We are considering buying a solar water heater to suppliment our LP gas water heater. Will the costs of a solar water heater system significantly reduce my LP gas consumption? Will the solar heated water be hot enough to not have to use the gas heat?
I have often thought about building a pre-heater to assist my electric heater and cut down on costs. They will only work in certain locations with lots of sunshine and may be unattractive depending on where they are placed. You can build one with a metal tank with a pipe fitting on each end. Build a three sided box that the tank will fit into with glass on one side. Paint the tank and inside of the box flat black. The box is positioned so the the glass side is exposed to maximum sunlight. Connect a water supply to one side of the tank and run a pipe from the other side to the cold water supply of the gas or electric water heater. The water coming into the gas heater will be pre-warmed. Just something I think would be interesting to try. Good Luck.
5 responses to Is the solar water heater cost effective?
It all depends on your location and the amount of water usage that the family consumes. Check also with your local government. There might be a good amount of permits needed due to some communities and the lack of knowledge about solar power. In some communities the neighbors have to give the OK due to the aesthetics.
A great book to look at is the Complete Idiot’s guide to Solar power for your home. The back of the book has many resources that would help you out greatly.
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Solar heat for domestic water or otherwise is an obama answer. We want change, but what and why? It normally is not cost effective because you still need a conventional system unless you live where there is sun every day and the temp. never reaches freezing, but if this were the case you wouldn’t need heat or hot water. All you tree huggers better get hip to nukes or oil will be $400. a barrel!
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I have often thought about building a pre-heater to assist my electric heater and cut down on costs. They will only work in certain locations with lots of sunshine and may be unattractive depending on where they are placed.
You can build one with a metal tank with a pipe fitting on each end. Build a three sided box that the tank will fit into with glass on one side. Paint the tank and inside of the box flat black. The box is positioned so the the glass side is exposed to maximum sunlight. Connect a water supply to one side of the tank and run a pipe from the other side to the cold water supply of the gas or electric water heater. The water coming into the gas heater will be pre-warmed. Just something I think would be interesting to try. Good Luck.
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Back in late 70′s there were several companies manufacturing good systems that heated alot of water with the use of a large solar panel on roof ,a large expansion/reservoir tank and a large 80 gallon electric water heater.The systems were large enough to heat a large amount of water so it would still have hot water at night.These systems were installed because the govt. gave a good tax credit. The govt. eliminated tax credit and all the manufacturer’s stopped making these systems.I know of a subdivision where there are 10 to 11 houses with these systems. All of the home owners love there systems and they claim they heat plenty of water, even on cloudy days.The only problem now is replacement parts cannot be found. If the govt. would bring back that tax credit ,the manufactures would start producing these systems again.These systems are efficient but the start up cost is very expensive.DO you want to save energy or do you want to save money?
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Lic. Plumber 20 Years
gas heaters are great but due to the rising prices of petroleum, perhaps an electric heater might be a cheaper option-~~
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