Solar Water Heater

[cutter007]

I bought a solar water system from a company that was located in Bangkok.

They have some foreigners on staff is comunication is easy, and are great at explaining things, and with

after sale support.

I checked about 5 different companies, and they also had the most competitive prices in Thailand.

There website is www.sunpower-systems.com

[nikster]

Ok, heres the full story, youre welcome to think it ridiculous.

I live up in the mountains, in winter at night it often gets down to 7 deg, which for me is a bit cool as Im a wimp & I've got a bit of arthritis.

In the summer afternoons with the sun in the front of the house the temp inside can get up to 40 deg, not very pleasant.

So, I could take the traditional energy guzling solution of aircon & electric heating, but Im a tree hugging dreamer who runs his house on solar power so that aint gonna work, i've barely got enough electric to run a fridge.

So, my idea is to build a false fire place out of brick & concrete, aprox 1.75 cu m, weighing maybe 1500 kg. inside the concrete is coiled alot of 1/2 inch pipe (copper or PEX). On a winter afternoon & evening I would pump hot water from a solar water heater through the pipes, which heats up the thermal mass of the fire place & keeps the house warm all night.

In the summer, cold well water (23 deg c) could be pumped through the same pipes cooling the thermal mass & therefore (hopefully) the house, which is small.

The only energy consumption would be a small circulation pump useing about 50-80 watts per hour.

Now you may think Im crazy, stupid or deluded, but do you know where I can find some PEX tubing or suggest an alternative to copper pipe, as sealing 20,000 baht worth of copper in concrete seems a bit extravagant.

Its got to be good quality tho' as once the concrete is poured, if theres a leak it'll be a bugger to fix.

suggestions & critics welcome.

i have been wanting to do this as well - it makes perfect sense in the mountains. why spend crazy money on air-con + electric heater for the weeks with extreme conditions when you can have a much more elegant solution.

i think a traditional heat pump would work just as well BTW - I just don't know how these are done but I do know low energy houses in europe use them and they are good enough for seriously cold winters (they don't do the cooling part there)

my house has a passive system so to say - just by design, it happens to have a lot of concrete (mass) so it warms up during the day and stays warm almost all night (when it's __cold__ out there). it also has some serious roof insulation it keeps cold nearly all day.

if there was just a tiny teensy bit of help from a heat exchanger or such, it would be absolutely perfect. as it is, it still gets cold early am in those coldest nights and upstairs gets rather warm during the 40 deg days. it's ok - but not perfect at the same time it's a heck of a lot better than the old wood-and-tin-roof house we had, which got freezing cold at night and boiling hot during the day. passive insulation makes a huge difference there.

[BigFish]

OK, so I have read this topic and cannot find any answer to the original question, except for Pick-Ass, who seem to be the cheapest importer at around B24,000 for the smallest

any news on the cheap Chinese versions?

my electrician has told me his friend, an aircon man, makes ugly solar panels for about B15.000

I will keep you updated!

[Pond Life]

Global house are selling sealed vacuum tube type solar water heaters.

Dont know where they come from.

2 sizes available, the big one being 200 lt.

Big one cost about 40,000 B, includeing instalation.

[BigFish]

yes, I saw their selection! one maker, two models

The problem with the Pick-ass version is that you cannot put any pressure through the tank, except for gravity feed. Using a pump before the heater tank induces stresses that will eventually make the tank fail

so you need a second pump after the heater to get the water into the house, making it complicated and possibly extra problems (equalising the pressure between the hot and cold supplies)

oh well, I will keep looking

[cutter007]

The company Sunpower Systems (www.sunpower-systems.com) has pressure systems, they also sell

PEX piping.

[mogoso]

The company Sunpower Systems (www.sunpower-systems.com) has pressure systems, they also sell

PEX piping.

Sun Power, a chinese company supposedly makes the best solar panels for electricity, also the least expensive.

[Newbie2008]

If possible you could install the tubing in enclosed floor panels instead of in a fireplace. This is an alternative to heating/AC and provides more balanced heating throughout the entire house (instead of having one room to hot, one room to cold etc.)

Hot water runs through the pipes and heats up your enclosed wooden subfloor area, which in turn heats up your floor, which provides nice even heat throughout your entire house.

