Off Grid Solar Shower And Compost Toilet Part Part 8 Testing

[@anuverun6762]

New t-shirt design suggestion: "Sorry about the wind" -Kris Harbour Thanks for the great content again, your videos are excellent!

[@tardismole]

LOL What can I say. It's Wales. We have dragons. They cause a bit of a draught. :D

[@Berkeloid0]

Could also be an appropriate sign for the toilet door

[@kgal63]

😀😀😀😀😀

[@sarahdeason493]

@@Berkeloid0 ha

[@chrisn6719]

Keep doing what you are doing. It is inspiring.

[@PitchUpCampsiteReviews]

Reduction in your pipe diameter and increasing of the area that is getting the sunlight will increase heating efficiency because the water is spread over a greater area receiving heat but still the same volume. This would be a good solution to use for when the sun gets lower and temperature drops. That may allow you to have two header tanks one hot one cold and have it whatever temperature you want because it should easily bring water close to boiling point. Great video.

[@MaxUgly]

I am picturing a very long coil of that thin copper line used for a refrigerator. Would it be possible for the glass to act a a lens? Maybe use a slightly out of focus fresnal lens.

[@briha3142]

I’m thinking that a bunch of those 1/4” copper tubing coils (leaving them in their coiled stance) could be all over that roof, (on both sides), out in the open, filled with water that is waiting to come out of the hot water side of the shower faucet, and then have the cold water side of the shower coming directly from the tank, that way you can control the mix of hot and cold water! Use the pump to JUST get the water into the tank, and gravity feed the coiled copper tubings as well as the cold side of the shower faucet, as gravity will naturally flow water from BOTH the hot and cold lines! Very inspiring! Thanks for posting as it gives others a way to think of alternative options!

[@Trooner1987]

I'm just imagining somebody coming by and seeing a butt-naked mid 30's man standing on a ladder measuring the temperature of his roof tank. Ô_ô

[@Crewsy]

Title says shower and toilet testing. I for one am glad there was no footage of the toilet being tested. 😂🤣😂🤣 Nothing wrong with that temperature for a shower after a day of working in the heat and humidity. It actually helps lower your core temperature. Of course damming up a section of your stream to create a pool of water can do the same thing especially if you have several volunteers helping out.

[@What..a..shambles]

I like it, I can remember my caravan showers, the water was carried uphill in 5ltr containers for a start 😅 that water source is such a blessing 👍🏻

[@adddude7524]

Hey Kris I suspect that the solar heater output pipe should be just at/below the water line of the tank. Those 5 cm height may be too much gravity for the thermal expansion pump process.

[@dper1112]

This. The solar heater input should be near the bottom of the tank and the output should be near the top of the tank but still clearly under water. The warm water is less dense and rises, but you cannot expect to find any visible height change in that system.

[@richardfield7266]

Love what you're achieving mate. Watching here in Shropshire and taking a lot of inspiration from your vids. Look up solar furnaces, I am about to embark on a big one for an outdoor studio i am constructing, I think you would find some great ideas to improve your solar shower quickly and cheaply. My suggestion would be to add a fine copper or aluminium screen inside your panel to increase the heat captured from the sun, or what I am going to try is wrapping the solar screen in copper wires like a basket to collect more heat. Secondly I would definitely insulate the inside of your box to maximise efficiency. Some people find they can get these pipes inside the panel so hot, the solder can melt in the joins. I would say your 80% there but only at 20-30% of possible efficiency at this point. Don't want to sound like I am teaching granny to suck eggs mate, but after so much effort I believe you could make a huge improvement with these very minor changes mate. Good luck and keep up with your videos, just love how you think.

[@tonysaberwal8895]

I cannot believe the trouble and hard work you undertake to live off grid. Wish you the very best.

[@gailhowes9398]

Never say sorry about the wind Kris it’s just natural 🤗😏. You both are such nice people and I love how you are so inventive!

[@alfredbucket848]

insulate the solar collector, insulate all pipes, insulate the tank. change the tap system to a pull chain on a spring (pull to flow, let go to stop) with a cold mix tap? Three panels, E,S,W. Enclose the shower and bath to reduce wind, with tilt- able/removeable 'windows' for hot days and closed for cold days. Maybe even add underfloor heating? Coiling the supply pipe on the ground (in the sun) can add a significant amount of heat to the system. Hot showers on the coldest days should be the target?

