Building Your Own Solar Hot Water Panels

Using the sun to create hot water for a home is much less expensive than relying exclusively on electricity or natural gas water.

Building your own solar hot water panels.

It cannot be pressurized. You fill it from something like a garden hose and use gravity feed to use the water. My current system of. If you have a gas water heater you ll need to add a second tank to store the solar heated water and purchase a hook up kit from fafco.

Solar hot water panel frame with 2 2 spars screwed to the edges. This is a plan from the fsec for a very simple batch water heater made from a 50 gallon barrel. Types of solar water heater. In this video i show you how i built the water heating solar panels.

Non pressurized 70 batch water heater build your own solar batch water heater florida solar energy center fs 36. Build your own solar water heater diy project the concept. Tools and materials table saw hand saw drill press power drill 3 4 drill bit 1 hole saw exacto knife tape measure screw driver digital thermometer caulking gun for silicone adhesive coarse round file. Illustration by dave channon a breadbox heater containing a single.

Let s look at some of the different types of solar water heaters available and also look at. Start the build by laying the plywood sheet out flat and then adding the side 2 2 strips to the edges of the top of the plywood sheet. If you have ever burned paper or matchsticks with a magnifying glass as a kid you surely know the power of. Building your own passive solar water heater from a hot water tank.

The side strips provide some structural support and the edge attachment points for the polycarbonate sheets. The kit includes everything you need to connect the solar panels to your existing electric water heater on a single story house you may need extra tubing for two story homes. Heating water takes an immense amount of energy and that s why it makes sense to build a solar hot water system for your home. Using easy to find parts you can make the solar heater in your backyard for under 100.

A solar water heater can reduce your electricity bill by up to 33 and setting up the system is dead simple.