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Solar Hot Water Heater Batch Pre-heater

Solar Hot Water Heater Batch Pre-heater
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This is a Solar hot water Batch Type pre-heater that pre-heats the water for my hot water tank inside the house. Cost $45.00 to build. I made it out of garage sale and Goodwill items and scrap wood I had laying around. It has been heating water up to 140 degrees and circulates thru the tank by natural flow no pump needed as it is lower than the main tank.
 
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Step 1

This is what it looked like when I finished. I added extra insulation and foamed all the cracks.
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24 comments
May 1, 2010. 12:52 PMknektek says:
you want a layer of foil on every household roof. With the foil reflecting the light into the center of the street, warming your thing in a cylindular form.
Dec 12, 2009. 6:53 AMdlginstructables says:
Very nice design for the pre-heater. I'd like to build one to pre-heat the water that goes into my automatic dishwasher, to save the electricity that the washer uses for pre-heating. It would need to heat 4-5 gallons to 140-150 degrees F. I think the most difficult part would be the plumbing.
Nov 22, 2009. 1:49 PMRENATO.ROSS says:
excelente idéia. temos muito sol aqui no brasil e irá funcionar muito bem!!!
Nov 16, 2009. 12:58 PMjlabaume says:
May 17, 2009. 9:13 PMJalloy says:
(removed by author or community request)
May 7, 2009. 1:56 PMroughly says:
i love this site -- i love you guys -- i.........I'm getting carried away here -- good job !
Apr 15, 2009. 3:10 PMDavetech says:
The nice thing is it costs little to build, less to maintain, and nothing to operate. Even if you build a system that just suppliments your present system, every bit of energy you harvest is money saved. It amounts to turning sunlight into money! Thanks for sharing your expertise with us.
Feb 18, 2009. 10:50 AMMatt4_16 says:
Great Idea!
Jan 29, 2009. 8:49 AMTheDogofWar says:
Looking forward to more info on the floor project, any progress?
Oct 27, 2008. 10:17 AMddpkd says:
What a great idea! I am considering trying a solar heater for my pool(30 ft,round, 52" deep, approx 10,000 gals) I am only looking to pick up about 10 degrees to 75-85 F. Do you think this is feasible? would a batch style be the most effective? Would an old water heater tank be large enough? I have unobstructed sun all day. All comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Jan 21, 2009. 12:55 PMDanthecook says:
THere is another way to want to warm your pool. Cover the pool so you decrease the evaporation. The change of state of water consumes many more calories then radiant heat loss. I have even heard of nets holding foam blocks that just decrease the surface area which loses heat by evaporation.
Oct 29, 2008. 6:21 AMddpkd says:
Thanks for the input. I'm finalizing plans now and will hopefully install and test late April/early May and will post results.
Jun 16, 2009. 6:54 PMdlchlh says:
I have a 28,000 gallon pool in NJ with all day sun (when it's shining). I was about to buy a $150 solar collector panel (black poly with many individual channles..made for pools)to test functionality and was poking around for DIY ideas instead. Did you have any luck building this? I'm curious how the constant flow you'd have with a running filter impacts the ability to heat the water...ie is the flow too fast for the collector to warm it up?
Aug 15, 2009. 2:17 AMphredrik says:
Hey I've thought of this too, was wondering if it would be better to make something with more surface area, using black hose, since the water is flowing constantly. I've seen models that go on a roof with small black hoses. My idea was to use a hose run back and forth inside a box like this,
Nov 23, 2008. 4:30 PMrobbtoberfest says:
Very cool... er, hot! I would like to have seen how you hooked it into the plumbing with a diagram and some pics.
Nov 16, 2008. 7:21 PMrenzo24441 says:
I will surely be waiting for that instructable! Theres nothing like a warm floor on a morning shower! Thank you!
Nov 11, 2008. 8:58 PMrenzo24441 says:
I would love to see if this could be applied to a "home made radiant heat system" for a crawlspace.. use the tank to heat the antifreeze and have it circulate through the radiant heat piping.. would it be a direct connection? i am seriously wanting to do this to add heat to my kitchen and bathroom floors, or make the crawlspace air less cold....
Oct 13, 2008. 10:19 AMScurge says:
Great i'ble, simple, cheap and very green! Well written too.
Oct 12, 2008. 12:24 PMshooby says:
Yeah, this is awesome. Imagine one of these in every home, the savings would be incredible.
Oct 11, 2008. 8:58 PMLinuxH4x0r says:
Great job, 5/5

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