Solar water heater - will it work?

 Hi

I'm trying to design a solar water heater which will be used in a
rustic backpackers lodge in sunny South Africa. I've drawn a rough
design which can be viewed at the following web address:

http://uk.geocities.com/jamjamdave25/waterheater

Do any of you experts think it will work?

thanks
Dave

  jamjamdave@hotmail.com (dave) wrote in message

 I'm not an expert... yet, but I am learning ;-).

 Ditch the check valves, move the collector higher than the tank, and
reverse the flow (hot water out the top, cold in the bottom.

 But yeah, that's the idea, from what I understand.

 But, ah, why would anyone want to boil a donkey? ;-)

DJ

 Hi DJ

When you say "the collector" is that the black piping in the sun
(collector of rays perhaps)?

Surely I want the hottest water entering the top of the storage tank
and the coldest water (at the bottom) exiting the tank and entering
the black piping? I'm not sure I understand what you mean there.

Boiled donkey, hmmmm... seriously though, do you think I could put a
boiler within a system like this?

Thanks
Dave

 jamjamdave@hotmail.com (dave) wrote in message

 Nope, you don't. I'm sure Mr.Spence has a lovely faq somewhere, but,
basically, you want to amplify and work WITH natural laws. Warm water
rises because it's less dense than cold water. Hot water entering the
bottom of the tank would want to rise to the top. As it rises up, and
then out of the tank, it "sucks" more water into the bottom, which
then rises... etc etc.


 If you rig it right, you will actually have more and hotter water
than you know what to do with. As I understand it, there is also
conventionally a thermostat to shut off/divert the flow, to keep you
from BOILING it.  So, theoretically, yes, you could create steam in
the system. But that would be a whole 'nother problem that you really
don't want to get into ;-).

DJ

 On 12 Aug 2003 10:02:49 -0700, dj_macintyre@hotmail.com (DJ) wrote:


<SNIP>

   No, I think Dave has it right. The collector should be _below_ the
tank.

  As you say in a later post, hot water will rise. When the collector
is working, it will tend to be the hottest part of the system. If the
collector is above the tank, the hot water in it will "want" to stay
right where it is (at the highest point) and the cooler water in the
tank will "want" to stay right where it is.

http://www.thermomax.com/Solar%20Hot%20Water.htm

R,
Tom Q.