Solar Water Heater Build with a Solar Pump

Building a pex solar water heater with a cheap solar water pump I bought off Amazon that heats a 55 gallon plastic barrel even on cloudy days! Watch me build it from scratch with OSB, 2x4s, a sheet of glass, pex and some spray paint.
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
01:04 Spray Paint OSB
01:57 Screw Pex to OSB
02:45 Spray Paint Pex
04:01 Build Side Walls
04:42 Drill Holes for Pex
06:36 Crimping Pex
07:15 Adding Glass Sheet
07:47 Running Solar Pump
09:07 Summary
Background Music - app.soundstripe.com/referrals...
Good Vibes Only - New Wave Sounds
Future Folk - Sounds Like Sander
Dreamlamp Supernatural - Sky Background
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[@SimpleTek]

Love to hear your comments on how to make this work better!

[@wanasong5611]

😉 This can be even more simplified. Try this experiment. Take the same length of coiled pex ( or coiled black dripline hose that is already black and is cheaper) and cover it with a mulched greenwaste pile. Then do some temperature comparisons. 😉

[@infidel6347]

Wouldn't aluminum or some metal tube's work better ? I don't know much

[@wanasong5611]

infi Del copper works best... but it's too expensive. 😉 Black irrigation tubing is cheapest and saves on paint.

[@SimpleTek]

@@wanasong5611 I have videos on compost heating on my channel

[@SimpleTek]

@@wanasong5611 cheaper than pex? Pex is pretty cheap

[@derpysworld4757]

Hi, I really enjoy your videos. Your topics are on track with our off grid life. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.

[@SimpleTek]

Thank you for the kind words!

[@nathancanbereached]

loving the crocs

[@SimpleTek]

lol

[@Danowemight]

Let's add that heat battery right into it. soapstone or silica sand under the pipe.

[@SimpleTek]

Sweet

[@Luc-1991]

I think if you put the thank on the bench and the panel on the ground you won't need a pump due to gravitational circulation. insulation will help a lot too as other people have stated, and placing a mirror on the north side of the panel to aim extra sunlight on the panel would help a lot too.

[@SimpleTek]

maybe but pumps work faster

[@resilientfarmsanddesignstu1702]

One more thing that you can do. Line your box with foil insulation, the kind that can take the heat. Paint that black. Now all the heat will go into the pipe and not the wood.

[@SimpleTek]

Nice

[@nailtips8235]

Great idea

[@SimpleTek]

;)

[@jamessorensen7277]

Thanks for the info!

[@SimpleTek]

Thank you for the kind words!

[@studygodsword5937]

@@SimpleTek it would have also helped if you insulated the box including double pane glass !

[@michaelotto9886]

I think about filling it with glycol and setting up an internal radiator (in home) and using external build in sun as a free source of house heat in the winter.

[@SimpleTek]

Good idea

[@1shoedog1]

Awesome, ty! Subbed

[@SimpleTek]

Thanks for the sub!

[@brandonlaragirl]

I'm looking to doing something similar my only problem is I will be time getting to my water heater with the recirculation pump. So I have to have a check valve at the cold inlet of the heater. And also a shut off on the inlet and outlet. So something happens or there's no sun we can just use the regular electric heater. Looking into what I need to make it happen. Probably not going to put it on the roof because the pump would have trouble due to head pressure circulating the water just got to find a spot in the yard. Where it's nice and sunny a majority of the day.

[@shawnhennigan7170]

Amc stock to buy love it

[@SimpleTek]

????

[@123mjolie]

What bald spot? Hey remember the spray they had to cover bald spots?? I'm thinking that can you have might do the trick also!! Great video!!!!

[@SimpleTek]

Thanks for the tip!

[@user-ic2ug8ys1z]

😃🌱🐢

[@SimpleTek]

ok

[@richpalmisano1740]

First...wood bad. Heavy and more expensive. Get metal stud channels and make a box. You can either pop rivet or self tap screw. Use a 4x8 reflective 2" poly builder grade insulation for the bottom. You can use leftovers for insulating the sides. You can paint the foil side. Glazing (top glass). Use double wall acrylic. With this method in direct sunlight I had temps over 200F and melted lanscape tubing and poly insulation with no water flow. i switched to pex and roxul and keep water circulating. Flow will determine your heat gains. I get about 9 degree delta with 100' of pex in a 6x4 box from flow from my pool pump. I have it mounted on a tracker.

[@SimpleTek]

wow - you spared no expense!!!!!! awesome!

