Solar water heating is probably the easiest way to use less energy and save money. Payback time - i.e. the time taken for the capital cost of the complete system to be offset by reduced energy bills - can be under a year for DIY systems made from salvaged parts, and as little as 5 years even for the latest commercial evacuated tube solar water heaters.
In previous articles we have looked at DIY concentrated solar water heating, and a very basic solar water heater which can be put together by anyone in just a couple of hours using easy to find parts.
In this article we will expand on our article DIY Solar Water Heating by describing the steps involved in putting together a flat plate collector solar water heating system.
DIY Flat Plate Collector Solar Water Heater
This system was put together by Stephen and John in Wiltshire as a working prototype to test the concept before building a system which will eventually heat sufficient water for a whole household. The prototype is pump driven using a 12V car windscreen washer pump (the final system will probably be a pumpless thermosyphon system to keep it simple and to reduce costs and later maintenance).
