I've seen solar batch water heaters that use a hot water tank like yours (the housing and insulation removed and the tank painted flat black). The tank gets mounted inside of a large old chest freezer, the inside of which is lined with shiny aluminum foil. Glass or plastic covering the door opening, and situated right, the freezer door can be covered in foil also to reflect more sun into the box through the glass. An extra reflector wing (plywood and Reynolds Wrap) on the other side and it makes the whole thing very much like a solar oven, baking your water tank. In winter or on cold nights the freezer door gets closed to protect everything from freezing, or loss of heat. At the end of a sunny day your water is warmer than you need for a shower. Closed up at night it will keep warm enough for a morning shower. The whole thing can be a pre-heater, or else a stand alone water heater in a warm climate. Scrounge the materials at the scrap yard or the dump and make a batch solar water heater for almost free. Save the photovoltaic panels for pumping the well up to a gravity feed storage system, or for charging batteries/ and /or spinning the utility meter backwards with a small grid tie inverter.

Great idea. I am 100% off grid now. Currently have no solar or wind power. I am researching cost effective ways to solution the basic needs for as little money as possible and DIY projects for single gal. You are a great source of information and inspiration. Thanks for all the effort you put into your videos. Those of us with limited resources truly appreciate your efforts. God bless.

A video showing how to heat water directly from your solar panels. I hooked 4 solar panels in series to a standard water heater with standard elements. No modifications were made. I will be testing this soon with some DC elements with built in Thermostat. Heating water this way in a preheater tank makes a lot of sense to me. Allow the sun to make all the hot water it can and if it cannot keep up with the demand you have grin or generator power to make up the difference. #practprep practicalpreppers.com/

@LiamMcCumber

9 жыл бұрын

You could install a 120v 1200 -1800 watt element, those are pretty cheap, and would increase the wattage delivered over the 240v element. Normal operation of an electric water heater, is the top element is for fast recovery, bottom element is for bulk heating. We once had a water heater bottom element go out, top was still OK. We had enough hot water for about a 5 minute shower before it got cold.

@FloryJohann

8 жыл бұрын

+engineer775 Practical Preppers Water heaters are equipped with an 240 volt heat element. if you feed that heat element with 120 volt, then your watts that the heat element can generate with this 120 volt heat element will be 1/4 or one quarter of it. In other words.....if the heat element is a 2000 watts 240 volt heat element and you put 120 volt on it, the power output will be 500 watts, even if your panels or power source can produce 2000 watts.

@cybernoid001

4 жыл бұрын

Will the fluctuation in voltage each day from early morning and evening damage the electronics by not having a constant voltage and wattage?

I enjoy checking out your experiments regularly. Always learning something.

I have this exact setup on my BOV! It works great! The tank has a thermostat on board. I have to run 300 watt 12 volt because the contacts will not handle higher amperage. But with your panels in series I could see you going with the 600W elements. Cool!

Nice. My gas hot water heater thermocouple just went out the other night. Have to order a part, so not hot water for 3 days. Good idea for a back up system!

Wow,you make it sound so simple,!!!

Good stuff, and fun projects. Keep it coming!

Missouri wind and solar sells a thermostat rated for 240v DC. You can also use a clothes dryer thermostat. I’m using this method to heat water in a 20 gallon tank in my pool house.

This is a great video and a really good simple project to save money.

That sounds like the perfect solution for a small off grid cabin. For 2 people, a 20 gallon tank would be good enough and if still more water is needed, use on demand propane heater. Now if this can be used as a livestock water heater in winter, that would be awesome

Good stuff 775. I have often tried to think of ways to at least supplement my hot water to save a buck over the long haul. This may work for that. Thanks!

Nice Video, Great info this was a idea I was thinking of doing my self . if you had it on thermostat control then it could the run to grid tie or battery back up for heating at night Again great info

If you live somewhere without snow you can just use coiled up black hose on a roof or even on the ground and pump it by hand or set up a siphon our seasonal pool is heated in this way in the summer and the water gets hot enough to give you a pretty good burn/scald.

