Recently, non-traditional methods of heating rooms have become increasingly relevant. People are striving to find a more efficient and cheaper way to heat their homes. One such method is to use solar energy.

Solar heating for home

Today, special collectors are used to transform solar energy into thermal energy. Our article will tell you how you can heat your home using such devices.

Solar system and its advantages

Heating home premises with solar collectors will significantly reduce costs that were previously spent on the traditional method of heating a house using batteries. Solar systems consisting of such batteries have many advantages:

• solar energy is free. Of course, you will have to spend money on creating a system and connecting it to the house. But the savings will be noticeable immediately upon the onset of cold weather;
• this system is environmentally friendly and does not harm the environment;
• it conserves natural resources such as coal and natural gas;
• is an effective solution to the energy problem for the home;
• the solar collector is capable of providing efficient heating of the house when used mixed with other systems;
• long service life;
• The system is autonomous, which eliminates dependence on utility companies. Autonomous heating is especially important for private houses;
• safe operation;
• the ability to do it yourself;
• aesthetic appearance;
• the ability to select a collector according to parameters.

Solar collectors

You should not think about installing a solar system for your home yourself if your area of ​​residence has a sufficiently large number of sunny days throughout the year.
To get all the above benefits from heating your home or cottage with solar collectors, you should know:

• availability of high-quality insulation of home premises;
• You can combine heating using solar energy with other heating options: gas and electric;
• for regions with low insolation (solar flux), it is necessary to correctly calculate how much area the collector should have;
• Installation rules must be followed. Otherwise, the system will not function correctly;

Pay attention! Collectors should be installed at an angle equal to the geographic latitude of the area. In this position they have maximum efficiency.

The correct option for installing the collector

• Solar panels should be placed on the south side, since the maximum intensity of insolation will be observed in the middle of the day;
• installed batteries should not be shaded by neighboring buildings or trees.

If the heating system of the house using solar collectors was organized with your own hands, then in winter the angle of inclination of their surface will need to be slightly increased. But in this case, in the summer, the efficiency of the batteries will decrease slightly. However, against the backdrop of an overabundance of lighting, this fact will remain invisible.

Variety of installations

Before you start creating a solar heating system for your dacha and home with your own hands, you need to find out what kind of batteries even exist. Today's solar collectors come in the following types:

• vacuum. In the design of such a battery, there is a vacuum between the shell of the unit and the heating body. With this device you can heat water up to 300 degrees. The downside here is the inability to independently clean snow and frost;

Vacuum manifold

• flat. Externally, such a collector looks like a transparent outer panel. This type of solar cell has tubes inside it, and the back is equipped with a thermal insulator. There is more heat loss here, but the structure is easy to assemble with your own hands. In addition, you can clean it yourself from frozen snow and ice. Heats water up to 200 oC. The disadvantages include the presence of a large load on the device’s clamps in strong winds, since the battery has a poorly streamlined shape;

Flat-plate collector

• air. Air acts as a heat carrier here. Such batteries can easily be made with your own hands. But the main disadvantage here is the inability to use the device to heat water, as well as the low efficiency of the device;

Air manifold

• tubular. A unit of this type consists of four tubes filled with a base coolant. Its circulation is carried out due to the temperature difference between the battery and its lower zone. Such devices are characterized by a large surface plane;

Tubular manifold

• a mobile system used to heat a house with solar energy. These are specially designed installations that can rotate according to the movement of the sun. Today, there are various models capable of rotating their various parts.

Movable solar panels

Despite the different structure, the operating principle of solar collectors will be almost identical.

The principle of operation of the devices

Heating a house using homemade solar panels is carried out based on the simplest laws of physics. According to one of them, a liquid with a high density will naturally displace a less dense one. This operating principle is used for heating systems operating on the natural circulation of the main coolant.

The principle of operation of the solar collector

Heating of the coolant has the following form:

• the coolant in the tubes is heated by the sun's rays;
• The heat obtained in this way is accumulated in a heat accumulator.

Most often, water heated by the sun's rays acts as a coolant. The water is in a vertical coil. When heated, the water in such a device rises upward. Next it goes into the container. Liquid will be drawn from it.
For the solar battery to operate efficiently, it is necessary to achieve a process of natural circulation of liquid. In a situation where the coolant has cooled down, it must return to the collector to undergo a repeated heating cycle.
To ensure that the water heating process does not stop, additional devices are needed - pumps.

Options for self-assembly of the heating system

Today, there are several ways to assemble a solar heater with your own hands. Let's look at the most popular assembly methods.
First option. Here you need a galvanized container for water. It should have a volume of approximately 100-200 liters. The technology for creating a solar battery has the following algorithm:

• We place the container on the roof. It should be installed on the south side of the roof;
• the roof surface must be covered with a metal sheet with a shiny surface;
• put pipes on top of it;
• we connect them to a barrel and a container for heated water.

Homemade solar collector option

With the help of such a battery, 100 liters of water can be heated by 60 degrees. This installation has high efficiency. But in winter, such a unit will not be effective.
Second assembly option. To create this type of collector you will need:

• steel boxes;
• several flat steel radiators;
• glass;
• metal-plastic elements - fittings and pipes.

The system builds in this case proceed as follows:

• steel boxes are mounted on the roof;
• radiators are placed there;
• Cover them with glass on top. This will reduce the water heating time;
• the tubes must be laid with a downward slope;
• be sure to ensure that the top of the device is located below the storage tank;
• A plastic barrel with water is installed in the attic. Suitable volume - 160 l;
• it must be connected to the radiator and water supply using metal-plastic devices - fittings and tubes. The water tube itself needs to be connected slightly above the middle of the tank;
• Drain valves are installed at the bottom of the radiator. With their help, water is drained during the cold season.

