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A house with solar heating in the neighborhood

ArthurPeabody
ArthurPeabody Member Posts: 39
in Solar

I pass this house on the way to the gym. It went on sale recently. The price dropped $100K in one day then it sold immediately. Before the sale I stopped by to take a look. It has solar heating on the south side, 32 feet of black pipes, plumbed with water, an intake on the bottom and a damper all along the top. Unfortunately the house south of it blocks most of the sunlight. I wondered if problems with it accounted for the low sale price. The 'glazing' is Lucite, which I fear won't last long in the sun.

Montclaire520SE_SolarHeater-20241223_Side.jpeg

Comments

  • hot_rod
    hot_rod Member Posts: 23,816

    it looks like an unglazed swimming pool collector behind the plastic

    Yes the UV will breakdown the plastic and the expansion / contraction of large sheets makes it hard to seal them from water leaks

    I can’t imagine it would take 100 grand to remove all that? I doubt that is is a structural component?

    Bob "hot rod" Rohr
    trainer for Caleffi NA
    Living the hydronic dream
  • DCContrarian
    DCContrarian Member Posts: 809

    I assume the original price was the owner thinking the collector was an asset that made the house more valuable and the realtor humoring him. The market price reflected reality.

    A drop of $100K seems like a lot, but my guess would be that's not the only "improvement" he made to the property.

  • jumper
    jumper Member Posts: 2,397

    Where is this? Solar thermal only makes sense in special circumstances.

  • ArthurPeabody
    ArthurPeabody Member Posts: 39
    https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1831222#Comment_1831222

    Albuquerque

  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 25,262

    I note in the picture that there is considerable shading on those panels. Not a good installation.

    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
  • ArthurPeabody
    ArthurPeabody Member Posts: 39
    https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1831420#Comment_1831420

    As I noted in the original post the adjacent house is so close it blocks most of the sunlight. It looks amateurish.

  • Hot_water_fan
    Hot_water_fan Member Posts: 2,079

    Gross!

  • hot_rod
    hot_rod Member Posts: 23,816

    Panels up that steep are really only good for winter solar harvest. Although it also helps keep the system from overheating in the summer months when the sun is higher in the sky.

    A Solar Pathfinder is a tool you use to calculate the % that is blocked by obstacles, trees, etc.

    When it is partially blocked like in that pic, you add more collector surface area to compensate.

    Although I doubt this was an engineered design :)

    It may have a rock bed storage also. That is a lot of square footage for no load days.

    Bob "hot rod" Rohr
    trainer for Caleffi NA
    Living the hydronic dream

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