I just installed an 80 gallon solar hot water system. 30 tube collector, closed propylene glycol loop. I did the install myself. Cost of the system was $3200. My only regret is not spending the extra 1500 and getting the 120gal system instead. Otherwise this works very well. I'm in NY and on a good sunny day I average between 116 to 125 degrees in the tank. I made a post in the general residential forum which has pictures. To me the hot water system is a no brainer. This will pay for itself in 3 years tops. After fed and state tax credits the cost will be minmal. I did a lot of research and had quotes as high as 13 grand for installed HW systems. I figure I saved 8grsnd doing it myself. Kit comes complete from SunPeak USA. If you are in NY and interested there is a local dealer who I bought from. I will be glad to give the info to anyone privately

Posted By Lee Dodge on 26 Feb 2012 02:10 PM
Liebler said:
"At your (Dana1's) suggestion I've downloaded and tried BeOpt and Hot2000 freebie. I'm not at all impressed. They do more, but force more assumptions and limit choices to what is in their library."

I do not understand your comment about being limited to choices that are in their library. When using BEOpt, you can right click in the "Double Stud options" box (under Walls) and that takes the user to the "Options editor." There the user can define the wall with any thickness, cavity R-value, and framing factor, and it will compute the overall R-value for the assembly. It is easiest to do this by copying the data for a wall similar to yours, pasting that at the bottom, and then editing it. However, you must use their definition of framing factor. It will not work correctly when you make up your own definition of framing factor. See the notes in the bottom frame in the "Double Stud options" box to follow their definition. There will be some uncertainly in estimating the framing factor, but if that is of concern, simply define two different walls with the lowest and highest reasonable framing factors, and evaluate the sensitivity by calculating overall home heat losses for both. BEOpt appears to be very flexible for these purposes.

He may have spent his time looking at Hot2K rather than BeOpt or DOE2, but even Hot2K beats anybody's Manual-J type heat loss/gain type tool.

just found this thread so how is your build comming ? do you have a link to another thread that discusses this ?

This whole thread was about having to choose and I don't think you have to. Optimal PV angle is around 30 deg so a roof mount is fine and as shown by the the website below for winter heating you can have a (non super efficient) panel as a wall and do a lot of winter heating without over heating in the summer. The painted surface is less efficient but is made up for by adding a couple more panels. On a wall the max summer temps is not high enough to degrade the glycol.

http://www.thermo-dynamics.com/tdl_factory2000.html

solar hot water system... $3200 ... will pay for itself in 3 years tops.

I understand that a more typical home with a heat pump water heater spends about $200/year. Without credits, that's a 16 year payback for solar and only if it produces 100% of the hot water needed (unlikely).

Posted By Joe91898 on 27 Feb 2012 01:22 PM
I just installed an 80 gallon solar hot water system. 30 tube collector, closed propylene glycol loop. I did the install myself. Cost of the system was $3200. My only regret is not spending the extra 1500 and getting the 120gal system instead. Otherwise this works very well. I'm in NY and on a good sunny day I average between 116 to 125 degrees in the tank. I made a post in the general residential forum which has pictures. To me the hot water system is a no brainer. This will pay for itself in 3 years tops. After fed and state tax credits the cost will be minmal. I did a lot of research and had quotes as high as 13 grand for installed HW systems. I figure I saved 8grsnd doing it myself. Kit comes complete from SunPeak USA. If you are in NY and interested there is a local dealer who I bought from. I will be glad to give the info to anyone privately

Average installed cost for a 2 flat panel system here in Ontario is about $8-9k. Chinese tube will be a bit less, German ones a bit more. Output for any of these system doing DHW only will be $150-200 annually if on gas (in Ontario) and maybe $300-350 on electricity. No way in the world will it save $1000 annually in NY.

Solar water heating devices are ugly. I am from a place on earth which these things are used widely. It is good if you the only one using this device. Think that every house has it.
I will install solar electric panels and use the electricity to heat the water. I calculated the pros and cons. The goverments electricity is always cheap. But the feeling of using the own electricty will give big satisfaction.

Average installed cost for a 2 flat panel system here in Ontario is about $8-9k.

In a warm climate, it would be interesting to compare the above to 1000 watts of grid-tie PV solar plus a heat pump water heater. Say $4500.

1) The OPs projected water usage was way too high,
2) he neglects the typical 60-70% solar fraction achieved in many locations.
3) he neglects the COP=2.5 available to a HPWH in FL.

The backup elec of his solar thermal system with a conventional coil will use more kWh than a HPWH in FL does to generate the needed BTUs! And at the low volume of water actually needed (unless he has a 3 shower head, 'green' shower), having a HPWH backup a solar thermal system is too much of a sunk cost! Oy.