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Has anyone come up with an idea or product that might use the heat on the back side of the solar panel to heat sometime of water flowing pipe to help create warm or hot water for a hot water heater? I am not sure if this would be smart or detrimental in the summer to the PV panels electrical output but people talk about cooling the panels and maybe this would do it and yet provide warm to hot water for a home? I am going to put up a south facing PV set of 14 panels at the top of my home which is a bit of square footage in my opinion that could be doing dual purpose. Any thoughts or suggestions? Links? Thank you ... I thought of a copper coil to each panel with some insulation batting and a board behind them but maybe this is too much heat for the PV panels. You could then have connectors between each one to connect them. Just my 2
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If cooling the panels while generating heated water for your pool or domestic water supply were that beneficial it would have been done successfully by manufacturers years ago. The topic has been discussed here several times but all of the pros say it's not worth the effort. Even if you made such a system on your own, the complications to rig it up, install and maintain the system would make the ROI far too distant in my opinion.
Dave W. Gilbert AZ
6.63kW grid-tie owner -
From what has been discussed on the subject in the past is that once you figure in the cost of equipment, installation and "energy" the net savings is very low.Comment
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Old and tired idea. Economics do not work.MSEE, PEComment
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What type of pump hp do you need to move the water through tubes behind the panel will depend on the number of panels and the height of the system. Also how do you store the heated water?
Again, the thought makes sense to use the waste heat but is it practical?Comment
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Paul the issue is negative EROI. It takes more power to run the pump, than the extra power gained by using a pump. Yes you can buy pumps and panels made to do that. But the economics and EROI do not work. Like smoking, makes you feel good, but will kill you sooner than later.MSEE, PEComment
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I do appreciate the straight talk ... definitely needed. I already have some Taco pumps made for hot water but as you guys mentioned its probably more cost and energy then the payout. Kinda makes me wonder if those little hot water heater to the kitchen faucet recirculation pumps could handle something like this on a lower power consumption. Where I live we see snow for about 1 day a year. Still using copper tubing would get very expensive these days. Maybe I will resort to ordering me a container of these solar coffee / tea brewers and hook them up in series ...
shoot it even purifies creek water!
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Paul thanks for that pump info ... I am looking to install some pulled Geo Thermal heat pumps in a garage and I may do a 6' under ground closed coiled loop setup if I have enough yard to make three sets of them. Sure beats paying for three 250' wells at $1,400.00 each.
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Big mistake Paul ... I went down the rabbit hole ... Inhabitat.com ... didn't find the solar panel yet but its definitely side tracking to go there ... wowComment
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Let me find snapshot it's old stuff. Humm I wonder
Opera Snapshot_2018-11-19_165728_inhabitat.com.pngComment
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