Joe91898
New Member
Posts:21
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| 27 Feb 2012 12:43 PM |
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Hi,
I'm new to the forums and new to Solar. I recently purchased ,and installed myself, an 80 gallon Solar Hot Water System. Kit came with controller, pump station over heat dissapator, 80 gallon storage tank(should have went 120) and a 30 tube collector. It runs a closed loop propylene glycol mix. So far I'm extremely impressed at how well this system works. I live in southern NY. So far my best tank temp was 125*. The way I have it setup is to pre feed hot water to my current 50gl electric hot water heater . Cloudy days the electric acts as normal. I also figure even if i'm only pre heating the water to say 95 to 100* it will still help reduce the electric usage. So far so good
My main question is will going from a 30 degree angle to the recomended 40 degree angle make much a of a difference in the performance of the collector tubes? My roof is a 30 degree angle and I wanted to keep the install looking clean. I left plenty of room in the lines to raise the colector manifold. I've attached a couple of pictures
Kit is made by Sunpeak USA.
Thanks,
Joe C |
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Joe91898
New Member
Posts:21
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Joe91898
New Member
Posts:21
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| 27 Feb 2012 12:55 PM |
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Forgot to say. Cost was $3200 |
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ICFHybrid
Veteran Member
Posts:3039
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| 27 Feb 2012 02:20 PM |
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How and when is the heat dissipator used? Is your system active all year? |
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Joe91898
New Member
Posts:21
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| 27 Feb 2012 02:49 PM |
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  The heat dissipator is controlled by an electronic valve. It opens at a set high temp and then closes at a set lowered temp. You cant really see it in the picture, but it is at the top right of the heat disipator unit. This is the return (hot) line from the roof manifold. Highest temp I've seen on the roof manifold has been 140 degrees. I will be using it year round. I have only had it operating for 1 week. Easy install. If you are handy you can do it. It's all SRCC aproved as well Pics, T1 is the roof manifold sensor and T2 is the lower tank temp sensor. this was last week |
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Lee Dodge
Advanced Member
Posts:714
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| 27 Feb 2012 03:38 PM |
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Joe-
Congratulations on getting your solar hot water system installed and working.
You asked about changing the angle from your current roof angle of 30 degrees to 40 degrees, which is presumably closer to your latitude. I would suggest leaving it at your current angle of 30 degrees, but consider the following:
1. If sunlight were uniform throughout the year at the latitude, and if the latitude were 40 degrees, then you would only lose (1.0 - cosine (10 degrees)) = 1.5% in collected energy by leaving it the way it is.
2. An advantage of a higher angle would be better collection in the winter, but you probably also have less sun in the winter. Another advantage of higher angles would be quicker shedding of snow.
3. An advantage of the lower angle would be better collection in the spring/summer when you probably have more sun to work with.
4. There would be less wind load on the collectors if you leave them parallel to the roof, plus the system looks better that way.
It appears from your pictures that there might be shadows from trees near the collectors. It is more important to trim those trees to avoid shading than to fine tune the collector system angle by 10 degrees. |
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Lee Dodge,
<a href="http://www.ResidentialEnergyLaboratory.com">Residential Energy Laboratory,</a>
in a net-zero source energy modified production house
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Joe91898
New Member
Posts:21
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| 27 Feb 2012 03:47 PM |
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Lee,
Thanks for the reply. I guess considering it is February and I'm in NY the current results I'm getting are very good. This picture was taken around 3:30 pm and the sun was very low in the sky, but tree trimming just made it to my list of things to do.
Thanks |
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Lee Dodge
Advanced Member
Posts:714
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| 27 Feb 2012 04:14 PM |
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Joe-
Yes, it looks like your system is operating fine. It is 2 PM local time, and my solar hot water system has heated the 50-gal. tank to 129 F with 144 F collector-out temperature, with a balmy 49 F outside temperature in the Colorado mountains. My small system uses a flat-plate collector (25 ft^2) and the 50-gal. stainless steel tank, and it supplies most of the hot water needs for one person during about 8 months out of the year, and still provides a significant amount of hot water even in the winter.
