The Thailand expat forum for Travel, Lifestyle and Fun.

DrAndy

Has anyone had a recent experience fitting these?

I am looking at a heater with a tank about 200litres, supplied by an on-demand pump (so needs to be able to handle pressure variations) to fit on the roof

any recommendations for type, and supplier in Chiang mai area?

Please note, just a simple passive system is required, with collector tubes and a tank above

__________________
keep 'em coming

Rural Surin

Nice inquiry DrA, I too would be interested in pursuing a complete solar energy system....off the grid sort to speak. I trust those whom have knowledge and experience will respond. I'd like to know more about this shite myself.

maily

I thought of a large stainless steel tank on the roof that ran into lots of tubes that ran accross the roof many time and then down into a very well insulated tank inside the roof. I dont know if this would be successful, but it would be virtually free hot water.

maily

There would need to be a temp sensor in the line so the cool water in the morning would not go into the inside tank. Needs more thought????????????????????

lom

You can run it for your house only, no need to connect it to the hot water grid.

DrAndy

that is essentially what they are

Some use vaccuum tubes, others just copper pipes; they have a holding tank above the pipes for collection. It is all done by thermal movement, no pump

maily

Ok DrAndy, I have never looked into it.

S Landreth

Not water,….but here is a solar site.

Hope you get a lot of information (I am curious, also). I was thinking about setting up a system at the Khon Kean home and when I was looking around I found this site,………..

http://www.leonics.com/html/en/pd_ecs/pd_ecs_ses.php#shs

Hope it gets you started.

They have an office in BKK

Office
Address:
119/50-51 Moo 8 Bangna-Trad Road, Bangna, Bangkok 10260, THAILAND
Telephone number:
(66) 2746-9500, (66) 2746-8708
Fax number:
(66) 2746-8712
Office time:
8.00 - 17.30 Monday - Friday



And they might be able to help you in your area????????? I think I read it someplace on their site.

__________________
Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.

Marmite the Dog

I'm sure there was a thread on here explaining how to make your own system. It was a couple of years ago, though.

lom

I have a friend in Sweden (of all cold places) who has a system like that.
He is getting 75-85 degree hot water from solar 8 month a year between March and October.
No need for a pressure pump if the tank is positioned high enough over the usage points.
The solar collector should be positioned lower than the tank so that the hot water
in the collector auto-circulates up to the tank.
The auto-circulation will stop when tank water has the same or higher temp than
the collectors water.
Most important is the insulation of the tank, you don't want to get heat losses there.

DrAndy

thanks for that SL, but that is for Solar electrics, not the same at all

to the others, I have done some research and just need to know a good supplier with reasonable prices

I don't want to make my own Marmite as I am lazy

Marmite the Dog

I guess time is a bit tight up there....

Thetyim

I don't know of one up in Chiangmai but here is one on LOS

Solar Energy Asia

watterinja

Try to avoid stainless steel if you're using chlorinated tap water. It suffers from stress-corrosion cracking.

DrAndy

yes, that's why I mentioned I need a tank that can take pressure without cracking

so it is the chlorine that causes it rather than the pressure variations?

watterinja

The chlorides cause cracks that develop along the grain boundaries. Under a low pressure situation, the crack depth may not be too much of an issue - but, it will be there. The issue comes when applied pressure plus chlorides act simultaneously.

If the system is thermal-current driven (tank-panel), with gravity feed to the house, or draw-off to a pump suction, then the problem may not really show up as a serious failure, within a reasonable time.

Above 65'C is where the cracking really accelerates, although for most solar panels, they probably don't get up quite as high as that in the tank (well-mixed) too often (could, though in principle, if not careful on a very hot day, with excellent solar panel & very slow water circulation rate).

__________________
"Education is the ability to perceive the hidden connections between phenomena."
- Vaclav Havel, Oct. 2000

"One component of what we call "mathematical genius" is the ability to recognize a simple phenomenon masquerading as an apparently complicated phenomenon."
- Chris Hillman, 2007

Loy Toy

The best thing we have ever added to our houses and hot water you could boil an egg in.

We have only applied solar heating to our new houses and during the contruction as the systems use copper pipes. I am not sure whether normal plastic water pipes can handle the connection to one of these solar heaters.

Most large retail outlets sell this technology and it would be best to have an engineer visit you first and to have a look at the job, assess what type and size of unit you need and then to quote accordingly. As these units are normally roof mounted they must check your roof structure to make sure it can stand the weight of the working unit.

I have found the Thai manufactured systems are very suitable so no need to purchase an imported one and good luck.

DrAndy

yes, our local Global House burnt down recently, they used to sell them at about B35,000

As to pipe connections, we had copper installed at our house for the hot water system. They charged by the metre at extortionate rates, so I would be happy to know if they are importing plastic hot water pipes to Thailand yet. They say the blue water pipes eventually get fragile, which is a bad thing if buried in the walls behind tiles etc

Jack meoff

DrAndy

they may be good at solar power but they are not much good at websites

I can't get their page to respond