Option with plastic barrel

Third option. It is used to heat a fairly large room. Has an efficiency of 45-55%. To create this type of heating system you will need the following materials:

• any thermal insulation material;
• wooden frame with a plywood bottom;
• black metal mesh;
• deflector;
• transparent polycarbonate sheet;
• several fans

The structure is assembled as follows:

• drill round holes in the ramp. They are cut through for air intake;
• to remove hot air we make rectangular holes at the top of the frame;
• We put thermal insulation material on its bottom. A metal black mesh will act as a heat accumulator;
• fans built into round holes;
• then we install the support strips for the deflector. After this, we install the deflector itself. It will shape the air flow;
• We install a transparent sheet on top.

It is really very simple to make a solar water heater with your own hands. But first you need to decide how the hot water will be used. The design of the water heater will depend on this. And it can be very simple. For example, an ordinary barrel of water on the roof of a small booth in the country. And at the bottom of this very barrel there is a divider inserted. This is an impromptu summer shower. Or the water heater can be very complex, using mirrors, vacuum tubes, pumps, solar panels.

Of course, if we are only talking about washing ourselves after working in the country garden, then, indeed, it is quite enough to install a barrel on a raised platform, paint it black, insert a shower divider into the bottom, and fill this barrel with water. This is the most primitive solar water heater, the water reserves of which are enough to take a shower after agricultural work on a summer cottage.

But a dacha, in fact, is not only a garden and a vegetable garden. A dacha is, first and foremost, a place to relax. And this place needs to be arranged in such a way that you can not only have a pleasant time here, but also live. Solar panels will provide the house with electricity, and solar water heaters will heat water for both domestic needs and for heating the house.

Types of Solar Water Heaters

Structurally, solar water heating systems can be divided into three types. These are systems with a flat collector, on vacuum tubes and on parabolic cylindrical concentrators. All of them are currently produced by industry. The operating principle of all systems is the same - the coolant is heated, which enters the heat exchanger of the expansion tank and gives off its heat to the water.

The simplest is a solar water heating system based on a flat-plate collector. In its simplest form, this system consists of one or more flat-plate collectors and an expansion tank. The collectors are located below the tank.

According to the laws of convection, water heated in the collector rises into the tank, and cold water from the tank falls into the collector. This is the so-called non-pressure principle of hot water supply. But, as a rule, solar collectors are installed above the tank, and in this case the convection circulation of water does not work, so it is necessary to install a water pump in the system to supply cold water to the heating zone.

Diagram of a simple solar water heating system

The most efficient water heating system is based on vacuum tubes. The vacuum tube is a structure of two tubes inserted into one another. The outer tube is glass, the inner one is made of copper, and its upper part is slightly wider than the main one and is sealed.

This copper tube is coated with black heat-resistant paint. Air is pumped out from the space between these tubes to ensure the best thermal insulation. The inner tube contains a low-boiling liquid.

Under the influence of solar radiation, the copper tube heats up, the liquid in it evaporates, the steam rises, heating the tip of the tube. The tip can heat up to 250°C. It is inserted into the pipe through which the coolant circulates. Giving up heat to the coolant, the steam in the copper tube condenses, and the cooled liquid falls down the walls. The cycle repeats endlessly. The coolant enters the heat exchanger of the tank, heating the water in it.

Vacuum tube diagram

Unlike solar collectors, in which vacuum tubes serve as heating elements, in parabolic-cylindrical concentrators the heating zone is at the focus of a long parabolic mirror. The temperature at the focus of this mirror can reach 300°C. The heated coolant circulating in the system enters the heat exchanger of the expansion tank, heating the water in it.

The disadvantage of such a solar water heating system is the need to position a parabolic mirror in the sun. Industrial systems are equipped with sun tracking devices and actuators that rotate the mirror.

Diagram of a solar water heater with a parabolic cylindrical concentrator

Homemade solar water heaters

For a dacha with just one light summer house, where people come only in the warm season and only on weekends, there is no point in building a capital hot water supply system. To make a solar water heating system here will not require much time or money.

To build a solar collector you will need boards measuring 200x15x2 cm, fiberboard, tempered glass, a sheet of tin or roofing iron measuring 2x1 meter, wooden blocks 5x5 cm 1 meter long, copper tube, polystyrene foam, black heat-resistant paint, “Sealant” glue.

Sectional view of a flat-plate collector

First, a box measuring 2x1 meter is made from boards. The bottom of the box is made from fiberboard. For strength, crossbars made of bars are nailed in two places. All joints of the outer walls of the box are carefully treated with “Sealant” glue. Then thermal insulation – polystyrene foam – is placed on the bottom of the box. A flat coil bent from a copper tube is rigidly attached to a sheet of tin.

To prevent creases on the tube when bending, you must first pour ordinary salt into it, which is then easily washed out. As such a coil, you can use a coil from an old refrigerator. It will first need to be thoroughly rinsed to remove freon residues.

Homemade flat collector based on a heating battery

Then this sheet of tin with a coil is mounted in a box on stiffening bars. The ends of the coil are brought out into specially drilled holes in the box. Then this entire structure is coated from the inside with black heat-resistant paint. Preferably in two layers. After the paint has dried, the box is covered with glass. All joints, seams, openings with the coil pipes exposed are carefully sealed. The outside of the box is coated with silver paint. The solar collector is ready.

Homemade flat solar collector for heating pool water

Now it’s the turn of the expansion tank. What to make a tank with a capacity of 100 - 120 liters from does not really matter. It is important that this tank is carefully covered with a layer of thermal insulation. At the bottom of the tank there is a spiral-shaped copper heat exchanger coil, which is connected to the manifold by pipes. The tank itself will be filled with water from the main line.

