effectiveness of solar & wind

[soul searcher]

I worked on a solar system that was on a house that used water to heat the concrete pad preheat water for the hot water heater and preheat air going into the central heating. It pumped water through the pannels when ever the temp differance between the storage tank and the pannels was right. it had a anti syphon at the pannel so that when the pump shut off the water would fall back down into the tank. it kept the pannels from boiling. I keep thinking about that system. and how to adapt it to the boat for hot water. My neighbor has a black 100 ft garden hose coiled up that works good.Too good the problem is getting the right temp at the nozle with out a mixer valve. maybe you could work out some sort of T into the hot line going to the shower with a selector, solor water or hot water heater. you could just T off the heat exchanger and circulate coolant through the pannel and the water heater but I dont know if keeping the engine at 140 degrees all the time would be good. be nice up north but not down here.
gets hot enough in my boat as it is. I guess you could isolate the engine then it would work. all you need is a differetial control and a small ciculaion pump.
Just a thought.
Matt

[Idiens]

Hey CD - There are plenty of hot water solar panels you could fit. They will need a circulation pump (powered by your new panels). Just another area of black on the roof top.

[Cruisingdad]

Matt,

Neat ideas. I thought about the T too. I would just run it into the hot water side of the hot water heater. Pull the hot water out of the heater and from the panel.

I gotta put my thinking cap on that one.



Idiens,

I was thinking about something that was more like a big flat mat that could be thrown here or there. Nothing permanent. Too much weight top side. Thoughts?????

- CD

[Idiens]

CD - I think a mighty length of black rubber hose coiled up in a matt shape and a pump to circulate the water through the calorifier would work fine. A bit of rope work to hold it all together would do. Or uncoiled, it could be used to fill the water tanks. Ali tube would be more efficient, but not so easily stored.

[soul searcher]

I Think the coolant Idea is better. be less plumbing and easer to control. I dont think it would take much of a pump to handle the ciculation.
The best sytem would be to cruise to about 15 degrees south then it's a nonissue

[Idiens]

Ah! If he sails south the problem will reverse - how to get cool?

[Cruisingdad]

Idiens,

Good idea and cheap experiment on the hose. I will try it. Thanks.


Matt,

I agree on the lattitiude... and the attitude (wouldn't Bob Bittchin be happy)!!

[soul searcher]

Idiens,

Thats kind of what my neighbor was thinking you have to carry a hose anyway why not get a black one. he even had a hevy card board box that was spray painted black on the inside just didnt have any way of controling it
temp wise. panels are better because they keep the wind from cooling the coils the dead air inside the panel heats up really fast Even in sub zero temps.
That house I worked on was 90 miles from the Canadian boarder in Idaho. and I saw the panel temps at 180 several times when it was 20 below outside. I know If I lived In New England and kept my boat in the water I'd work it out so my engine was in the loop and it would help heat the inside of the boat with a small fan. the optimum arangment would thermo syphon and require no power.
Matt

[Idiens]

Hi Matt, yes it's all about heat transfer. For efficiency, black aluminium pipe would work well, but with plenty of heat to spare, a hose pipe would be fine. Even in my climate, the water in the dockside hose starts off hot, having been cooked in the hose.

[soul searcher]

It's easy to cool off just hop overboard
CD, If I ever run into Bob Bitchin out there We will have to change the name of our boats

Matt