Plumbing contractors said "It cannot be done"! So I did it any way, as part of replacing fairly old Ruud hot water storage tank, with auxiliary heat element.
Connected my solar water heating panel (pumped) to new Rheem Hybrid water heater. Draw cool water from bottom of tank by adding coaxial fitting in place of drain valve (drain valve now installed at outboard end of coaxial assembly). Return hot water from solar panel to coaxial connection, into horizontal dip tube, with the thought that the hot water would rise in the tank. Rheem tank scheduled to turn off at night and come on in Heat Pump Mode at 3am, so that we have warm water for morning dishwashing, etc. Rheem control point set to 125 degrees. On very sunny day, the 50 gallon tank will get to over 140 degrees. Yes, we have installed a tempering valve at tank. Rheem remains enabled through the day to allow us to have warm water after one of our frequent cloudy days. I welcome comments and critiques; and can add pictures to my post if anyone interested.
Connected my solar water heating panel (pumped) to new Rheem Hybrid water heater. Draw cool water from bottom of tank by adding coaxial fitting in place of drain valve (drain valve now installed at outboard end of coaxial assembly). Return hot water from solar panel to coaxial connection, into horizontal dip tube, with the thought that the hot water would rise in the tank. Rheem tank scheduled to turn off at night and come on in Heat Pump Mode at 3am, so that we have warm water for morning dishwashing, etc. Rheem control point set to 125 degrees. On very sunny day, the 50 gallon tank will get to over 140 degrees. Yes, we have installed a tempering valve at tank. Rheem remains enabled through the day to allow us to have warm water after one of our frequent cloudy days. I welcome comments and critiques; and can add pictures to my post if anyone interested.
Comment