The water level in the tank should be controlled by a float valve. After the collector is permanently installed in a place with maximum sun exposure, it is connected to the heat exchanger coil in the tank. A low-power water pump is connected to the coolant circuit to ensure circulation. After all preparatory work is completed, water with antifreeze is poured into the collector system so that the coolant does not turn into ice during possible night frosts. The hot water system is ready for use.

For a dacha with more serious communications, a more thorough water heating system will be required. After all, hot water may be needed here, for example, for a swimming pool, a greenhouse, or for heating a house in winter. In this case, it is advisable to use sets of vacuum tubes as collectors. Even in winter, in idle mode, the temperature at the tip of such a tube exceeds 200°C.

Connecting vacuum tubes to the coolant circuit

Otherwise, the design of the hot water supply system is no different from a system with a flat collector.

Making a helium heater with your own hands is not at all difficult. This will be much cheaper than similar industrial products, the cost of which for the simplest ones is 35 - 40 thousand rubles. The cost of complex systems can reach several hundred thousand rubles. A well-made manifold with your own hands will heat water no worse than a branded one, but will cost much less.

A solar water heater is also called a solar collector. It serves to heat running water.
The simplest solar heater is a barrel painted black and filled with water. Black color absorbs solar energy better than other colors and converts it into heat. As a result, the water in the barrel will heat up.

Naturally, this is the most primitive way of collecting thermal energy from the sun. I'll show you how to make a portable solar water heater, a simple design using readily available parts that you can easily buy at any hardware store. This water heater will be efficient and very easy to make.

What is a solar water heater?

The solar collector is a copper tube, twisted in a spiral, enclosed in a rectangular housing with one transparent wall. The water heater is light in weight and small in size, so it can be easily transported, for which a carrying handle is screwed on the side.

What is the purpose of this solar water heater?

I personally use a solar water heater to quickly heat the water in the pool. Since it can also operate in winter, it can even be used for heating during the day.

Advantages of solar water heating

- Everything is free, helps save energy.
- The solar collector also works in winter, but with less efficiency.
- Does not require special costs for the manufacture of equipment.
- Pumps that drive water can also be powered from the sun using solar panels.

Solar collector manufacturing process

We will need:
- A coil of copper tube 15 meters long and 6 mm in diameter.
- Plastic cable ties (nylon ties).
- Plywood for the back wall.
- Wooden blocks and slats for side walls and glass fastening.
- Plexiglas or organic glass.
- Black spray paint.
- Fasteners (nails, screws, self-tapping screws).
- Adapter fitting for copper pipe.
Perhaps I missed something else.

So, it is necessary to lay out the tube in one layer with a small indentation in order to estimate the dimensions of the future solar collector. Or you can immediately take a certain size of the box, and then cut off the extra tube.

After the size has been chosen, draw lines along and across with a pencil. These will be the lines for attaching the tube. We unfold the handset. We drill holes according to the diameter of the clamps and fasten the tube with them, see photo.

So we gradually secure the entire skein. Then we cut off the protruding parts of the clamps with wire cutters. The plywood on which our coil is now located is not the back of the housing. We will make the body separately, and we will put this panel there.

We assemble a box under the panel with a coil.

We put our plywood with a coil into this box. If you plan to use the collector in the winter, I recommend placing insulation between the back wall and the plywood with a coil.

We drill holes in the side bars for the tube to come out.

We nail the slats along the inside on which the glass will lie.

We measure the glass so that everything is flush, without unnecessary grooves.

We screw the adapters under the garden hose.

I screw on the handle for carrying and transportation.

Spray paint the inside surface.

Cover with glass.

We connect a hose with water and apply a little pressure.

On a sunny day, the outgoing water at medium pressure can heat up to about 75 degrees Celsius.

The result of the work

The solar water heater does a good job of heating water without too much complexity, so I recommend trying it again.
Such panels can be arranged in groups, then the efficiency of such a system will be many times greater.
Large garden pools have a self-contained water filtration system that operates continuously. By including a water heater in this system, you will not lose anything, and the water in the pool will always be warm. And in general, the entire pool can be in the shade, and the solar collector in the sun.

Video of building a solar water heater with your own hands

Heating by several panels, using not a copper tube, but a rubber garden hose. The efficiency is of course lower, due to the poor heat conduction of the garden hose.

This solar collector was designed by the author himself based on an old heating radiator. The solar collector allows you to use hot water in the summer, which is heated by natural heat from the sun's rays. This design will be especially useful in a country house where hot water is not usually supplied.

The following materials were used to create the solar collector:

1) Old flat heating radiators, two pieces.
2) sheets of metal or tin
3) metal-plastic pipes
4) taps
5) fittings
6) window glass
7) two barrels with a capacity of 160 liters

Let's consider the main stages of creating a solar collector based on an old heating radiator.

First, you need to get acquainted with the basic operating principle of this water heater model. Cold water is pumped into the tank from the well; for this, the author installed a pumping station. Water is supplied to the tank through a tap, which allows you to regulate the water level in the tank.

After heating, hot water flows directly into the bathtub without a tap, since the water in the tank is not under pressure. Thus, hot water flows into the bath itself when the tap is opened.

On the roof of the house, the author installed two radiators so that the top of the radiator was a level lower than the storage tank. Also, for the purpose of natural circulation of water, the water supply pipes from the storage tank are installed at an angle, towards the radiators.

Due to the fact that the tube through which heated water enters the tank was connected just above the middle of the tank, the heated and hot water always accumulates at the top of the storage tank.