I am lucky to have changed my roof design around to get a 9:12 pitch roof with southern exposure, so an angle of 36.9 deg. for the solar hot water panel at a latitude of 38.6 deg., and I am about 22 deg. east of due south. It tends to be clearer in the morning than the afternoon, at least during the summer, so not too far from optimum orientation in both angles. |
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Lee Dodge,
<a href="http://www.ResidentialEnergyLaboratory.com">Residential Energy Laboratory,</a>
in a net-zero source energy modified production house
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acwizard
Basic Member
Posts:265
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| 27 Feb 2012 05:23 PM |
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Even though your tank is 123F and your collectors are 140F, you may be not moving enough fluid thru the collectors.You could be leaving btus on the roof instead of in the storage tank. What is the differential of the controller. |
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Joe91898
New Member
Posts:21
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| 27 Feb 2012 06:08 PM |
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Posted By acwizard on 27 Feb 2012 05:23 PM
Even though your tank is 123F and your collectors are 140F, you may be not moving enough fluid thru the collectors.You could be leaving btus on the roof instead of in the storage tank. What is the differential of the controller. just a quick note that 140 is right after the pump activated. The temp sensor is located about 1 foot away from the manifold on the return line. So the temp quickly shoots up and then will start dropping down after a minute or so. The temp spread I have right now is 10* diff between T1 and T2 for pump on. Circulation is good. I can adjust the pump if needed My tank got up to 105* today. Not the nicest of days here in NY. |
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Joe91898
New Member
Posts:21
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| 27 Feb 2012 06:14 PM |
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Posted By Lee Dodge on 27 Feb 2012 04:14 PM
Joe-
Yes, it looks like your system is operating fine. It is 2 PM local time, and my solar hot water system has heated the 50-gal. tank to 129 F with 144 F collector-out temperature, with a balmy 49 F outside temperature in the Colorado mountains. My small system uses a flat-plate collector (25 ft^2) and the 50-gal. stainless steel tank, and it supplies most of the hot water needs for one person during about 8 months out of the year, and still provides a significant amount of hot water even in the winter.
I am lucky to have changed my roof design around to get a 9:12 pitch roof with southern exposure, so an angle of 36.9 deg. for the solar hot water panel at a latitude of 38.6 deg., and I am about 22 deg. east of due south. It tends to be clearer in the morning than the afternoon, at least during the summer, so not too far from optimum orientation in both angles. My collector is pionting slightly south west. I would like to see the tank at 140+ in the coming months, then I can adjust the mixing valve and lower the draw off the solar tank. I can always add an additional24 tube collector but I might start boiling water in the summertime:) Overall I'm really happy, and for the price how can you beat it. I was originally going to buy the GE hybrid 50gl elc wtr htr. Glad I did the solar. |
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acwizard
Basic Member
Posts:265
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| 27 Feb 2012 07:10 PM |
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What differential controller are you using
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ICFHybrid
Veteran Member
Posts:3039
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| 27 Feb 2012 09:31 PM |
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Do you like the construction and quality of the Sunpeaks panels? |
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Joe91898
New Member
Posts:21
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| 27 Feb 2012 09:39 PM |
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Posted By acwizard on 27 Feb 2012 07:10 PM
What differential controller are you using
The controller came with the pre-packaged kit. Go to the sunpeak website and have a look. |
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Joe91898
New Member
Posts:21
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| 27 Feb 2012 09:44 PM |
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Posted By ICFHybrid on 27 Feb 2012 09:31 PM
Do you like the construction and quality of the Sunpeaks panels? Yes, I like the quality of the whole kit. Instructions were easy to follow. Everything went together fairly easy. The guy I bought from here in NY was really helpful as well. |
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zygote
New Member
Posts:2
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| 29 Feb 2012 12:28 PM |
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Joe,
I'm in NY also. can you give me the detail of the guys for your system from? |
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Joe91898
New Member
Posts:21
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| 29 Feb 2012 12:49 PM |
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Posted By zygote on 29 Feb 2012 12:28 PM
Joe,
I'm in NY also. can you give me the detail of the guys for your system from? www.buysolarsystems.com He is in Middletown NY. Really nice guy. He also does the installs. I chose to give it go myself and he was there for any questions. |
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Farmboy
Basic Member
Posts:356
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| 29 Feb 2012 08:38 PM |
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Joe, Any thoughts of expanding number of tubes to do space heating or augment your current heating system? Dave |
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Joe91898
New Member
Posts:21
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| 01 Mar 2012 07:26 AM |
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Posted By Farmboy on 29 Feb 2012 08:38 PM
Joe, Any thoughts of expanding number of tubes to do space heating or augment your current heating system? Dave I have thought about this. The tank does have an upper coil I can use. I would definately have to add another 24 or even 30 tube collector for it to be effective. I had my best day on Tuesday where my tank reached 129*. I still may add another collector just to get some higher temps going in the tank in the winter. |
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snoslidr74
New Member
Posts:27
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| 02 Mar 2012 02:30 PM |
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Joe,
I am curious, I imagine your peak tank temperatures are occurring near mid-day or shortly after? What are your tank temps running in the morning? This has been one of my questions regarding solar hot water as much of our needs for hot water are in the mornings for showers, etc.
Thanks... |
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