[@tardismole]

Colour me impressed. I'd never have thought of half of the things you've done. :)

[@twotone3070]

A friend of mine heated his out door swimming pool simply by filling it through 50ft of plastic hose laid out on a flat garage roof in the feed to the pool. Sadly I suspect the large bore black plastic pipe in the sun has as much heating effect as the panel. We've had commercially available panels on our SW facing roof since 1984 providing our summer hot water and preheat the tank during the winter. Insulation of the tank has a greater importance than is being shown here, the wind chill up there must be quite significant. Having said this, I wouldn't want to take away from Kris's achievements, which are immense.

[@DrGonzosCondiments]

cold showers develop character! love the progress!!!

[@jdaley197931]

Nice work. You may want to try a manifold and heat pipe design for the solar panel collector. That way you have pipes that stay hot and the water being heated only flows over the end of the heated pipes hopefully giving more heat to the storage tank. I'm in the process of making a heat pipe collector, I'll let you know if it works :-)

[@waterboy8999]

Hi Kris, I think you're great. With all that firewood I think you could have built a little stove to heat the water. Keep up the good work.

[@2e0lgz]

Usually if you face panels to the south it gets the full east to west coverage from the sun rising and falling in the evening not telling you what to do im just saying but well done Kris i’d say another success 👍

[@AndyFletcherX31]

If you can't get enough output from the thermal panel just add a solar PV panel and a 24V immersion heater to the tank. Saves messing around with piping and pumps.

[@cameronheath1663]

not to be a dick but i think that defeats the objective

[@fxm5715]

@@cameronheath1663 It's an, 'off-grid solar shower." Sure, PV is technically less efficient than direct heating, but PV has gotten cheap enough to make it practical, and there's a lot to be said for the simplicity and reliability of it. Plus Chris seems perfectly happy using PV power in other ways, including running the pump on this very system. I've got 300 watts of PV heating my standard 40 gallon electric water heater tank about 6 months of the year. By adding a couple more panels to it before winter, I'm hoping I can manage year-round. It's very doable, and has a quick return on investment.

[@davelawson2564]

@@fxm5715 Agree, Its costs lot less than say 5-10 years and doable

[@davelawson2564]

@@fxm5715 but its dumb idea to add solar panel if you only want to heat water. Just add solar thermal water heaters. costs less and more efficient

[@fxm5715]

@@davelawson2564 I don't think it's a dumb idea, having chosen to do it myself. :) In fact I specifically chose to do it on a system designed only for heating water. For me, reliability and low maintenance were key considerations. The PV cost isn't that much more than solar thermal, if you're considering components that should last for decades, and the efficiency really isn't a factor unless you're dealing with limited space. I've built and maintained solar thermal panels for another project, and I have to say that dealing with a few 24v wires and a couple of thermal switches is sooo much easier than pipes, pumps, relays, bleeder valves, flow-back designs or antifreeze, leaks, etc. But ultimately, whatever system you're motivated enough to build and use is a good system!

[@riobrasilsambashowssambist1453]

I love watching these videos n case i lived another life

[@drjonritz]

Kris, I've been binge watching your videos (thank you so much, I could go on and on). One product I'm very curious about: Thermoguard paint (ceraminc additive) and maybe their aluminum flake paint as well. It occurred to me when you were painting pipes black and wrapping them in black. I don't have experience with it, but have been strongly considering it the next time I repaint. It'd be awesome if you could demonstrate it since you are super-adept at instrumentation. For example, I'd be considering it on any surface I want to insulate, as long as it can take paint.

[@NOWUNITEDUPDATES]

Just finished watching all of your Videos, This is the first notification I got. Have a great day Kris, Watching from Philippines 🇵🇭

[@2002van]

Back home in some places we used to have "lluvero de alcohol" looks like a plate on the bottom with some pipe on top. You have to put alcohol in the plate, ignate it and it heat the pipe while water pass thru. Kind of sketchy but effective and cheap.

[@Hagar2670]

Your attitude is so positive it's inspiring.. Other ideas for solar water heaters: Old radiators painted MATT black (stove paint) suck up a lot of heat and do away with the need for boxes and glass. I think that a tight coil of 1/2 inch black plastic pipe in the box with glass would be more effective and cheaper than the copper pipe solution. Also quicker and easier to make :-) On the subject of solar heaters, have you seen the beer-can air heaters, Thinking a bit of warm in the shed might be a nice thing for you in the winter months....