GREAT VIDEO

Just make sure you leave the safety valve in place, and have some mechanism to make sure you don't let the water heater run dry. That's both to protect your hot water heater and also protect your family/others.

I saw a video of an installation in a regular electric heater. Bottom element was the element that arrived with the heater. Top element was a DC element connected directly to solar panels without an inverter. The installation was upgraded about a year later with a relay that had cooling fins. Someone, also, mentioned avoiding arc problems inside the element. Why place the relay? What needs to be done to avoid arc problems?

Scott, make an insulated solar cabinet double the tank size and get more hot water quicker.

Just a note RV refrigerators have 12VDC heating elements in them that you can direct wire to solar panels in parallel That will Glow red hot

Just outstanding video Scott. Thanks I want one of these here in Chile.

@pauldavidblakeley1827

9 жыл бұрын

I designed a passive solar water heating system in which the 40 gal. reserve tank was in the garage but above the copper solar collectors. This was totally passive. When there was a four degree temperature differential between the panels and the tank the water would automatically convect(i.e. the warmer water from the panels would flow up into the top of the tank and cooler water from the bottom of the tank would flow into the bottom or entrance to the collectors. This reserve tank served as a preheater for the normal gas water heater. I monitored the temperature being drawn down from the reserve tank into the "normal" water heater with an inline thermometer. It always read around 140℉, 160℉ at times. Don't skimp on the reserve tank. You don't want it to rust out prematurely. No electricity, no pumps, no bells, no whistles!

@ChileExpatFamily

9 жыл бұрын

PaulDavid Blakeley I plan on using a foam insulated Plastic slack tank / reserve tank that I am going to make or modify my self. I am very interested in seeing your desigen. Guillermo saw a complete solar electric system here in the south yesterday (installed) for 4 million , and it did everything.

@cowpoke02

9 жыл бұрын

cool . check it out . in nz they fire up a little wood stove with a coil in it. . hot water goes into a hot water heater. if it gets to hot water goes up a pipe out onto the roof .lol . nice not having to do anything and hot water happens for free .

@ChileExpatFamily

9 жыл бұрын

cowpoke02 All these little ways of doing things will make our lives easier here in Chile. If there is one thing to a gringo it is HOT WATER!

@cowpoke02

9 жыл бұрын

lol. yup . some solar panels work great in cloudy rainy weather. I see them on amazon . One Renogy 100 Watt Mono Solar Panels UL 1703 Certified (Grade A high Efficiency solar panel). supposed to be better. mono panels.

If anyone is planning to do this as a pre - heater it might be worth installing a safety valve between the output of this and the input of the main heater that can mix in some cold water if the output is too hot.

At least PV panels don't freeze like water based systems could. PV panels do not rot out and leak. They can be used winter and summer. PV power can be used for other things besides heating. PV power wires can be easily routed and if needed rerouted in no time. PV will last well over 30 years. PV can be added with ease to any existing system. PV panels systems are cheap. PV panels do not need expensive maintenance, just a few cleanings of the PV panel a year.

thanks

Very sweet. What was the gray in/out pipes hooked to?

I'm working on setting up some solar power to run a dc motor that will be driving an ac generator.

Hello e775pp, You have some really good videos and this is one I really like to understand bc we are moving out to a small piece of land and would like to be a self sufficient/sustaining as possible. I find that most of your videos are way over my head though for instance the water feeds I don't know how to feed fresh water into the preheating tank and then feed it back into the hot water tank. Additionally, I know nothing about ac/dc/electric in general which I suppose I could learn but not sure how long that will take. But I guess my point is I don't understand how this will prepare me and/or others if we don't understand how to do it. Or maybe it will just be survival of the fittest or most prepared :).

That's a great idea... how would that compare to solar water panels?

Using a water heater like this is good for utilizing excess solar or wind power when your battery bank is fully charged (dump load). Check out the Morningstar, RD-1. It can be programmed to use an inexpensive SPDT relay for automatically switching power between battery charging and water heating.

at a medical center I was one of the lead electricians in the construction and they had the hot water line go in a loop from the end back to the water heater with a water pump and a pressure tank so that at any faucet there would be hot water there / you could do that with this setup and the existing water heater you have to keep hot water in the home heater during the day and have it bypass the solar water at night with dc valves normally closed and open with the cell power during the day / just a thought

@ErnestLingerfelt

9 жыл бұрын

I know brother( I have high respect in yalls trade) but what I was thinking was to use the solar water heater to rotate the water to the main water heater during the day and shut off at night when the sun went down and bypass it at night

If you direct wire with out any changes then only one element would work at a time as the top gets up to temperature then it shuts down and the power goes to the bottom element.