And you never have to step on a freezing cold floor again =P

I imagine you could substitute water for a more effecient liquid and have a dedicated solar water heater and pump to do this. Just turn the temperature of this water heater up or down to suit your needs and have another for your potable water.

Energy from the sun is free, so either way.

[Thighlander]

There is a place on Hang Dong Rd, across from Lotus--within 400m. They are the tube type. The cheaper one is 28,000 thb fully installed. The tubes are packed with freon, that's what make them super hot--so it's more than just a passive system.

[RigPig]

There is a place on Hang Dong Rd, across from Lotus--within 400m. They are the tube type. The cheaper one is 28,000 thb fully installed. The tubes are packed with freon, that's what make them super hot--so it's more than just a passive system.

Would it be possible to get some more info on these. I live in Phuket so am not familiar with the address. Maybe a website ? I believe these units are very efficient and am extremely interested.

Thanks

RigPig

[Rinrada]

I live up in the mountains, in winter at night it often gets down to 7 deg, which for me is a bit cool as Im a wimp & I've got a bit of arthritis.

In the summer afternoons with the sun in the front of the house the temp inside can get up to 40 deg, not very pleasant.

Although I no longer live in-country, I have maintained a home up in the mountains for 20 years now. For keeping cool during the hotter seasons I have a few "green" suggestions. It helps to plant leafy fruit trees that can grow pretty tall, like mango and linchee on the south side of the home to provide shade. Of course that will take a few years so you can also insulate the house against the sun by draping those bamboo curtain shades in front of any windows or brick, especially the brick that probably makes up the lower walls of the house. Those curtains can be rolled up at night. The biggest issue if you are married to a Thai is that since nobody else in the village is doing it, your spouse will not willingly try anything novel without a fight.

If you have an enclosed roof space, it really helps to install a ventilation fan for that space. It also helps to install a series of small fans in the walls that create a cross flow of air just below the ceiling to vent out the heat trapped there.

But apart from installing air-con there really is no solution to 40 deg days other than to ride up and visit people who live even further up the mountain. So maintaining friendships with the neighboring folks higer up, usually Mong or Akha, is another worthwhile investment of time that can pay extra dividends year round.

Of course the opposite is true in winter when you want the rays of the winter sun to warm up that same brick on the house. Having an outdoor fire pit in the winter near the house will provide a traditional warm place to congregate. But being realistic, there are only a handfull of days each year where the temps drop below 7 deg, so maybe a trip into Chiang Mai during those days would make more economic sense then installing a heating system.

On last visit we extended our house in Mae-On by adding on 2 new bedrooms and since we also had the roof raised (New steel one so falling mangoes wont do any damage) about six feet decided to install some of the latest insulation/heat reflector roll up stuff from Global and its made quite a difference.

Because we had our builders...roofers ,plasterers etc.in we all ended up sleeping outside under Mozzi nets ...cool but about 9-00am it starts to get a bit warm but as said the insulation drops the temp by at least 10 degrees....nice.

Decided also on a pool so got me tractor boys to excavate a 20 ft deep (about 5x4) hole at the front of the Bann but will have to be next visit before we do anything with in....

[karnkarnz]

hey ! at like 10.30 am everyday at my room... you can get like 60 degree celcius water for a cup of coffee with the water that is poured from the pipe >.< it's too hot here I need an a/c lol

[ultisolar]

The Thai Solar Thermal Industry Outlook

Solar Thermal applications in Thailand is currently limited to water heating

application in the residential sector while the large market potential in the commercial

and the industrial sector remains untapped. Presently there are approximately 15 to

20 active Solar Thermal (ST) companies in the market, however, only few companies

have intensive experience and are capable of providing design and installation for

large solar systems. The outlook of the Thai solar thermal market over the past recent

years has been positive due to the recent fuel price escalation. It was estimated that

the sales of solar water heater was around 6,800 m2

in 2005 and 8,500 m2

in 2006.

The key local industry players estimate an average market growth of about 10% per

year.

The market is there but there is no big company that can operate this market and provide this service.

We hope we can rich this market and let most of the people enjoy the sun.