[@NorthernScrub]

Might be worth sticking a resistor between the pump and the panel, knock the pumping capacity down a bit. I reckon by at least half. At the moment I reckon the water isn't spending enough time in the heater to effectively draw heat.

[@Sqtgdog]

Maybe you could try reinstalling the pump inside the tank. Capture what little heat it's creating and keep it in the water. 10 watts is 10 watts. Fall/Winter will present some interesting data on how well this works :) Do you see increased insulation on the tank as being potentially beneficial? Any thoughts on adding a temp sensor trigger to a solenoid for the gravity fed water as a method to keep the temp under scalding via dilution?

[@reneebrown5598]

This is a beautifully made shower system. Being the water is so cold and the time is so short to heat it you might want to try adding another solar water heater faced the other direction so you can harvest heat from before and after lunch. It should help it warm more and longer as well.

[@Davidnumber23]

cats in cat heaven

[@HarrisIrfaan]

Well done in doing what we wish we were doing! U need to find an old used small electric insulated hot water cylinder they get thrown out a lot. You need to secure and contain your heat. Lea e the old faulty element in just to keep it bunged.

[@jamesrose1974]

Great job! Also, love the tats! They're very cool!

[@pietje961]

Hey Kris, I made a solarboiler from an old disign-radiator, free heating-waterpump, thermostatic switch and a buffer-vassel. In a box, painted black with glas on it. The water coming out has a temparture of 60º C. So nice to shower from the sun with most free parts!

[@frederickbowdler8169]

That is a great idea and copper is unnecessary if you don't mind a bit of rusty water thanks.

[@sroberts605]

Interesting, but again, where do you live? I imagine there are very different outcomes according to latitude?

[@grahamrdyer6322]

I would make the solar collector 3 to 4 times the size and you could use it as a porch roof that way you would have hot water in winter and a rain cover as well, if the water got to hot in summer you could mix it with a bit of cold water from your now buried in pipe (which now won't freeze in winter)from the spring, I know it's the cost of all that extra pipe, worth a thought maybe Kris.

[@robbieking8445]

I Installed 2 Solar thermal panels(the type with the tubes) on my mums house a couple of months ago, and It's so freakin' good. I've yet to see the temperature in the water tank drop below 30°c.

[@sroberts605]

Where do you live though!

[@MineFeeder]

Been watching since the start of the roundhouse. Keep it up man, you inspire me

[@bjrn-oskarrnning2740]

FWIW, we have a heating system similar to this at our cabin. It's just a black plastic hose, partially in shade, but it's several hundred meters long. In the middle of summer it gains about enough heat for a decent shower. To be fair, the water is pretty cold to begin with (snow melt). So I think you might have to expand the radiator a lot more. Maybe even get an actual radiator and paint it black.

[@Colin_Barnes]

I love watching your videos!

[@Falky1]

She's a caaaaat, she does what she waaants! Love her. Everything coming along nicely Kris, could you perhaps do a future plans video for after you've completed the shower and workshop?

[@mattwoodproperty]

I mentioned the distance from the panel to tank when you first did it and you mugged me off :-) keep up the good work mate

[@Nellyontheland]

Brings a new meaning to the term 'Squeeky Clean!'

[@radcow]

I love this channel I hope we can have a pint one day 👍👍👍👍

[@my_permaculture]

Doesnt the flow of a thermosyphont need to be closed in a sence, that the hot inflow to the tank needs to pe permanently submerged? I guess your superb shower should also work without pump and moving parts with that small adjustment.

[@kameljoe21]

Thermosiphon can work in a closed or open system, The open part is just so that no pressure builds up, This is the expansion part of it, I built an open system some years back, Video on my channel. In order for it to work you need to have a way to remove the heat so that the cooler water flows down and the hot water raises. This type of tank system could work, Yet it would take a while for it to build up heat and then once it reaches a point where there is not enough cool water it will stop until more energy is imputed. The small pump is more than enough to keep the water moving, Thus the more panels you add the faster the recovery time will be, One panel is enough for now, 3 more would be much better. I understand the reason for wanting them on the roof, Ground mount or some sort of pole mount would also work as well allowing for more panels. The winter time will be a bit harder as you will need more than 1 panel, 4 should be enough to keep the water warm enough to prevent freezing. I can not recall how insulated the tank is, The more insulation the better. The other type of system you can use is a flow back system, i think that is what it is called, Being that its solar direct, You have your tank at the lower levels, Then when there is power enough to run the pump it pumps the water up in to the panels until there is no more power being made. keeping it hot, Yet on a cool day it would in turn cool the water down, This is where a dc temperature controller would come in handy, Even a small enough battery to keep it stable enough to keep the voltage on the controller... when the temperature reaches what you set it, It will pump it up and back while you use another pump to take a shower. Very inexpensive for the cost. Also with the cost of solar being cheaper by the day and used panels being even cheaper, You can just install a couple electric water heaters and run some solar to them and you can have heat directed hot water. Used panels and even broken ones will do this trick,