Thanks for the videos but you could try using standard wire instead of romex and you should see a big difference

Would this be good for a heated floor application? I heard for some one that did a garage with a water heater that circulated water from a water heater set on low or pilot. I'm in Indiana don't k now if region makes a difference.

is that taking any power production away from the battery bank or would this have to be a separate setup

I wonder if you could heat a shop with that type of system. If you have in concrete slab hydronic lines I wonder if you could warm the slab during the day and at night the retained heat in the concrete could keep the shop at say 50 or so degrees. It's not like you really need a shop warmer than 50 anyway.

Neat...

Contrary to popular belief, PV beats direct solar in most cases on a cost basis. However direct connect to heater elements is quite bad being only about 40% efficient for total collected solar energy. It's only advantage is it doesn't take a lot of knowledge. My camp heats water with only 1,000W of PV and that is only from excess PV power that would be wasted otherwise after running refrigerator etc. We even have a dishwasher with heated dry. The secret is operating the panels at power point. Note: controllers with diverters are not much better than direct connect. I use two heater tanks, a 10 gal and a 20 gal in series. The 10 gal heats up quickly and the 20 is make up water. 120V 2,000W heater elements are cheap and a good match for 36V to two grid tie panels in series and keeps you out of that dangerous voltage range. The electronics is pretty cheap to build, $20. Better than 90% of the time I have enough hot water for two showers. You don't have to sacrifice comfort to be off grid.

OIII E775, did u bypass the thermostat?? the wire colours were different from top to bottom so u didn't have 4 panels in series hooked directly up to the element, is there an update to this video, what voltage did u get direct to the element compared to what came from the 4 panel string?? Why didnt u hook up 6 panels instead of 4? does this mean I can get away with 2 panels in summer living in the tropics on a 125ltr tank??

would the water heater work as a dump discharge for the solar?

Would be a simple way to preheat the water before it go‘s into your tankless water heater or even have it go through a pipe loop under the house before going into the storage or main storage tank so now you have more efficient house heat and domestic water heat

Where did you buy your solar panels?

Ooops, just read the what you wrote, so when is the DC element going to get tested?

One hundred feet of black pex coiled and left in the sun will heat the water also.

@Pwecko

9 жыл бұрын

freshkryp69 Maybe, but you won't be drinking the water, will you? The hot water will be used for bathing or cleaning. The tiny amount of toxins that are in the water will not pass through your skin.

@FloryJohann

8 жыл бұрын

+Jim H But you still need a pump and a means of dumping the extra heat via a radiator and fan as safety to control the heat of the water inside the water heater and not to mention freeze control. One hundred feet of pex could buy a pv panel and you could power also other things with it besides a water heater.

you know what I would love to see a video of is a simple way to hook up an off grid solar system right from the panel. and without just saying you hook your panels up to the charge controller. but actually showing how to connect them and a simple instruction like hooking up a vcr the cable comes from the outside goes into their vcr then out of the vcr into the tv. what is always missing is how to connect each panel to the entire system. they each have a 3 foot connection how do I string my 24 panels together that equal 7500 watts and how do I know they are 24 volt panels and how do I figure out how many charge controllers I need. I see these dinky set ups and its making me nuts I am building a normal 1600sq ft home from fox blocks and I want to power it and my garage from solar how do I get from my usage calculator and deciding what type of panels I want which are Canadian solar 310 watt panels to putting together this system. honestly if I'm going to hire someone to do it I Midas well stay hooked to the grid the whole idea is to take control of my power grid right please help

What about a tie in with a solar collector?

Thats awesome! What is the watt and volt rating on the panels?