[@Greenr0]

parabolic water heater

[@SimpleTek]

Cool

[@z4zuse]

For pool heating I would go for corrugated polycarbonate sheets. These allow for higher throughput at a lower temperature, leading to reduced loss. The rectangle shape is also more efficient.

[@SimpleTek]

I've heard glass is better

[@z4zuse]

@@SimpleTek I am not aware that corrugated sheets of glass exist.

[@SimpleTek]

@@z4zuse HAHA

[@z4zuse]

@@SimpleTek I think I am using the wrong terms. I mean multi wall polycarbonate sheets. These have many channels. Attaching to a pipe with high enough diameter as input and output at top and bottom is the biggest challenge.

[@SimpleTek]

@@z4zuse ahh

[@puiasailo9831]

Quick question, instead of using plastic pipes, will it be more efficient to use copper piped painted black? Has anyone done that?

[@halfanacremom3967]

Is it possible to build a drip irrigation system that turns on by itself in heated days with this technique?

[@SimpleTek]

absolutely - you have it with temperature settings for on and off.

[@dennisolsson3119]

I have had an idea of making a collector siilar to this using a black box with a window, a fan and a radiator (car radiator or similar) and use the air as a heat bearing media. Size is cheaper than PEX... is my theory.

[@SimpleTek]

why the radiator, you can do it with air. look up 'pop can solar heate'r on KZbin.

[@dennisolsson3119]

@@SimpleTek often I want water... For heating a water volume or ease of transportation, hence the convertion to water And my idea is one OSB, four planks, one transparent roof sheet and you get about 2.5kW incoming heat from one panel. And if you connect multiple panels together it's just one radiator per for instance 10kW.

[@rvsorce7196]

Insulate the bottom and sides of box.

[@SimpleTek]

good plan!

[@proxyresearch8171]

Please man, I need help to build on

[@Badboyifier]

Any update on building one with longer tubing?

[@SimpleTek]

Soon

[@Badboyifier]

@@SimpleTek looking forward to it

[@SimpleTek]

@@Badboyifier thank you

[@z4zuse]

1:24 audio volume is much lower than what you have at the start of the video

[@SimpleTek]

thank you

[@rc3291]

Pro Tip that black paint will work on the bald spot.

[@SimpleTek]

Thanks

[@rossprohaska6263]

So why did you spend all that physical time spray painting it? You already lose so much thermal heat through the bare wood anyway. Save the time spray painting and purchase a sheet of 1/4" pink insulated foam and put it both underneath and along the sides as it will retain the heat a whole lot better when you silicone seal the plexiglass to the top of the wood. Heck turn it upside-down at night and use the warmth and insulation of the soil as essentially you now have a DIY Yeti cooler keeping your water warm while it circulates. Plus the effencicy that you spent creating the heat from the coil escapes from the barrel because it's not insulated.

[@SimpleTek]

actually - good idea- I will put some insulation under and on the sides!

[@sarahmangone7785]

I would redo the video and make what you're saying audible. Music came out great, but even at full volume I struggled to hear what you were saying....

[@SimpleTek]

Thank you for the info

[@offgridwanabe]

Build a heat pipe instead or use evacuated tubes way better.

[@SimpleTek]

evacuated tubes can be a lot more expensive. - what's heat pipe?

[@offgridwanabe]

@@SimpleTek Heat pipe is a sealed copper pipe with a low evaporation temperature e.i. (acetone) filled about 20%. When the sun shines on the pipe the acetone evaporates and rises to the top bulb heating the bulb then condenses and runs back down the cool side of the pipe to start the cycle all over again. Same principle an evacuated tube runs on just not surrounded by glass vacuum.

[@SimpleTek]

@@offgridwanabe That is cool - thank you!!!

[@nailtips8235]

I can hear audio no problem

[@SimpleTek]

;)

[@cupbowlspoonforkknif]

Spray painting porous materials like wood is painful to watch. Just buy a quart of black and use a mini roller. It will be faster, cover better and save you from breathing some nasty chemicals. Spray is faster for the pex part because it is round.

[@SimpleTek]

Good point

[@Yeeleaf007]

Is this thing making water from heat or heating the water for warm water?

[@SimpleTek]

Heating the water

[@RockStudioLive]

Slow the flow.

[@SimpleTek]

Yes!

[@brandonbrosowski2032]

Can u update your audio ...do a voice over it’s hard to hear u but I like the video

[@SimpleTek]

can you turn your volume up? works fine here....