[@montsyllg]

Hello Kris! Awesome job! I wonder if you could please upload another video with updates, I´m sure you´ve modified it a little bit more in the last couple of years and you enjoy nice hot showers by now. I´d like to know what do you do with the graywater that comes out of the shower? Also, could you please show how your compost toilet works? Thank you so much for sharing your work with the world, I look up to you and your creativity. Warm hugs from Mexico 😄

[@cragmc8386]

Nice job Kris, coming along well! You could maybe staple some heavy duty black plastic sheeting round the full outside of the tank and also get a tight fitting acrylic cover for the top, then you'd get sun through that and less heat loss as well. Good work regardless, and nice to see the workshop coming along great too. Power to you! 👍

[@SceneArtisan]

I think it's common knowledge that to get the best from a solar panel is to ensure it's on a south-facing orientation (in the northern hemisphere). Your water would heat even faster if you have your pipes in the tank placed right next to next to the 'window' and wrapped tightly in matte black.

[@MarcinKrukar]

I think that a black plastic pipe is cheaper and more efficient than a solar panel. You can cover the whole roof with it. Great video!

[@PR_96]

Plastic plus water plus heat is not a nice combination. ( antimony, bisphenol and who knows what else !!!). 1. Paint the whole roof and water container with black non reflective paint. 2. Put "zig zaging" pattern of copper pipes, painted with black non reflective paint on the roof. 3. Restrict air circulation from sides. 4. Could add additional sun reflector aka " aluminium foil sun reflector " that would focus more light on the collector, there is a lot of energy that scatters around it, left unused. After this It would get really hot.

[@MarcinKrukar]

@@PR_96 C'mon, it's ca. 25C water, not a steam, for shower, not for drinking.

[@PR_96]

​@@MarcinKrukar If you want to get hormonal imbalance and cancer... Free will. But be transparent about the dangers of using plastic in closed circuit water installation, especially when directly in sunlight/high temperature. Putting water on yourself, that has contaminants in itself is much more dangerous for health than even drinking this water. Because you will drink 250ml. And pour couple litres on yourself while showering, it gets into skin pores, hair, mucosal membranes ,mixes with natural skin fats. Then you put clothes on yourself, get sweaty. Pores open up even more. And it all absorbs trough the skin. 25c i relatively cold. I aim at high efficiency. In low light conditions your 25c will be 15c. While my 35c will be 25c.

[@MarcinKrukar]

@@PR_96 You convinced me. I stop showering from today.

[@PR_96]

​@@MarcinKrukar Lmao. I comment to put YOU, other people and their families out of potential harms way. This is my one and sole motivation in doing that. And this is your response to that good will. Egocentric shine attempt with sarcasm and ignorance. Well, as I said. Free will. kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z2HWqZaIhc2jY80 Gdy wieczorne zgasną zorze, Zanim głowę do snu złożę, Modlitwę moją zanoszę Bogu Ojcu i Synowi: "Dopierdolcie sąsiadowi! Dla siebie o nic nie wnoszę, Tylko mu dosrajcie proszę." Kto ja jestem? Polak mały Mały, zawistny i podły. Jaki znak mój? Krwawe gały. Oto wznoszę swoje modły Do Boga, Marii i Syna: "Zniszczcie tego skurwysyna Mego brata, sąsiada, Tego wroga, tego gada." "Żeby mu okradli garaż, Żeby go zdradzała stara, Żeby mu spalili sklep, Żeby dostał cegłą w łeb, Żeby mu się córka z czarnym I w ogóle żeby miał marnie, Żeby miał AIDS-a i raka." Oto modlitwa Polaka.

[@FurnitureFan]

I wonder if there is some kind of ball & socket joint going spare, that you could attach under a flat wood platform and balance a rotating solar panel on top? Maybe even a steering wheel? That way it would be easier to turn the panel from the ground. I'm not describing it very well, but I was thinking of winter when anyone might want a hot shower before scaling any roofs.

