Off-Grid Living Group
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4 Solar panels direct to hot water heater element.
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4 Solar panels direct to hot water heater element.
In the midst of testing solar water heating I became very impressed with heating the 40 gal of water with 4 solar panels hooked directly to a hot water heater element ( no battery, no inverter ).
I decided to move down to 20 gal of water, and so far this is the climb in temp in F.
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17 Replies
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What is the wattage of your solar panels?
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34 v
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That’s volts
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Panels are rated at 260 watts, but I am seeing 220 watts.
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Pretty cool isn’t it!
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Warm actually 😉 It finished at 139 degrees. I have fixed up a small pump to move the the water inside to my bath tub…..
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If you’re using a standard hot water heater tank the over pressure / overheat valve will cut lose about 175*. Ask me how I know! lol
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Hmm, I Don’t want to know 😉 HA HA HA
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Also interested in the wattage. Thinking also of trying with coiled copper for a preheater. Anyone have experience with the preheating method?
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Rated at 260 watts, but used panels so far I have seen 220 watts out of them.
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Most panels, even new ones don’t get their rated power. The testing is done under ideal temps and light conditions, perfect angle, etc. If you get ~75% of their rating, you’re doing good and it seems like you are.
I’ve been looking into doing this and scavenged a 30 gallon electric water heater, and bought some DC rated heating elements. I don’t live at my off-grid property yet, but when I do I’m goning to experiment. Thanks for the info so far.
I also bought a couple of the solar water heating panels and will try to incorporate them. Hot showers will be a great luxury off-grid. lol
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Yeah, I built this system for a backup to my backup. I have a propane hot water system that works wonderful. when I buy solar panels I buy extra so I don’t have to clean them, I just factor the dirt in 😉
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That’s amazing!
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Results of first test. I find my make shift water heater needs better insulation, but if I take a shower with this at peak I can get the best value out of this.
Temp peaked at 139 deg F, for 20 gal, per the data I am reading I am putting in 800 – 900 watts of power to get this temp change. It is good to have a baseline of what is possible.
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I want to do this… you can buy DC water heater elements for a regular water heater… I’m not real familiar with solar yet … but I just bought a Renogy Lycan 5000 and 6 320watt solar panels with an extra battery and I’m gonna learn how to hook it up.
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They got some videos on you tube that might help you with whatever setup your trying to accomplish.
I’ve learned a few things from them.
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Welcome to the club. I have been experimenting with this for some time. After experimenting, I am starting to think the cheap snail trail panels from san tan solar hooked in series would work like a champ for this. Please share with use your progress.
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