Scott Davis has come up with an innovative and simple design for a solar water heating collector that uses CPVC pipes for the risers -- its easy to build and performs well.
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| Scott and his prototype CPVC collector. |
The collector uses closely spaced CPVC riser pipes which are silicone bonded to a flat aluminum absorber sheet. This makes for and easy and fast build.
I did a side by side performance test of Scott's design compared to the established DIY collector design that uses copper riser tubes spaced about 6 inches apart with thicker grooved aluminum fins to transfer heat into the riser tubes. In this test, the CPVC design performed within 5% of the copper/alum collector, which I think is very good.
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| The side by side test of the two collectors. |
There are a number of pluses and minus associated with the CPVC design compared to the copper/alum design -- things like cost, ease of build, performance, durability, and tolerance for stagnation temperatures are all important. Which design works out best will depend on your situation -- I've tried to provide a little data on how the collectors compare in all these areas.
I would be most interested in hearing your thoughts on the comparison and which collector you think would work out for your situation.
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| Closer view of the test CPVC Collector. |
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| IR image of the CPVC collector in operation |
If you go ahead and build a CPVC collector, please let me know how it works out for you.
Gary
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