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| Keywords: BatchSolarHeater.JPG en A solar heater taken from the design noted in Earthship Volume 2 Systems and components by Michael Reynolds The solar heater should be initially positioned perpendicular to to spring or summer sun equinox if used as is or at a 90 degree angle from the mirror targeted at equinox sun Water intake and outlet are to be equipped with valves Can be set-up so it is totally gravity fed and requires no pumps Can be easily build DIY at low cost Only usable in areas with allot of sun subtropics Originally designed for showering but may accommodate other uses if hooked up to the houses' piping system For the elevation; the initial design by Michael Reynolds simply placed the water heater at an angle equal to the line of the roof However the optimal angle differs for each location and even during the coarse of the year see http //www macslab com/optsolar html Thus the solar collector is best placed on a adjustable tiltable platform In addition it is also best that the platform can be rotated to the sun to track the sun during the day Both are not essential for showering since a person can simply change his lifestyle to shower at a moment when the collector has warmed up the most For other purposes connecting the system to ie the hot water system a rotatable/tiltable platform is advised In regards to the hot/cold water inlet; this is correct though noticable different from other solar collectors This because I wanted the collector to also function with water that wasn't pressurised ie cold water simply flowing into the collector via gravity aswell as out via gravity This can not be done if inlet/outlet are switched If you were to change the hot/cold water inlet/outlet then you could only shower for say 1 minute and then the hot water no longer flows out as it doesn't reach the upper outlet no more water mass drops during showering Thus this setup is for this purpose the best one However since hot water rises to the top as is this does give problems with circulating pressurised systems since the hot water outlet is placed entirely at the bottom However for showering this doesn't matter since you can simply wait untill the entire tank has warmed up sufficiently the colder water at the bottom thus still being warm enough for showering I guess that a thermometer would need to be included for this though To resolve the hot water/cold water issue with the circulating pressurised systems the hot water outlet and inlet needs to be simply swapped when using these collectors for this purpose Own KVDP 2008-08-28 Michael Reynolds architect | ||||
