DIY Do it Yourself or Self Install Solar Water Heating

DIY Solar Water Heating - Make your own solar panels? Or Buy and Install

Kentish Flats seen from top of North Downs near Lenham. Turbines are about 30 miles away - see map

Headlines

A dream becomes concrete
Outside, it blends into rocks and cliffs; inside, it blazes with warmth: A wind-energy consultant and a retired stockbroker use high-mass concrete walls and a lot of DIY ingenuity to create a sustainable home within their means.

American Researchers develop DIY solar panels
It may be as easy as click-and-print when you need a spot of solar energy, according to American researchers who say they've developed an inexpensive solar cell that can be painted or printed on flexible plastic sheets.

energy saving trust

Clear Skies

Pictures of Solar Ovens

Feed in tariffs

Prior to investing in factory made solar panels I considered making my own.

Also see: DIY Solar Electric Projects

Solar Heating Panels:

It seemed a simple and relatively cheap thing to make after all, surely a solar panel was little more than a box with some copper tubes painted black, a sheet of glass on the front and pipes to the heating system.

But:

Then you have to add the means of putting the heat into the heating system, so perhaps either a pre-heat cylinder or a dual coil cylinder which is hardly a DIY option.

Final plans were for a pre-heat system.

This was going to be a home made panel which would heat a simple single hot water tank which would be placed immediately before the proper hot water tank and act to pre-heat the water, thus taking some of the strain off the boiler. For pumping, I had planned to use a 12 volt solar powered pump so that when the sun was up an dteh panels being warmed, the pump would run.

One of the main reasons I never got round to doing it was lack of time - I was renovating / buidling a house and there were other priorties.

Even so, I had no idea what amount of heat I would be generating.

Then there was the consideration of:

how to mount it on the roof;
how big it should be;
how to get the pipes through the roof;
what sort of pump and pump controls to use;
any electronics;
perhaps overheating!
and most importantly, how long it would last!

Other considerations with regard to going DIY would be the potential adverse effect on my house with what might end up being an effective but ugly lump on the roof.

Renewable Heat Incentive

With the Introduction of the RHI (Renewable Heat Incentive) there is little point in making a solar panel or even buying one and self installing. Even though an installation might be £4,000, the payback through RHI will cover the cost within a decade while providing free hot water and the associated energy (cost of fuel) savings. After the payback period there is another decade of financial incentive.

DIY Solar Panels. Have a look at Matt Little's DIY domestic solar water heating system, one of the better self built systems and well illustrated. Also see Matt's links to other projects including a solar cooker and electricity generating excercise cycle.

Self Install Solar Hot Water: Looking at self install, the solar water heating industry at the moment seems to favour a package that includes - sales/marketing/product and installation, each part yealding that much more profit. I'm sure the components can be bought for most systems but see:

The Sammler Solar hot water system, about £2,200 including a new twin coil hot water cylinder

solar cooker Really interesting website showing how to get things free and giving an insight into how to make clever devices for really low prices. Includes solar oven described, along with more advanced projects such as a hydrogen generator, ice maker, and how to get free stuff, though aimed more at the US market.