@engineer775

9 жыл бұрын

300 watts. I think that I could get away with 3 panels vs 4. I am not getting much more gain with the forth. So for $750 I have a pretty good fuel less water heating system that won;t freeze and is easy to hook up.

If buying, photovoltaics is a better idea than solar thermal panels, as you can easily use the summer surplus power for air conditioning or something like that, which is impossible when using solar thermal.

This is a pretty interesting set up but I doubt it would work for me but maybe you could point me in the right direction. I have an M109A3 turned M109RV that I'm remodeling and a M105A2 trailer & S-250G shelter combo and I need a very efficient & cost effective way to heat water that is sustainable and in a small package because I will be moving with all my preps and working & living out of it when I get to my location after the SHTF. I think that at most I could get 800 to 1000 watts of panel on the roof of the M109 (I'll be storing my current Harbor Freight unit & 2 deep cycle batteries for back-up or portable power) and I want to be able to run an LMS 3990 mini mill, led lights, a small-medium flat panel TV, a laptop & speakers, and possibly a small refrigerator (but I might get a small dedicated panel & battery for that) so I can't dedicate it all to powering a hot water heater. And while I plan to carry at least 60-80 lbs of propane & my instant hot water heater it's not guaranteed that I'll come across any when it runs out so I certainly won't be relying on that. I was going to use my antique Jewel cast iron wood stove (which I might replace with a modern "Gypsy caravan stove") and the coiled copper tube around the chimney like you did in one of your videos but if you have any better ideas I would certainly appreciate some guidance. www.imagebam.com/image/640ac1337789057 *This is what it used to look like before I gutted it, installed a secondary insulated floor on top of the factory wood floor,and painted the inside.* www.imagebam.com/image/a58a4b358640295

@Echo4PapaBravo

9 жыл бұрын

Have you considered a tankless water heater? You could use your panels to charge a battery bank, or run it direct during full sun. www.homedepot.com/b/Plumbing-Water-Heaters-Tankless-Electric/N-5yc1vZc1ty Semper Fi

@OneWhoWalksFirst

9 жыл бұрын

I have a setup like yours VolksPrepper. I did a video on my KZread channel on how I heat water using just a camp fire. I have since converted my hot water to solar like Engineer775 shows in this vid. I still have the wood heat option for when the sun is not out, but solar is the way to go Bro! Nice BOV BTW! Great minds think alike. If you lived in the Pacific North West I would say lets pull our Army trucks up side by side and compare notes!

@VolksPrepper

9 жыл бұрын

Yeah Papa Bravo I have considered many thing. But I'm just unsure of what route I want to go because I want at least two none propane ways to heat them...I have a instant propane water heater now. I'm thinking solar and wood fire.

@VolksPrepper

9 жыл бұрын

Thanks OWWF...great minds do think alike! I just took a look at your video about the copper coil in the fire and the 200 degree water hoses and I must say your truck looks familiar. Are you on Steel Soldier? I go by BAZYRKYR...if YT would stop shutting my channels down I'd still be using that name here.

A watt-er heater? ;)

just did that today, but used busted panels instead of throughing them away ,so i will tomorrow of any results.

I am getting beat up in wire costs because I set up 12 volt systems and need approx 200 feet of wire to get a reasonably clear path to southern sun. I am using #2 stranded copper welding cable to charge my battery bank. If I ran four of those 36 volt 300 watt panels in series and solely dedicated them to a hot water tank in the house, could I get away with 10-2 copper wire. I am talking single strand like you would use for household wiring. If I need a heavier wire, what size do your suggest. Also what sort of fuse should be used ? I have seen some say it it should be placed close to the panels for reasons that I do not understand. Placing a fuse/cutoff box near the hot watertank would be much more practical. I see DC water tank heating elements advertised. Is this needed or just a come on to buy what is just a resistance loop ? Thanks for all of your info, 28Bull.

@practicalpreppers7798

9 жыл бұрын

yes ,,, long runs need that higher voltage, use a voltage drop calculator to determine wire sizes. VDI = AMPS x FEET ÷ (% VOLT DROP x VOLTAGE) (8.2 *200)/(3%*144)=3.9 so 10-2 will work. The water heating elements are just resistance loops. There are some folks taking ac elements and melting off the markings and selling them for 6 times what the element costs. Hope that helps!