Thus, in the summer, when the average air temperature in the shade is 25+ degrees, the water in the tank can heat up to 50-60 degrees per day.

The author also made a simple manipulation with the barrel so that it would retain heat throughout the night and the water would still be warm in the morning. To do this, the barrel was wrapped in mineral wool and foil, after which the storage tank became a kind of large thermos.

Now about the design of the water heating system itself.
Two flat radiators were placed on the roof of the author's house.

For ease of fastening, two metal boxes were made of tin and metal sheets, into which the radiators were placed. The radiators in the boxes were covered with glass on top to protect them from wind and dirt. The author used two radiators at once in order to reduce the heating time of the water; accordingly, the more radiators, the faster the water will heat up from solar heat.

The top of radiators installed on the roof is below the level of the storage tank, so water heated by the sun naturally enters the tank. As expected, the water supply tubes from the tank are made with a downward slope towards the radiators.

Here you can see photographs of the manufacture of metal boxes for radiators:

This is how the radiator was placed in the box itself:

And here is a photo of a tank located in the attic of a house:

Since the author used fairly old heating radiators, which had been lying around idle for a long time, when the system was first started, rusty water flowed for quite a long time, but after the radiators were washed, the water quality returned to normal.

The author of the collector of this design also reminds that in winter, the water from the heating system must be drained. Therefore, it is worthwhile to provide special drainage valves at the bottom of the radiator. The best way to drain the water from the storage tank is to turn off the pumping station and then open the cold water supply tap. This way, all the water in the tank will drain out on its own. If you do not drain the water from the solar collector for the winter, then in frosty weather the structure will deform and become unusable. Although the collector itself is made of fairly cheap materials, with proper maintenance it can work for quite a long time.

Hot water in a country house or in a private home is a desirable luxury that not everyone can still boast of. Fortunately, you can create a solar water heater with your own hands at a minimum cost, which will provide the necessary amount of hot water and at the same time will be free to operate. A pleasant bonus is the environmental friendliness of such equipment.

What is a solar water heater?

There has long been a term for solar water heaters - solar collector. But since such factory-produced equipment costs around $300-400, it has not become widespread and is used only by a few. However, almost anyone can make a solar heater. At the same time, the savings are enormous; a homemade device will cost 10 times less.

The principle of operation of a solar water heater is incredibly simple: its dark (preferably black) surface heats up, that is, absorbs heat, and then releases it to the water. Most often, such structures are used in outdoor showers, and are also installed on the roofs of houses, connected to a washbasin in the kitchen or to the bathroom, if there is one.

It is noteworthy that the operation of a homemade solar collector does not require a pump and is not powered from the electrical network, that is, it is completely autonomous. To heat water, you only need the presence of the sun, and in Russia it regularly shines brightly 5-7 months a year. Even in winter, a homemade solar battery can heat water quite well.

The factory manifold is a rectangular black plate with a plastic or glass surface, inside of which there is a metal plate (flat-plate collector) or a heat exchanger - metal/plastic tubes with liquid (liquid collector). Since we need a water heater, the last option is ideal, and we will consider exactly the method of its manufacture.

Using a solar water heater, you can heat the water in the tank up to 50 degrees, and this is more than enough for washing dishes or hygiene procedures.

Solar water heater design

The structure of a solar water heater is incredibly simple:

Let us clarify that if the solar water heater is installed correctly, there is no need to use a pump. The movement of water is due to convection. The warm liquid itself rises up the system, giving way to cold water from the tank.

Creating a housing for a water heater

To be fair, let us clarify that the presence of a housing is, in principle, not necessary if the water heater is intended to be installed in one specific place forever. But since nothing lasts forever, and at different times of the year it is necessary to install the solar collector at different angles so that its surface is perpendicular to the sun’s rays, it is better to create a model with a housing. It doesn't require as much effort, and the benefits will be greater.

If the household has an unnecessary window frame, it is a ready-made housing for a solar water heater. If there is no frame, you can quickly make one yourself.

The first thing you need to decide is the size of the case. There are many options, but most often the width is 40-80 cm and the height is 60-200 cm. But you can choose any other parameters that are better suited to the intended conditions of use.

The frame can be conveniently made of plastic, metal or wood. Whatever you have on hand will do. In this case, the height of the profile should be 3-6 cm, so that there is enough space inside to secure the heat exchanger.

When the frame is ready, the bottom is attached to it: a sheet of metal, plastic, plywood, etc. to choose from.

Creation of an absorber

The absorber or absorber is essentially the bottom of our body. It has two jobs: to hold the heat exchanger in place and to absorb the sun's heat. To perform the absorption task better, it is worth doing the following:

• lay a layer of heat-insulating material on the bottom;
• lay a galvanized sheet on the thermal insulation (copper sheet is better, but it is much more expensive);
• paint the metal with matte black paint for better heat absorption.

When the paint is dry, we move on to creating a heat exchanger.

Heat Exchanger Options for Solar Water Heater

There are several options for heat exchangers when creating a solar collector:

• copper (metal) radiator;
• “snake” made of plastic pipe;
• cellular polypropylene with longitudinal cells.

The highest efficiency has a copper radiator, consisting of two copper pipes of inch diameter, between which there are many pipes of smaller diameter located parallel to each other (like a ladder).

But such a heat exchanger has many disadvantages: the high cost of copper, the complexity of creation (you have to solder all the tubes yourself or pay for the work of a welder).

To create a heat exchanger from polypropylene, an extruder is required, so in the end the product will also be expensive.

Therefore, for domestic use it is much more convenient to use a black plastic or metal-plastic pipe 1/2 inch in diameter. PEX or PEX-Al-PEX pipe is laid in a “snake” along the absorber, secured with staples. This installation with fixation can be done in just a few minutes.