[@nicko198718]

Could possibly add a mini stone fire pit with thick pipes running through it to give the tank a boost of hot water or even build a massive stone/cob spa and run heater pipes solarvand battery for some bubbles great on those winter nights. Andrew camarata on KZbin has a pretty great video on building his.

[@jamess1787]

I never thought I'd find it so pecularly interesting to watch another man shower... Use a mirror/reflective material to reflect some of your sunlight onto the panel! This might extend your daylight exposure by an hour or so :D.

[@frosty6960]

Should tripple the length of pipe in the box, and possible have more panels and a bigger tank. Insulate everything. Great idea

[@chrisreed9888]

Huge fan of what you are doing my man. As someone who has fantasized and researched the reality that your living but has been able to due to familial commitments (aka. Kids school, sports, etc.), I am trying to watch all of your stuff in series and I just got to this one. With that in mind; I am sure the system works well with the addition of the solar powered pump and you have all of the kinks worked out at this point. However, as a fan of maximizing efficiency, I believe (conceptually) that you could remove that need for (and potentially repurpose) the solar panel and pump with proper insulation. From a thermodynamics perspective if you were able to close the system with insulation the thermo-siphon should automate. Copper is a fantastic conductor and it’s exposure to ambient temperature will remove the majority of the heat captured from the solar energy. Keep doing what your doing, you inspire the rest of us. Looking forward to learning more from the rest of your videos 👍🏻 Note: there would be a requirement for a blow off valve from the retention tank in case the system was efficient enough to superheat the water.

[@steveadams4009]

You can make an adjustable mount for that solar panel even for two solar panels. That way you could always have them pointing at the sun.

[@reggiep75]

I think I'd have went with a larger ground based panel that would've had more surface area, modelled like a cheap plastic spinning top, so that it was movable so that you could track the sun. Plumbing and pumping issues issues would be your trade off but at least this version can be improved on.

[@jameslrobson]

Hi Kris, it’s actually gravity and the weight of the cold water descending that does most of the work in a solar water system. You’ll never get enough heat energy into the system to push the water up into the tank on its own. The solution is to make the tank higher, so there’s a longer descent. Check our Maximus Ironthumper’s videos on his set up. They’re really good.

[@sroberts605]

Good heavens, reading all the comments, it seems there's as many variables to try as recipes in a cook book! I do wonder if Kris has been fiddling in the meantime to get a feel of what he may want in his new house? I'm guessing not or he would have posted but it'd be interesting.

[@liftoffthecouch]

What a good kitty! Fun video too. LOL

[@hm8781]

I hate hot showers!! cold any day of the year, you have a perfect shower hut.

[@koningbolo4700]

evacuated tubes are the way to go... basically a copper pipe, capped off at both ends with 2ml of acetone in it. Stick the aceton in a one side open pipe, heat the bottom till you feel the vapours push your thumb and release the pressure. The aceton vapours push out all the air. Then cap and soldered the pipe to seal it. One end sticks into the tank, the rest sits behind glass being heated by the sun. The heat evaporates the aceton, heated vapours rise to the top of the pipe which condenses on the inside of the end which is in the tank and transfers its heat to the water. You can fit a metal flag onto the length of the copper pipe to make it catch even more of the suns rays and make it more effecient.

[@sarahdeason493]

Love the precious kitty .. This video is fascinating. I have read all the comments and there are some that have me totally intrigued. All the suggestions for tweaking and enhancing are worth checking out .. The Aussie Professors comments made 4 months ago were of great interest & might be a spectacular collaboration if you 2 communicated..

[@maryblaylock6545]

Showering in warm water lifts the spirit and removes dirt and grime better. An icy shower on the other hand can cause a heart attack in a person who is very over heated. We lost a good neighbor that way.

[@patchmack4469]

this is looking an fantastic and i know you are still experimenting, the one thing i enjoy in life is a comfortable hot shower, i watched an interesting vid the other day, an experimental house built into a greenhouse in Rotterdam (one of Kirsten Dirksen vids), glass on three levels, the family living there said the upper floor was unbearable and hard to stay in with it being in the high 30sC, but i was amused at where things were placed such as the external water heater pipe system, so would it have made sense to move the system to the upper floor below the glass, similar to your pipes in the box you made, that way surrounding airflow doesn't cool the pipes, the greenhouse surely would increase the heat to the water (like your box) and provide some shade below to cool the area i wondered about your setup, why you put the tank on top of the roof and not inside into the loft space with the water heating external, the added solar panel makes sense, i know black absorbs the heat, but is that actually better than leaving pipes in the copper finish, i'd be interested to know by how many degrees difference in heat made

[@shewme71]

Use a coil of the black hose instead of copper to make your solar heater. No paint needed and you could get a lot more could in the same area. What about a fire heated water tank for your guest in the fall or spring. Love your video's. Wish I could come volunteer but I am in Oklahoma.

