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Re: GBlist: Batch water heating



I bought an thermosyphon system and used it for a couple of years before 
I moved. I monitored the system for two years under a study run by the 
Oregon Dept of Energy. On average it provided 60 percent of the household 
hot water. Not bad for cloudy western Oregon.

While thermosyphon can perform quite well, home-made batch heaters may 
have the advantage of greater cost effectiveness. With about $400 in 
materials you can make a fairly good system that pays back in a very 
short time. If you don't feel that you have to get every last drop of 
efficiency, you don't worry so much about covering versus not covering.

Home made batch heaters are _not_ the answer to our national energy 
problem, but they can work for certain motivated individuals. 


Bruce



>Ron Hughes mentined the old active/passive saying.  My experience began with
>batch heaters (a breadbox design) but I tired of trying to guess whether the
>sun was going to shine or not every day when I left the house.  Do you 
>open the
>insulated cover or leave it closed?
>
>My solution the past 14 years has been thermosyphon systems, with bare
>absorbers behind sloped glass either in a greenhouse or under large fixed 
>glass
>skylights.  Passive system, passive user!


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Bruce Sullivan                                        Tel: 541-484-9353
Iris Communications, Inc.                             Fax: 541-484-1645
Web: http://oikos.com/                           E-mail: iris@oikos.com
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