The ends of the pipes are brought outside the body, couplings are installed on them, with the help of which the connection will be made to the pipes leading to the tank.

Glass for solar water heater

It is advisable, but not necessary, to cover the heater body with glass and caulk the frame. Sealing will retain more heat. If there is no struggle for every degree, this point can be omitted.

That's it: a DIY solar heater!

Choosing a place to install a solar collector

To get the best results, it is necessary to install the solar water heater correctly.

• The installation site must be in direct sunlight at all times of the day and not fall into the shade.
• The surface of the solar collector must be at right angles to the sun. In summer, the angle of inclination = latitude of the area + 15. In winter, the angle of inclination = latitude of the area – 15. In winter and spring, when the sun is low above the horizon, vertical installation is allowed.

If you need to heat water intermittently, the solar water heater can be easily dismantled and put away.

When all the necessary materials are at hand, creation will take literally a couple of hours. Good luck!

Do-it-yourself solar water heaters: making a solar collector

Hot water in a country house or in a private home is a desirable luxury that not everyone can still boast of. Fortunately, you can create a solar water heater with your own hands at a minimum cost that will provide the necessary amount of hot water…

Oil has fallen significantly in price; this is a political process, not an objective one. In the former Soviet republics, the growth of the dollar is so high that payments for heating, hot water, gasoline prices, etc. are rising. And there is no end in sight to this process. The future lies only with solar energy and renewable heat sources.

The sun warms the earth every day and is completely free. A simple calculation shows that with a monthly water consumption for washing of 100 liters per person, then heating it requires spending about 90 kWh per month or 1080 kWh per year.

At the same time, on a summer day in Kyiv in clear weather, the sun sends 1 kW*hour of energy per hour to an area of ​​1 m2, or an average of 8 kW*hour per day. Obviously, if you can use at least part of this free solar energy for hot water supply, you can get significant savings.

The simplest system for solar water supply at home is a heating tank. This is just a container for water that is heated during the day by the sun's rays.

external black collectors made of plastic pipes for heating water

However, such a simple solar heater is very effective for providing warm water in the summer and is widely used for the so-called “summer shower”.

Solar radiation map for Ukraine

The concept of solar activity in modern science is associated with the term “solar insolation”. Insolation refers to the amount of radiation received during one daylight hours, or, simply put, the degree of “irradiation” of 1 square meter. land for a specific period of time. In this context, you should not be afraid of the term “radiation”, since here solar radiation is a potentially useful energy resource and not a source of danger.

Specifics of measuring solar activity levels

The data necessary to calculate solar insolation is sent from NASA satellites. The obtained values ​​are reduced to a certain average, which makes it possible to systematize the information. The difficulty lies in the fact that it is impossible to accurately measure the amount of light falling on the ground, because the process of radiation exposure is influenced by many factors, for example:

• the height of the site above sea level and, accordingly, the distance of the sun from the area;
• time of year (also makes adjustments to the distance of the sun from the earth);
• weather conditions (cloudiness, fog, etc.);
• angle of incidence of sunlight (varies by time of day).

Even when all of the above factors are taken into account, the resulting value cannot be considered universal. Any surface that prevents direct sunlight from reaching the earth's surface will affect the accuracy of the solar activity data obtained. Even such small details as the presence of fences on the territory are important.

From this point of view, the most attractive are Zaporozhye, Dnepropetrovsk and Lugansk regions, as well as the resorts of Odessa, Kherson and Simferopol. Indicators of 5 kWh/m2/day are considered a high level of activity, and in the listed territories in the summer the coefficient often exceeds 6 units (the record holders here are Nikolaev and Kherson with indicators of 6.03 and 6.04, respectively). But even in colder periods, installing solar collectors will not be superfluous: the average degree of irradiation per year varies from 3.34 units in Lugansk to 3.58 in Simferopol.

Solar panels, however, will be less effective outside the coastal zone. The average figures for Ukraine are comparable to the solar activity coefficient in northern Helsinki: 2.8 versus 2.41 kWh/m2/day. The most unfavorable regions for the development of solar energy are Ivano-Frankivsk and Chernivtsi, where the annual average does not exceed 2.99 kWh/m2/day.

Do-it-yourself solar water heater using improvised means

If the heating tank is equipped with a reservoir for storing warm water, then you can get an even more efficient solar heating installation that will supply you with warm water in the summer and will pay for itself in a couple of seasons. Let's take a closer look at this solar water heater.

The most important part of the solar system is, of course, the heating tank itself. This can be any container for water, for example, a steel cube, a barrel or several large diameter pipes.

It is best to use a special summer shower tank made of polyethylene with a volume of 200-300 liters for this purpose. This tank has a flat shape that is efficient for heating, does not rust, is painted black for better heat absorption and, due to its light weight, can be easily mounted on the roof.

If such a tank is simply placed in direct sunlight, then on a hot sunny day the water in it heats up to 40-45 ºС by the end of the day, which is quite enough for domestic needs. But if warm water is not used in the evening, then overnight, by morning it will cool down. Thus, warm water cannot be used around the clock. Obviously, to eliminate this drawback, it is necessary to “stop” heat loss from heated water. This can be done either by insulating the heating tank at the end of the day, or by draining warm water into an insulated container.

Considering that most private households use gas and electric boilers, it is beneficial to use them to store warm water from a heating tank. Also, unlike insulating a heating tank, the draining process is less labor-intensive; there is no need to climb to the location where the tank is installed. Moreover, since on a cloudy day the water in the heating tank heats up only to 25-30 ºС, it will have to be reheated in any case.

