A $2K Solar Water Heating System for
an Apartment Building
Micah gives a good detailed description of the solar water heating
system he built for a 7 unit apartment building in southwestern Iowa.
Nice looking
DIY collectors on sturdy ground mount structure.
Overview
At a total cost of $2300 the system provides a portion of the water heating
for the 7 unit apartment building.
Its a simple drain back system that is modeled after our
$2K system with a few
refinements to suit the situation.
A very nice job of finishing the collectors.
Good sturdy collector mounts using treated lumber.
Lots of detail on the design and build is provided in the pdf below.
While a system this size is probably not going to provide 100% of the hot
water for 7 units to often, this kind of moderate size system operates more
efficiently than a system sized to meet all of the hot water needs, and will
have a shorter payback period.
Micah notes that if the ground mount system were built a little further off the
ground it could serve as an shading structure for an outdoor patio or seating
area -- a very nice dual use idea. A similar idea would be to build a storage or garden shed using the
ground mount structure.
Also note the interesting comments on solar in Nepal where Micah works -- we
have a lot of catching up to do!
