Homemade solar heaters?

[MrApathetic]

Hi. Has anyone tried to make a solar heater with black abs hose? I've been farting around with it for a while, but haven't had too much success. I can get the water pretty hot, but just not enough of it to make a difference.


Just wondering if it's can be done. or should I just give up and get some panels.

[mwsmith2]

Generally, the panels are much more efficient than black irrigation pipe. The effeciency comes from a multitude of tiny (1/8") tubes. That way, the heat transfer is much more effective. I messed around with garden hoses, etc...then I bought 2 panels off of ebay and then I finally started making some heat!

Michael

[Poconos]

Like Michael says the mats and panels are much more efficient but if you have the space, black poly pipe works just fine. In the pic there is 1200' of 1/2" pipe with the manifolds feeding 12 100' lines in parallel. The entire thing is about 8x50' with the pipes layed on black tarpaper. Found that tarpaper doesn't hold up too well so just last week I got some black rolled roofing and put that underneath hoping it will hold up better. Last 04 August I measured about 22800 BTU/Hr from the field heater and about 17000 from a 4x20' Fafco mat heater. I've got a whole series of build pics and descriptions for anyone interested. You can PM me and include an email address and I'll be glad to send them out. About 1 megs worth.
Al

[Aranon]

What if you built a 2x4 frame and used 1 1/2" ISO board (polyisocarnate) with the black tarpaper finish on the bottom and sides and plexiglass or glass for glass for the top glasing. It will make it like the inside of a car during summer.But you have to be careful or you might melt your plastic pipe. I understand you can almost get the water to boiling that way and it holds the heat more after the sun goes down. This is how if I understand correctly that hot water solar heaters are made for home hot water heaters but they use a storage tank where you pool would act as the storage tank. Some use copper piping in this system for better heat transfer. If you really want to get it hotter put the system in a parabolic dish like two curved sections of three ft. dia. pipe painted silver to reflect the sun's energy to increase the heat even more.

[nater]

I installed a hose bib on an extra drain line on my return plumbing yesterday. I hooked my 200' black garden hose and cracked it open. With about 2 gpm flow and 5:30 PM sunlight, 88 deg ambient temp, and hot concrete pool deck, the delta T was about 4 degrees (only 3,000-5,000 btu/h) I'll measure my btu output in the mid day sun this weekend. With the solar cover, that should help gain 1-2 deg/day.... ;)

On the plus side, it cost less than 4 bucks to do.....