[@Blacklab412294]

I am not sure if you noticed but one of the pipes had a kink in it. I hope it was not the pump loop. That will both slow down heating of the tank and kill your pump. I am also thinking your going to need two south facing solar h2o panels to heat your tank. Also my I suggest you raise your outside walls another 2 feet - reason being that a person showering will get cold when the wind blows. It does not take much.

[@Blacklab412294]

You can tee both panels in Parallel.

[@Blacklab412294]

Also if you were to put a 55 gallon tank up on the roof, you could put the cold intake at the bottom flat side of the tank. Then you could then plumb through the flat bottom the return but have the riser go up a foot below the top of the tank. That way it is Submerge under the highest water level. Then your pump does not have to work as hard. And going through the bottom of the tank is a lot easier then try to make a Seal on the round side of the tank. Just a thought.

[@Blacklab412294]

Kris, if you really want to be daring, you could build a stove out of rock with 2 feet of copper pipe inside of it, to heat water up in the tank. Basically a iggloo with a smoke stack. You would use twigs to fuel it. Think what they use to make wood fired pizza and you can find it on youtube, you just need a small length of pipe inside. Don't go over 2 feet or you will make steam, and melt your tank. You did say you wanted a Sauna, but I don't think you meant that way.

[@Masiina12]

Beautiful job Chris! Am I seeing correctly that the sun shines through the underside of the heater panel between boards? If so, I'd look into tightening the enclosure before adding another heater panel to the loop. This way the air inside the panel couldn't change, surely allowing more heat to transfer into the water. I'm by no means an expert, just thought it might save you the trouble of building another one :)

[@cragmc8386]

Saw those gaps too. Silicone time! Maybe a sheet of plastic stapled on to the back and round the sides too. Seal it as best you can to prevent any heat loss

[@TacoMaster3211]

Kris, you should think about using a coil of black hose as the basis of the second panel. I don't think you have enough surface area in your current panel taken up by the piping, so it's not as efficient as it could be.

[@ivanritts6355]

IF YOU PUT A PIECE OF COPPER SHEET UNDER THE PIPES AND SOLDER TO THE PIPE YOU WILL GET A LOT MORE HEAT . ALSO YOU NEED TO INSULATE THE PANEL AND SEAL ALL THE JOINTS OF THE WOOD SO NO AIR CAN ESCAPE .....GREAT JOB THOUGH

[@DavidZennaro]

It looks very good. I think a big improvement would be a hose so you don't need to get your hair wet. Also, for women it is easier to shower that way.

[@whitecompany18]

I bet adding a long section of black PVC soil pipile along your gravity fed black hose section would work as a great solar reservoir.

[@sharkaac51]

If you put the heater on a swivel that might help with keeping it aimed at direct sunlight. Just an idea

[@guymorris7860]

Throw a roll of that hdpe in the system and wrap it around the roof. All round and all direction solar pipe water heater. Just a thought. 👍👍👍

[@andypsunshineisle5655]

On days when you have had a full tank on the roof so the water in the stream supply pipe has not been moving when your showering if you turn on the cold supply then you will get the warmed water from the black stream supply pipe giving a temporary boost to your main tank temperatures in the shower head....I think? or if you shower late afternoon during the day when the sun is still out do you have enough pressure to run the shower head off the stream supply pipe direct as it has a lot more surface area and capacity than the panel assuming it is kept clear of the vegetation so the pipe is exposed. The main tank could then be the colder feed if needed? Assuming you use the get wet, stop the water and get soapy then turn the water back on and rinse to reduce water useage.

[@chuckmayes2294]

Put the pump on just what's in the tank, put the stream as a constant to keep the tank full... That way the pump can circulate with the solar water unit.

[@angeliquevanengelen]

REALLY COOL VIDEO SERIES, I WATCHED IT ALL, JUST WONDERING IF THE VOLUNTEERS HAVE SHOWED YET?

[@Mark-xl8gg]

How do you guard against legionella Enjoyed the video and learnt a lot

[@Who.is.Clinton]

Lover your cat Kris!!! So cute!!!