The figure shows a diagram of the operation of the simplest system for heating water by the sun, which you can assemble with your own hands. The water heating system consists of a heating tank, a boiler, and a water supply with three taps. First, tap (3) is closed, taps (1) and (2) are open. Water from the pressure pipe (blue color) is supplied to the heating tank. After filling the tank, the pressure water supply is closed with a tap (1). At the end of the day, when the water in the heating tank heats up and needs to be drained into the boiler, the tap (3) is opened to do this. If the heating tank does not need to be used, then you can simply close the tap (2) and the boiler is used as usual.

It is convenient to control the degree of filling of the tank with a water level sensor, which can be mounted on the tank lid. For plumbing, metal-plastic or polypropylene pipes for cold water are well suited (since the system has low pressure).

This method of heating water is extremely simple, but it has two serious disadvantages:

– the heating tank must be filled and drained daily;

– you can get heated water only in warm weather, when the air temperature is above +20 ºС.

Passive solar water heater

To heat water with solar heat not only in warm weather, but also in cooler off-seasons (March, April, September, October), a heating tank cannot be used due to too high heat losses. To do this, it will have to be replaced with a more efficient solar collector. On the Internet you can find many descriptions of effective active solar systems that require the use of automation. But let’s consider the simplest and most convenient passive solar water heater system, that is, one that works on its own without the use of a pump.

First of all, you need to make a solar collector. If we analyze the many known designs of solar collectors, we can come to the conclusion that the determining factor for the reliability, cost and ease of assembly of a solar collector is the material of its heat exchanger. Metal pipes, for example, thin-walled copper or steel, are considered the most reliable, but they are expensive and their assembly is labor-intensive. In addition, a heat exchanger with metal pipes has significant weight, which requires a durable box and complicates installation.

Heat exchangers made of polypropylene and metal-plastic pipes are more convenient and cheaper, but thermal deformations when heated by the sun and a large number of connections increase the likelihood of leakage and also increase the complexity of assembly.

A heat exchanger made from a garden hose does not have all these disadvantages. Its assembly consists only in the fact that the hose needs to be smoked in the form of a spiral. The absence of connections and the flexibility of the hose guarantees the absence of leaks, and the length of the hose allows water to be supplied directly from the collector to the pipeline inside the house without intermediate connections.

The simplest solar collector made from a garden hose is shown in the figure. It consists of window glass (1), a hose (2) and polystyrene foam as thermal insulation and base (3). The principle of its operation is very simple - short-wave solar radiation passes through the glass and heats the hose with water. The heated hose begins to emit radiation in the long-wave spectrum, which is significantly reflected by the glass. Thus, the sun's rays fall into the so-called “heat trap”. When installing a solar collector, the optimal tilt angle will be 35º in summer and 40º in spring and autumn.

The figure shows a diagram of connecting the solar collector to the boiler. Before heating water with the solar collector, it is necessary to fill the hose with water and displace the air from it. To do this, close the tap (2) and open the hot tap of the plumbing fixture (6) to drain the water. Water from the pressure pipe (1) begins to flow into the solar collector (4). Once air bubbles stop mixing in the drain water, it means there are no air pockets in the collector. Next, tap 2 opens and cold water from the boiler, under the influence of the thermosiphon effect (when the collector is heated by the sun), begins to flow into the collector. To turn off the solar collector and use heated water or operate the boiler in normal mode, you need to close the tap (3).

As you can see, the operation of this boiler does not require complex and expensive equipment; the only disadvantage of such a simple system is that you need to periodically turn on and off the water supply to the solar collector using a tap (3). In cloudy weather, water is heated partially by such a solar collector; the rest will be “heated” by the boiler, which still results in savings. Keep in mind that in cloudy weather or in the off-season, the boiler will have to be turned on for heating at the end of the day, that is, when the water in the collector is no longer heated. Otherwise, when the water in the collector is heated by the heating element, it will stop circulating.

To calculate the required performance of a solar heater, you need to take into account that 1 meter of hose with an outer diameter of 25 mm on a clear day at +25 ºС heats 3.5 liters of hot (up to + 45 ºС) water. And at +32 ºС it heats 3.5 liters of hot water to + 50 ºС. The number of average hours of sunshine throughout the year for the city of Kyiv is shown in Table 1.

For example, with a hose length in the collector of 10 m in May, the productivity of the solar collector will be 3.5 l * 10 m * 8 h = 280 liters of hot water per day.

The lower limit of the outside air temperature at which savings are observed in clear weather will be +5 to +8 ºС. When it freezes, it is best to drain the water from the collector, although this design is freeze-resistant.

The hose for such a solar water heater is made of rubber or reinforced PVC. The internal diameter of the hose should not be less than 19 mm, or more. But if the diameter is smaller, the hydraulic resistance of the system increases significantly, which slows down the natural mixing of water due to the thermosiphon effect. Also, writes iBud.ua, it is not advisable to choose a hose with a wall thickness of less than 2.5 mm, since a hose with thin walls does not hold its shape well and often bends. A garden hose is not expensive. Thus, a reinforced PVC hose with an internal diameter of 19 mm and a wall thickness of 3 mm, depending on the manufacturer, costs from $2 to $3 per meter.

It is preferable to choose a black or dark colored hose for better heat absorption. The difference, however, is not very big. For example, a white hose absorbs solar heat about 5% worse than a black one. But an additional 5% will not be superfluous.

To mix water using the thermosiphon effect, the shape of the hose itself does not matter, since the water in the hose is evenly heated, what is important is the difference in levels between the cold water in the boiler and the hot water in the collector. Therefore, in order for a stable thermosiphon effect to occur, the boiler must be raised above the top of the solar collector by at least 60 cm. You should also try to reduce the length of the supply pipeline as much as possible, since the longer the pipes, the greater the friction force that prevents water from flowing from the collector to storage tank (boiler).