Hi,,I'd like to talk with you about the possibility of getting long term medicines from you.We spoke once before but i wasn't ready to move on it.Now i am.Thx.for your time and i hope we connect.

Wouldn't it be just as easy to use solar thermal panels to do the same thing, instead of using solar PV panels?

@OneWhoWalksFirst

9 жыл бұрын

It's about half the price to use solar panels. Thermal panels are pricy and solar panels are not.

@bwillan

9 жыл бұрын

I had no ideas that solar panels had dropped so much in price that they are cheaper than solar hot water panels. Heating by electricity is generally quite inefficient, however if you are getting essentially free electricity from the sun, that makes it more compelling.

@MartinPlanner2

9 жыл бұрын

OneWhoWalksFirst thermal panel...you out of your sense? all you need is shiny sheetmetal panels, bend them accordig to the shape of the formula and a black painted pipe with running panel to heat...the bending makes the sunlight focus almost all day on the pipe which goes to a tank that stores it...it does not require superexpensive humansh#t

@SlurponMuhdickKillTheState

9 жыл бұрын

OneWhoWalksFirst Thermal panels are EASY to make. And don't cost much for materials.

@bwillan

9 жыл бұрын

Slurpon Muhdick That was what I was figuring as well. I would have thought ready made commercial ones would be not that expensive.

What is a good price per watt for solar? I see prices all over the place.

@SpencerLAPower

9 жыл бұрын

.75 pre watt

@jj01a

9 жыл бұрын

Thank you. Then Why can't I find 100watt panels for 75$ , Am I looking in the wrong place? I'd love to buy some 250 watt panels for 180$.

@SpencerLAPower

9 жыл бұрын

You have to buy them by the pallet 28 so the shipping will not be to high

@TRMTHEweasel

9 жыл бұрын

j johns look around 2nd hand panel pulled of roof for bigger system i got 190w panels for $50 each working good test out fine i buy 16 of them and a cheap $300 5kw grid tie to run them but should of put the money from grid tie to charge controller still needed and get good size battery bank and i have 5x 200ah $100 each 2year old still good for years yet, and a 8000w lf inverter $480 new in a bid on ebay to use the power i get each day to burn up myself don't grid feed you getting ripped off well here in Australia 6c 1kw of power then charge you 25c a kw to buy it back sounds like bull shit to me

@jj01a

9 жыл бұрын

Thanks TRM, I ended up doing exactly what you said, found a pull off of 235 watt canadian solar panels that were two years old, they were put on a roof incorrectly. I didn't get as good price as you though, 20 at 100$. Split the balance between myself and my brother in law. I'm taking 10 and feeding 1/2 them into grid tie inverters. The others are going into a single charge controller to feed 4 200 ah 6v golf cart batteries in a 12 volt systems - that was my first mistake, should have done 24watt. have 800 watt and 3k watt pure-sine inverters - 12v unfortunately. with the size of my system I doubt I'll ever see the wheel spin backwards. Thank you for replying, it sounds like we're on similar paths.

I would much rather have a simple system like this vs solar thermal, this would be a great option as a dump load when the batteries are floating. Solar costs are still falling therefore at some point this will be cheaper than solar thermal also.

or run a wind turbine to top one and solar to bottom

Maybe you could use the PV solar panels to preheat, and combine with an instantaneous heating system (grid power or gas) for maximum efficiency.

"Why would you use solar (PV) panels" 1. Because it's fun. 2. Because you can use water heating as a "dump" load for excess solar energy.

@edchaos2679

8 жыл бұрын

yup dump load is best for a solar setup. waste not want not.

people have been making hot water for a long time now using fire. this only works when its sunny and fire is cheap and easy to make. and since fire will be used alot when shtf doesnt it make sense to just use the waste heat to have hot water available always?

so are you saying you wired directly from solar panels to regular water heater without switching the heater to DC heating elements...........and you are not using an inverter. I didnt know you could do that

So it DC?

