This is the homebrew solar hot water setup i built a few yrs ago. Mostly from junk and left over stuff. The first picture is the picture window I removed from the neighbors house.
#2 is the wood box made out of 2 by 10 with styrofoam on the bottom and sides. The box is built to fit the glass. I also put in some scrap aluminum flashing and painted it (blue) for some reason. Must of been a can o spray paint kickin around somewhere
#3 is some left over epdm roofing rubber I glued into the bottom. I put several layers in for a heat sink. In the back ground you can see the experimental coil I tried at first. It worked but not good enough for me.
#4 I used an old 20 gal electric water heater to test the collector. It got hot in no time at all. It actually made a lot of steam. Good thing for the relief valve. That could have been dangerous
#5 is the finished set up. I never got a good picture of the new heat exchanger. I actually bought parts for it. I purchased 2 boiler header pipes of copper and simply put connecting half inch pipe from one to the other. Then I covered each pipe with more epdm rubber.
I have a few more pics somewhere. I can post later if I can find them. I use some half inch black onx pipe to get the water into a 40 gal water tank in the basement via a 3 speed grunfos pump. I was using an aquastat to control the pump vs temp but it was a bit unreliable. Now I just use a timer to turn it on and off during the day. The cold water enters the preheat tank first and then feeds into the gas fired hot water tank before getting to the faucets. With more time and effort I could probably make this whole system a bit more efficient. My gas bill went from 80 to 100 therms down to 15 to 25. We have 9 people using hot water every day. No doubt it looks a little funky leaning on the porch roof, but, I don't live in a fancy neighborhood. My neighbor asked my why his old picture window was on my porch roof. Modern art is what I said. Money in my pocket.
Mike
#2 is the wood box made out of 2 by 10 with styrofoam on the bottom and sides. The box is built to fit the glass. I also put in some scrap aluminum flashing and painted it (blue) for some reason. Must of been a can o spray paint kickin around somewhere
#3 is some left over epdm roofing rubber I glued into the bottom. I put several layers in for a heat sink. In the back ground you can see the experimental coil I tried at first. It worked but not good enough for me.
#4 I used an old 20 gal electric water heater to test the collector. It got hot in no time at all. It actually made a lot of steam. Good thing for the relief valve. That could have been dangerous
#5 is the finished set up. I never got a good picture of the new heat exchanger. I actually bought parts for it. I purchased 2 boiler header pipes of copper and simply put connecting half inch pipe from one to the other. Then I covered each pipe with more epdm rubber.
I have a few more pics somewhere. I can post later if I can find them. I use some half inch black onx pipe to get the water into a 40 gal water tank in the basement via a 3 speed grunfos pump. I was using an aquastat to control the pump vs temp but it was a bit unreliable. Now I just use a timer to turn it on and off during the day. The cold water enters the preheat tank first and then feeds into the gas fired hot water tank before getting to the faucets. With more time and effort I could probably make this whole system a bit more efficient. My gas bill went from 80 to 100 therms down to 15 to 25. We have 9 people using hot water every day. No doubt it looks a little funky leaning on the porch roof, but, I don't live in a fancy neighborhood. My neighbor asked my why his old picture window was on my porch roof. Modern art is what I said. Money in my pocket.
Mike
. By the way the timer is in the kitchen, well away from the bathroom. That alone saves me a lot of money and aggravation. 