To reduce heat loss by convention, the back of the hose is insulated with foam plastic. It is also necessary to seal the gap between the glass and the foam. To do this, you can place a soft foam pad between the glass and the foam, or glue the glass and the foam together with water-based glue (adhesives with an organic solvent can dissolve the foam). For example, you can use foam glue or PVA glue.

To fix the shape of the solar heater hose in the form of a spiral, it is tied to some kind of tube or bar. To attach it to the foam, you just need to tie it.

Window glass must be used. Plexiglas or polymer film are not suitable, since they block long-wave radiation very poorly. There should be a gap of 12-20 mm between the glass and the surface of the hose. The glass should not have reflective selective coatings (i-glass); such glass reflects a significant portion of solar radiation.

When it comes to choosing between single and double glazing, there are two factors to consider. With double glazing there is less heat loss, but more sunlight reflection. And since the higher the ambient temperature, the less heat loss, it turns out:

– if the solar heater will be used mainly in the warm season, then single glazing is better;

- if it’s cool, then double becomes more profitable.

The hose outlets that go outside must be insulated to reduce heat loss. For thermal insulation inside a heated room and for water pipes no more than 3 m long, it is enough to use ordinary soft thermal insulation made of polyethylene foam for pipes.

For longer sections, as well as for thermal insulation of external pipelines, it is necessary to use more powerful rigid thermal insulation for pipes made of foiled polyurethane foam.

You can connect the hose to the pipeline using a rubber pipe clamp; to do this, the hose is tightly put on the pipe and clamped with a clamp. It is optimal that the inner diameter of the hose is equal to the diameter of the pipe on which it will be put on.

The described design of a passive solar heater with a collector can save up to 80% of energy for hot water supply in summer and up to 40% in spring and autumn, which will amount to about 400 kWh of energy saved per person per year.

On approximately 80% of the territory of Ukraine, the insolation level does not fall below 3 units, which in comparison with other European countries is a very promising result. This means that the installation of solar collectors can become a new milestone in the development of energy technologies in both Ukraine and other southern European regions.

DIY solar water heater, Green Way

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DIY solar water heater

How to make a solar water heater with your own hands

Traditional energy sources such as gas, coal, electricity are becoming more expensive every year. The energy of the sun is free, incalculable and inexhaustible. You just need to understand how it works and how it works. Calculate the benefits and understand the advantages of installing solar panels or collectors. In this article we will try to analyze all these points, consider the operation of a solar collector and tell you how to make a solar water heater yourself.

Installing a solar collector in a country house may well provide the people living there with hot water throughout the year. A solar system is a complex that includes in its design two identical blocks of solar collectors, as well as a front chamber and, of course, a storage tank. The solar system operates based on the greenhouse principle. That is, the energy of the sun passes unhindered through the glass and enters the dark space. Thus, solar energy is converted into thermal energy and is not able to escape from the solar installation to the outside. The water inside is heated under the influence of this same energy and, according to the laws of physics, rises up the system, displacing colder water and moving it to the place of heating. The thermal insulation system deserves special attention, thanks to which thermal energy can not only accumulate inside the installation, but also remain in it for a fairly long period of time.

It must be said that there are many different designs and options for water heaters of this type. However, as an example, we will consider not the most complex and, on the contrary, a simpler model that can be done with your own hands without much difficulty. This water heater is based on a special collector made in the form of a radiator made of U-shaped steel tubes. This radiator is made inside a wooden structure and looks like a box, the upper part of which is covered with transparent glass. Inch pipes are used to supply water to the water heater. For the grating, pipes of smaller diameter are used. For example, you can make a radiator from fifteen tubes, each of which will be about one and a half meters long. The boards for constructing the radiator box should be about fifteen centimeters wide and have a thickness of at least three centimeters. The bottom of the box can be made of hardboard, as well as other similar materials. The box structure is strengthened using wooden slats. Remember that in order for the water heater to operate more efficiently, it is necessary to insulate it as best as possible. To do this, you can use any materials you have on hand. Thermal insulation is laid directly on the bottom of the box, after which a tin sheet or a sheet of galvanized iron is fixed on top. The radiator itself is installed on top, which must be firmly fixed. The pipes and sheet that are at the bottom of the box will be properly painted black. On the outside, it is better to paint the box with silver, thereby reducing losses due to heat radiation. The glass surface of the box must be sealed with sealant. When assembling the structure, special attention must be paid to all connections and joints, the tightness of which can be achieved using special sealants, hemp and paint.

Any capacious container, be it a large tank, barrel or other container, can serve as a storage device. You can also use several of these containers, provided that they are all combined into one single common structure. The containers, like the main installation, must be painted silver. The optimal capacity of the storage tank is different in each case, however, on average it is about three hundred liters.

In order for there to be pressure in the water supply system of a country house, you will need a front chamber, which will serve as an expansion tank. You can make a primitive front chamber using any convenient container, the capacity of which is about 30-40 liters. Its automatic operation should be ensured by installing a float-valve system in it, which operates on the principle of a flush tank.

The most convenient and rational place to place a storage device and a front camera is in the attic of a country house. The containers must be in a special heat-insulating box. Before you begin installing containers in the attic, make sure that the ceilings can support the weight of a full tank of water. The fore-chamber is installed in close proximity to the storage tank and is mounted so that the water level in it is 80-100 centimeters higher than the water level in the storage tank. The solar collectors themselves must be placed on the south side of the roof of a country house at an angle of about 30-45 degrees to the horizon.

