with one cycle per day on an average day. Or am I missing a substantial factor somewhere?

    jim
  • TimS
    TimS Member Posts: 82


    THis isn't a solar system; it's steam with water on the new 2nd floor. I don't want to put that much boiler water up that high so an exchanger of some sort is needed.

    I'll look into the tanks you mentioned though. I've been leaning heavily towards a dual coil so I can plumb in a passive solar down the line.

    jim
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