[@onewhitestone]

Water takes a lot to heat up from the sun. What I found out was you need a lot of thermal mass and smaller amounts of water. By slowing down the water flow or using smaller tubes for water, it heated faster with a good thermal mass. The size of your pipe is to big and will take to long to heat.

[@oldtimeengineer26]

did you remove the kink in the black pipe up on the roof? Good video

[@timgriffiths2505]

Have you thought about using second hand central heating radiators as solar water heaters? Painted black they seem quite effective, much more surface area.

[@LiamRoberts00]

The pipes on the back of old fridge freezers work well for solar panels, do try to get hold you won't be disappointed.

[@Nano606606]

His current panel set up just does not have the surface area or density to get any sufficient solar gains, aswell as not being vacuated. He would have more success coiling the black poly pipe on the roof and just allowing the sun to heat the pipe. Its a ghetto version, but my dad had heated our swimming pool in the early 80's by just coiling the pipe on our garage roof, pumping the water through and using pure solar gain to heat the pipe. Worked pretty well for a few years until some of the pipes got blocked. It would be much more efficient than the set up Khris currently has. My 2 cents.

[@LiamRoberts00]

@@Nano606606 That's why I suggested using the heat exchange pipes from an old fridge freezer, there are many different ways to make an effective solar panel.

[@KJ-jq9pq]

Insulate the tank all round to keep the heat in? The heated water would be fighting the ambiant temperature to maintain heat? Sorry if someone has said this, and /or, you have already thought of it and discounted it. 💜

[@DaiElsan]

Can you get some small floating balls to sit ontop of the water, or float a piece of polystyrene on the top of the water to slow down heat loss? Also can you not lay loops of black feed pipe on the roof so it helps heat the water before it gets to the tank?

[@mykkail1727]

Mount the panel over the pump - no extra roof over the pump needed and no shade from existing heat exchange box.

[@JoshuaMichail0]

While solar water heating is good, I'm thinking for those winter days it might be nice to have a battery bank powering an electric resistance water heating element.

[@tastaturadefier]

you could make another extension for that pannel but out of black pvc pipe in roll shape... not sure how much sun you got on the side of the shed as looks like there's a big area..or even on the roof

[@NWIE76]

A double glazed window fixed on top of your water tank would help to up the temperature significantly.

[@danielclark3686]

Love your work mate

[@jamesbanner8314]

Would 10 or 8mm micro bore copper be better for the panel

[@phildxyz]

Find yourself a second hand vacuum tube panel, they are very efficient- people are scrapping them now as most are dumping surplus PV power to their immersion heaters. We have two (each about 1 x 2 meters) and our hot water cylinder is currently sitting at 85! Boiler not come on for the past two weeks or so....

[@evonneanderson7488]

looken good back to work

[@thepvporg]

Your collector would be by the looks of it, best mounted on top of the tank with that pump running. You would need to slow the pump to get maximum heat uptake.

[@davidgierke7582]

The solar panel needs improvement. Solder an area filling copper sheet to the rear of your tubing and paint it black. Insulate the box and remove the double pane glass-replace it with single pane. Thermal siphoning will then work perfectly without the prone-to-failure pump. That's all there is to it.

[@chwilhogyn]

If you were to replace the water tank with a isolated box with a glass top similar to the solar heater but big enough to hold a old copper hot water tank and paint it black as well as using the solar heater I think you'd get water to stay hotter for longer??

[@glenbolton]

Kris, what about putting a pane of glass over the top, might get extra heat in to the water

[@russellwheeler2760]

Not sure if it's been suggested, but what about somehow painting the water tank black? I'm not sure how you'd work that with the insulation as well, but just a thought.

[@TheHwnleatherguy]

you need a better oriebtation for morning sun, boon, early pm. if your building a collector get 50' of black poly pipe & coil it in the collector 4'x6' collector box.

[@DavidZennaro]

Actually, measuring your temperature in the mouth is generally a couple of degrees lower than your core temperature.

[@SusanLarrabee]

Hi, Love your videos! Question - what type of soap do you use? Biodegradable, kind for backpacking? And where does your waste water from shower flow to? Are you also drinking from the same stream source, or do you have a separate well?