@4philipp

4 жыл бұрын

Ezzy J if he is using 24V panels in series, he is putting 96Vdc into the heater. Simple appliances like water heaters don’t care if it’s AC or DC.

your prob losing 50% of the watts in mis-matched 'impedence' of the load (heater element) to the source (panels) you need a mppt box inline. all it does is many times a second it disconnects and reconnects the panels, oddly you would think because of the disconnects you get less heat, but no, less is more, panels are odd that way.

@zazugee

8 жыл бұрын

+lez briddon i think 120DC MPPT charger regulator are expensive, if you do the math right you can size the elements to fit with the panels, but well, if you have shade/cover and the voltage go down, you're out of luck

people say its so inaficient but remember no panels no pipes pumps. i have got two solarhart water panels and 270 liter tank on the ground and a pump to pump the water the pump is in a box on the side of the tank with circut board inside and temperature wire runing up to the top corner of the panels on the roof its working awsome so far .. a timer has to be fited to give the element power at 5 in the afternoon to heat up water that the sun didnt do. i have had the pump stop spining once from some green corosion thou

come on dude i seen alot better from you. seen your video's you can do better then this lets just say tracking your stand looks good to be a good tracker alittle more work from you, your good at coming up with good iders. my tracker did cost me $270 for my 3x 200w panels but was best money i spent better to have to track the sun get alot more power that way .o and what you mean before your hot water heater i bet your getting more heat then you need then power is good to go in battery bank still . bet you come up with more iders on that one. mate you do know i'm just having a go i love your work and video's your going to be one of the guys that helps save to world let your missus know that to, she needs to know how much you and you video's are for some of us trying to help too.... thumbs up from me have a good one mate

@engineer775

9 жыл бұрын

TRMTHEweasel The missus says thank you!

@mikewellband9306

7 жыл бұрын

Dude I would like to carry your briefcase one of these days...Scott your book was good but for beginners, please consider others on select topics with diagrams of your preps with refrences to where to buy parts.. If it wasnt for you and Dave there would be NO prepper comunity!!!!! THANKS for putting your boys on the line for us every day!!!! GOD bless and keep you and yours!!!!

no bob that couldn't possible explode with all the safety removed...

fuel-less ? you are getting your energy from a nuclear reaction , right ?

Umm . . . this indirectly uses fuel. The sun is fueled by nuclear reactions.

This is so wrong for making hot water. Except for testing and measurements. Solar thermal is the way to go.

@engineer775

6 жыл бұрын

n3sjh I've been making hot water with wood in thermal siphons for 13 years.

@engineer775

6 жыл бұрын

Are you solar PV direct now and it's much better than solar thermal.

While at first glance this may appear practical, in reality it's very foolish. Photovoltaics are approximately 20-40% efficient, and still expensive. While actual solar hot water heating is cheap, and 90% efficient. People don't waste your time and money on this one, instead, buy the matt type solar hot water heater, and save the power from your solar panels for other things.

@onetongwa

8 жыл бұрын

troll. its just simply another option he has the right to show. geez

@SH-rm4gw

8 жыл бұрын

+Reggie Singleton I'm not trolling, just putting information for everyone to learn. Stating actual facts is the furthest thing from trolling Reggie, and if comment sections are for anything, it should start with facts.

@onetongwa

8 жыл бұрын

+S Hobbs I understand. I really wanted you to help show your way to us, rather than shoot him down. We still need more information on your better method. I just appreciate the people who show or tell their work.

@SH-rm4gw

8 жыл бұрын

In response, all I can suggest is that one considers solar thermal versus photovoltaic using a fact based approach. Its much cheaper to read than to buy and perform trial and error experiments with your hard earned money. The best and most efficient ways to heat water with the "power of the sun" are empirically proven and results very well documented. It's foolish to ignore current technology, or information in general; it's also foolish to believe anything just because someone is capable of recording a video. Again I suggest people do the research, leave the non scientific videos generators to themselves.

@budmud2225

7 жыл бұрын

Kenny Hendrick yes, chinese vacuum pipes. 40 times more efficient than normal panels. i heard they give heat even in cloudy days...

I love your videos but PLEASE stop saying things like "watts per hour". There is no such thing!