Learn to build your own solar hot water heater that will provide ample hot water for a variety of uses at home. Richard Freudenberger, formerly with Mother Earth News Magazine, takes us through each detail of the steps involved in constructing the system. He also makes expert recommendations for specific ways to customize the design for your own home. Improve upon your sustainability factor by building and enjoying your own energy efficient solar hot water heater system and save money along the way.
VIDEO: DIY Low Cost Solar Hot Water with Richard Freudenberger
Learn to build your own solar hot water heater that will provide ample hot water for a variety of uses at home. Richard Freudenberger, formerly with Mother Earth News Magazine, takes us through each detail of the steps involved in constructing the system. He also makes expert recommendations for specific ways to customize the design for your own home. Improve upon your sustainability factor by building and enjoying your own energy efficient solar hot water heater system and save money along the way.
I attended this Workshop the day it was filmed, Richard is extremely knowledgeable and the solar collector that he taught us to build was very simple and straightforward and extremely efficient plus very affordable.
Plz fix the door.. It is soo annoying, and pure torture..
great information, but I feel like I have run a marathon. teaching is an art in itself I guess. thankyou for your knowledge Richard……my solar hot water is perfect now !!! I appreciate you time.
Thank you for making these videos available! A wealth of knowledge. Gave me a lot of new ideas for my project and will be a great reference to go back to in the future.
Richard and LWF, thank you vey much for making this information publicly available. I live in Brisbane, Australia, a sub-tropical climate zone that does not freeze. As such most (almost all roof collector) systems are single loop- (no heat exchanger) although the growing popularity of inverter-type hot water heaters are indeed HE technology.
Anyway, having the ability to produce copious, if not enormous quantities of near boiling hot water I was particularly interested in the passing comment made referencing using hot water for air-conditioning or cooling applications. Any chance you can show or develop a practical DIY application of an air cooling/conditioning system using hot water? Perhaps a link to a web site or book you can recommend. That would be much appreciated. My specific application here is to build a climate controlled germination room to germinate brassicas all year round. Much of the year is above 25 C which is too warm for reliable germination. Ideally I'd like to maintain around 17-19C. Sure I can use a small inverter split system A/C, but I prefer to be more self-sufficient, if practically possible.
In my 35 odd years as a builder, I have learnt the hard way to properly specify 'Solar Rated' valves- including pressure and temp. relief valves and specifically tempering valves for any Solar application. They are considerably higher rated to cope with the boiling water, constantly generated in the roof collectors. Also, the copper pipe insulation must be 'solar' rated. Standard pipe lagging will not tolerate the higher temps. associated with Solar.
One last little hint, if I may. Ensure the silicone sealant you use as a thermal paste is 'Neutral Cure' Avoid using Acetic cure silicone as it can and does cause corrosion and may lead to accelerated corrosion or premature failure.
Cheers, Andrew.
I made it an hour in but I got tired of him having to stop every minute or two while some one asked a rambling question. The longer it goes on the worse it seems to get. He covers everything if people would let him talk. I wanted to see the collector design but I don't know if there's another hour or two of people you can't hear asking questions. It's always a little like this but this is one of the worst I've ever seen for people constantly interrupting the presenter.
Great idea with drain tank.
You might be interested in Solar Water Heating 101 – Intro https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vDm1nXkbJk&list=PL_ZLAAWlfyc1af0oBN882wuP4dX36lV9b&index=1
Dear Richard, it's it possible that you could kindly send me subtitles to this clip so that I do not miss out on the valuable information or e mail me the basics and the plan etc,I would appreciate it very much.I do not use the huge hot water tank here because I think it would be a great waste for me to switch it on just for hot water to fill up a washing up bowl to do the dishes.at the moment I restrict to 3 kettles a week for washing up but would like hot water to take the chill out of doing hand washing of laundry as well .I think your system of heating water would help reduce the electricity needed to boil up water in our home which would help us to be more environmentally friendly .look forward to your help with the information. Hope more people take on this great idea. Look forward to seeing more of your amazing alternatives.
Thanks for the info but?????? I see how to build the solar board but how about the rest? Copper coil in tank or whatever? How many loops?
I love use Avasva Solutions for that issue.
299.00 for the path finder? How much is the flat earth version? 499.00? Lol All you need is a pitch angle calculator and a compass… shoot the angles, east to west, from where you are, to the tree tops or whatever else is in your way and if you clear it, based on the solar angle you need for your season(s) desired, and you are good… maybe $20 total cost… plus you might know your magnetic deviation of where you are… but you need to test the deviation… I learned this the hard way… shooting a site for a satellite dish on an old farm house property… there was a pile of iron and steel or old steel or sewer piping that was under the ground and threw my compass off by 10 degrees Had to eventually move the antenna because a tree blocked the lower satellites… Walk your property and watch the compass for any huge swings… then avoid that spot or figure out how much it is throwing off your compass. So you know where true south is. And don't forget to take in the age of any of the trees in the way… you don't want to calculate for tree that will eventully grow taller in a few years…
how can we use this system to make the water purified distilled drinkable water?
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any suggestions on how to insulate an existing gas hot water tank other than fiberglass? we walk very close to it many times of the day and brush against it. there is that foil type insulation but would like more r value.
This was great, i found most of the info quite helpful. However i do wish he had spoken more on evacuated tube collectors and how to piece these together…the tubes have dropped in price considerably and produce more heat than any other solarthermal option from what i read and watch.. would be nice to see how the system connects into radiant floor heating and baseboard systems as supplemental preheating
WATER can’t get hotter than 212° unless you pressurize it
What most people don't consider is they are looking to produce water that is hot enough to shower in or wash clothes. The truth is if you are willing to accept only partially heated water you can get enormous benefits by just raising the water temperature from the incoming temperature to as much as is attainable and then using a conventional water heater take it the rest of the way. Newton's Law of Heating and Cooling is a linear equation. Every degree raised by the sun is one less degree by fuel and you will get a proportional cost savings
A lot of super dumb questions. what a waste of time, dealing with stupid people. I hate non self paced learning.
This has got to be the worst teaching video I may have ever seen. This guy is the is not very cohesive in his teaching process.
Great place to learn how to make it yourself much much cheaper. Just google for 'Avasva' website:)
Hai, could you give me a complete drawing and BoM to make this solar water heater ? Thank you
Great info here! Thanks Richard and Living Web! -Keenan
The best training video
Thank you Mr. Richard Freudenberger
Christ almighty the beeping in the background… next time just unplug whatever is making that noise
you can get a device like that that you ca adjust the declination.
I have listened to 30 minutes now. Very informative, thank you. Beggars cannot be choosers but it would have been nice with a Readers Digest version.
Aluminum frame = second hand alu glazed door ? Gives both the frame and the glass ?