[@solarfunction1847]

When you make another panel for water, get 100 feet of 1/4" coil of copper tubing in a spiral in a box spray painted black with that pump & you will get that water up to about 40 degrees Celsius easy in a few hours of sunlight. The reason why your setup is not working better is because your copper pipe is too big & not enough of it as well as being spaced too far apart. The way these off grid heaters work is by having them in a spiral with minimal gap between the coils of tubing & having the glass as close to the top of the tubing as possible so that there is not much air inside plus it should be completely sealed, if it can be sealed using a vacuum cleaner then it will heat up even better.

[@djblackarrow]

I think you can make more improvements. You can put rounded reflectors inside your Solarpanel behind the black pipes, so the sunlight can reach the pipes from behind too. What happens, if you replace your Watertank with a discarded boiler that has really thick insulation? (less heat loss). If the boiler has an opening for a temperature sensor, you could put one in there and the Display where you can stand so you can read off the water temperature at any time without having to constantly get on the roof. LCD-Display-Thermometer needs very low Energy. You can also use a few Photovoltaic Cells and a big Boiler with an electric heater element and use it as a kind of electric booster heater in combination with your Solarpanel. You can also put your Shower-House on Rolls and rails, so you can rotate the whole House around wherever the sun actually is...

[@scottchur01]

if you put black soda cans in the water pipe housing that will heat it up a lot..make sure to stack them

[@Tailss1]

I wonder if washing your hair using water with suspended clay in it would be good for your hair/skin? You could open a spa.

[@steph0xGx]

Your smile has truly been becoming a more permanent fixture on your face! Lovely to see to be honest! Has your pallet buster turned up yet? IF so, how are you finding the difference between that and the hammer/crowbar combo? Would love to come and visit you in the beautiful wales at some point! Would love to help your project along! Truly inspiring man.

[@KrisHarbour]

im a happy chappy :) yeah just got it yesterday. been useing it today. i am getting less splitting and more useable board with it. but alot of my pallets dont overhang on the ends so the ends can still be a pain. But i can cut those ends and then use the pallet buster to pull the middles.

[@steph0xGx]

@@KrisHarbour i found with those ones, go for the middle first to loosen it, then do the ends one if you pull the bar as far as you can in to push the point leverage further to yhe middle of the board, and use it at a small angle it will lift the end nails, that way you dont lose that few inches off the board!

[@leeannmarsh2815]

I was about to say the same, but didn’t want to sound like a Pervy old woman. Kris, you have a beautiful smile and it’s good to see you (and Dot) happy.

[@DC-wv2zg]

Could bacteria become a problem over time when the tank sits around 30°C?

[@phildodd9942]

That is something to be aware of. I wouldn't dare to try to tell Kris or anyone else following this project what to do. But until I retired 3 years ago, part of my job at a leisure centre was to clean plumbing against Legionella and Legionnaire's disease. The Legionella breed once the water gets to around 20C, and water sits in air such as in a shower head. I had to take the shower heads apart once a month, and dip them in mild acid for an hour. So it was essential that the shower heads came apart and were not soldered together ! All of the pipework had to be flushed through for 5 minutes once a week. Once every 6 months, the header tank had to be emptied, and cleaned against Legionella - again a mild acid was used. Any brown deposits inside the shower heads had to be cleaned off to leave them shiny. Now I wouldn't dare to try to tell Kris what to do, but what I would suggest is that he does do some research online, and decide for himself whether or not he needs to do some regular cleaning as I describe. A fantastic project and a great achievement by Kris, his girlfriend and the cat to have it all working though ! All the best !

[@shaynegadsden]

@@phildodd9942 while I'm not sure about the shower head but the average house doesn't really worry about that either the rest of the system is pretty fine regardless of the temperature due to the constant movement of water atleast during daylight it never just sits for any extended period of time so while not perfect it isn't a bad solution for an off grid setup

[@ntacms90]

Isn't that blue thing a fancy chlorine dispenser?

[@DC-wv2zg]

@@ntacms90 If you mean what is seen around 3:00, that is a float, that closes the inlet valve when the tank is full.

[@phildodd9942]

@@shaynegadsden Many thanks for your additional comments. There indeed is always a pocket of water in a shower head, as they all are at an angle. Unless they are dismantled, that pocket of water remains. If the shower head is on a flexible tube, there is also a pocket of water in that too. I can say that, as we had both types at the leisure centre - I had 60 to clean against Legionella so had a wet arm 60 times doing the job ! As long as Kris is aware about Legionella and makes an informed decision himself about whether to take any action or not in his case, then we've "done our bit" on the topic ! Good posting - many thanks ! After all that, I have a bath fitted in my cottage... Regards !