As mentioned above, the elements of a homemade solar installation are connected into a single whole using inch and half-inch pipes. Half-inch pipes are used for installing parts of the system that are responsible for the input of cold water, connections to the anterior chamber, as well as the output of already heated water from the storage tank. Inch pipes are used to install the low-pressure parts of the solar water heater. When installing the system, it is necessary to pay special attention to its tightness and ensuring that there are no air pockets in it.

After installation of the entire system, the pipes must be wrapped with some practical and modern thermal insulation material, after which they must be coated with silver. The assembled system is filled with water through drainage valves specially equipped at the bottom of the radiators. The system is filled until water begins to flow from the drainage pipe of the anterior chamber. This option of filling the system eliminates the appearance of air pockets in it.

At the next stage, it is necessary to connect the anterior chamber to the cold water inlet and open the flow valve. If the system is assembled correctly, the water level in the fore-chamber should begin to decrease, thereby opening the float valve. The required water level in the fore-chamber can be achieved by bending the float rod in a small arc.

As soon as the system is completely filled with water, the radiators will begin to heat it. Heating and, accordingly, circulation in the water system occurs constantly until the temperature in the entire system is leveled and becomes the same as at the outlet from the radiators. As warm water is consumed, the valve will operate, thereby opening the intake of a new batch of cold water, which will immediately begin to circulate and heat up. It is interesting that the cold water that has recently entered the system does not in any way mix with the warm heated water.

When there is no sun in the sky, that is, at night or on cloudy days, in order to avoid heat loss, it is necessary to provide a special valve in advance, closing which can prevent the outflow of warm water in the opposite direction.

If the temperature of the heated water is not enough, then you can try to increase the performance of the system by introducing additional sections of tubes into the radiators.

What are the advantages of a solar water heater and how to make one yourself?

Using solar heat to heat water is not a new invention, but is still widely used today.

Probably everyone knows the “summer shower” installed on a huge number of summer cottages.

But for some unknown reason, few owners of such “solar water heaters” think about improving this device.

After all, even an ordinary plastic film stretched over a frame around a barrel of water will create a kind of “greenhouse” and significantly increase the heating rate.

And during the day the weather can change dramatically.

It turns out that the water heated in the barrel will cool down without bringing any benefit.

There are several manufacturing options, but their operating principle is identical.

Let's look at one of the simplest variations.

The installation diagram of a solar water heater is shown in the figure.

The main design elements of a water heater are a solar collector and a water storage tank.

They can be installed either as a single copy or to create a chain of 2-3 collectors or the same number of barrels.

As a result of thermal convection, water heated in the radiator rises to the storage tank, from where it can be taken for domestic needs.

The collector is a heat-insulated box, glazed on one side.

The heat exchanger pipes are located inside it.

The radiator can be manufactured in two ways: in the form of a grille or a coil.

It is quite problematic to bend a pipe into a coil shape yourself, but if you have an old unnecessary refrigerator, you can remove the already bent pipes from it.

If you make the grating yourself, you should take into account the thermal conductivity of the pipes.

It is best to use thin-walled pipes (material thickness up to 1.5 mm) with a diameter of 15-20 mm.

The total number of pipes per grid is 15-21, length is 1.6 m.

To connect them, tees of suitable size are used.

The optimal supply pipes are water pipes with an inch or ¾ diameter.

Due to the fact that the total surface area of ​​the pipes is very small, a large amount of sunlight is simply not used.

To increase efficiency, thin metal plates are used adjacent to the radiator grille.

The pipes and absorber must fit together as closely as possible.

A good option would be to use thermal paste.

For greater efficiency, metal sheets and pipes are painted with dark paint.

The collector box is made of boards 25-30 mm thick, and a sheet of moisture-resistant plywood or hardboard is suitable for the bottom.

You can also use aluminum sheets for manufacturing.

The pipes in the box are secured with clamps.

The top of the box is closed with glass or polycarbonate, and all seams are sealed.

A 200-300 liter tank is suitable as a storage tank.

To reduce heat loss, it is advisable to insulate it.

For example, you can build a plywood or wooden box around the tank, and fill the space between the walls with any heat-saving material.

Anything from straw to mineral wool will be suitable for this purpose.

Since at night and in the evening the temperature outside drops noticeably, the heat from the tank will escape into the environment, and the water will begin to fall back into the radiator.

To avoid this, you need to install a shut-off valve and turn it off in cool weather.

The water in the tank can have a temperature of up to 70°C, so it is recommended to install a mixer to which a pipe with cold water and warm water from the tank is connected.

The entire system is assembled as follows.

All elements of the collector are connected: a layer of insulation is placed in the box, then absorber sheets and radiator pipes.

The last stage is glazing and sealing the seams.

The optimal angle of inclination of the structure relative to the Sun is 10-30°.

A water heater's water collector with pipes connected to it is fixed to the roof of the house or a special frame-rack for better heating from solar energy.

Both parts of the structure are connected, ensuring the flow of cold water into the solar collector.

All threaded connections are treated with sealant.

Approximate prices for solar water heater design elements:

1. 3 tubes of silicone sealant – 150 rubles.
2. Galvanized sheet for the absorber - 300 rubles.
3. Insulation - from 150 rubles depending on the type.
4. Copper pipes - from 100 rubles, refrigerator coil - free.

Thus, by spending a day or two on making the structure, as well as a small amount on purchasing materials, you can make a solar water heater for your country house, which will be the envy of many neighbors.

Using a DIY solar water heater in your dacha

In summer, the need to freshen up and take a shower is greater than ever. But doing this at a summer cottage can be somewhat problematic. For such cases it will be about