DIY Solar Powered Water Heater: 3 Steps

Step 3 Building the Water Reservoir

Now all you need left is a water barrel as a water reservoir. You should be able to find one at a local hardware or gardening store. If you can’t find one, a plastic bucket will do, although make sure the plastic is not composed of any dangerous chemicals that can be transported to you when the water is going by.

To finish, you need to mount together all parts. The most efficient solution to connect the pvc pipe to the water barrel is to buy a 90º pvc adaptor and an union pvc adaptor (remember to check if the adaptor’s diameter and your pvc pipe diameter are the same!)

Place your water barrel bottom up and, with a pen, mark the diameter of the adaptor in the bottom of the barrel.  Get a drill with a small diameter and, inside the drawn circular line, drill holes next to each other. Use a knife to cut the hole and attach a polisher to your drill to manually increase the size of the hole until the 90º adapter can fit in.

Then insert the union adapter through the inside of the water barrel and connect it to the 90º adapter. Make sure you make enough pressure, because the point of the union adapter is to serve as a physical barrier so water does not leak away.

After that, just mount everything together and you're done! Easy, right?