Solar Empire – Endless War

1. 

   ♥Tom♥May 17, 2010 - 2:11 am #1

   First, why would you want to heat water that is already hot? JUST KIDDING!

   Wow! There are way to many factors to give you an accurate guess.

   One factor is how big? Is this for a class project, or to heat all the water for the school?

   What kind of solar water heater are you building? Is it one that is pipes inside a frame covered in glass or is it parabolic mirrors focusing light onto a heating coil? Or, some other kind?

   If you are building this as a class project, and it is the pipes inside a frame with glass cover then it will take a few hours. If you have all of the materials gathered in one place and have a few people that are good workers it can take less time.

   If you are building this to heat all of the water for the school with this type of "heating panel" then each successive panel will take less time because people will be more efficient.

   I’ve included a couple of links below that show some details about building solar water heaters, hope they help.

   Good luck with the project!
   References :
   http://solarwaterheater.20m.com/index.html
   http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/WaterHeating/water_heating.htm

2. 

   jakebteaterMay 17, 2010 - 2:39 am #2

   I recently built a solar water heater and can give you some advice.

   A few hours to 1 day to build an inefficient heater
   You can coil a bunch of black flexible PVC pipe a roof, however it will not heat the water as fast or as hot as an insulated heater would. The black pipe will absorb heat, but the wind can blow and remove some of it, just like how you cool a spoonful of soup by blowing on it.

   2 to 3 Days to build an efficient homemade heater –
   It depends on what kinds you will make passive solar heaters are very simple and can be put together easily and cheaply as they require no moving parts. I built one for my house and it took me approximately 3 days to built it. It is insulated and double glazed (meaning that there are two layers of glass between the collector and outdoors), it is also integrated into my house’s plumbing.
   References :
   http://www.teaters.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=217
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOY49bH7Ocg

3. 

   New England Breeze KristenMay 17, 2010 - 2:44 am #3

   Heating with the sun, aka solar thermal, is a GREAT use of renewable energy technology. A basic solar water heater can be as easy as a large black tub and tubing to deliver the water. The most basic solar water heaters are called ‘batch’ heaters or ‘integrated collector storage’ ICS. These would take less than a day to construct. These will demonstrate the concept well. If you need something with freeze protection, you may need to construct a slightly more complex system.

   If you are looking for extra credit, why not construct a solar oven and make cookies for the class?? The oven can be made out of a cardboard box and some insulation with plastic over the top to let the sun in and keep the heat in. I recommend Build It Solar too – there are some great ideas and plans there.

   Good luck!
   Kristen
   http://newenglandbreeze.com/
   References :
   http://builditsolar.com/

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