DIY solar heating

[bigcat]

Its funny, but he's quite right.

NT

[IMM]

I always am...

[Colin Wilson]

[IMM]

From: Subject: Re: DIY solar heating Date: 24 January 2005 18:06

Have you actually done this, at 20ft long?

Yep.

Thermal expansion is not that great.

Nope. Works well.

An e.g, and they come in 3 metre lengths.

An e.g., from an different application.

It worked well. You could use compression joints tightly screwed up.

Are you serious?

You are serious.

Nearest equiv and from industrial merchants.

You don't drill, you use fittings as described above.

[Mike]

How the **** are you going to slide a compression joint inside the outer pipe ?

[IMM]

Please read posts again. It was clear.

[IMM]

Even the US government is on about it.

[IMM]

"however, based on our measurements, a 30 to 50% savings in the energy needed to heat shower water seems reasonable."

[Mark]

ive built two of these, BP1 was 25m ( note 25 meters !) of 8mm pipe coiled inside a 150mm soil pipe with stop-ends fitted with 1-1/2 waste fittings to connect to shower 3ft away, cold water flow was set to 1gpm. After running hot shower for 15 min to ensure everything had warmed up I measured the input and output temperatures, the gain was a staggering ............... 1 deg C

Having realised I need a MUCH bigger heat exchanger came BP2. This one would be completely impractical to actually use but.. A friend was ripping out a warm-air CH boiler, Ah that looks big enough. So I built a tank to hold HE and arranged plumbing so the tank filled with warm water before exiting, same flow rate and test as before. The gain in temp was 4 deg C

Conclusion, don't bother unless you are chucking huge amounts of hot water down the drain, fit solar panels instead.

(Dimm design quote: 1 three metre lengty of 22mm pipe, still making me LOL )

-- Mark

[IMM]

You are obviously and idiot and did it wrong...and can't read either. The US governments tested it and says: "The key to this patented device was the inventor's observation that wastewater clings in a film-like fashion to the inside wall of the pipe as it undergoes gravity flow in the open drain, and this warm, falling film transfers heat through the pipe"

The pipe has top be "smooth" in the inside. Boy are you dumb!