Pssst! Wanna see my solar panel pictures?

[Globalti]

The idea here is to pre-heat the water entering the main house cylinder, which is heated by the gas boiler. A 20 tube panel (£350) fed by a small 12v DC pump (£28) and a 12v differential controller (£95) supplies a 160 litre cylinder (£125 unused off Eblag) which is plumbed in tandem with the main house cylinder below. The weight of the cylinder bears on the studwork around the airing cupboard, which is directly below. The panel is directly above the cylinder with around 20m of 10mm copper tube taking the liquid, which is water with car anti-freeze. There is only about 25 litres of liquid in the tank and system.

Set up was pretty easy, the hardest part was getting the frame for the tubes onto the roof and I realise now that I made it difficult for myself by trying to slip the SS straps through the tiles; I should have just pushed up the tiles at the four corners and punched cleanly through the felt. The tiles are concave underneath so it was simple to grind away channels for the 10mm pipes to pass under the lower edges. All pipework is sloped uphill so the system bleeds itself pretty well as it fills and the radiator bleed cap on the manifold has turned out to be unnecessary so I will remove it in the Spring.

Even on a freezing December day with snow on the tubes, they are picking up solar radiation and the pump is kicking in for a few minutes at a time. When we see how it performs this summer, we will consider adding a second panel. If we end up with excess heat the differential controller has a function that powers a motorised valve via a relay and once the top cylinder is up to 60 C it can divert the flow downstairs using the house cylinder as a heat dump. We plan to have a bigger, faster reheat, twin coil house cylinder installed in February.

We asked Ribble Valley BC if Building Regs approval was needed and they didn't know so they came anyway, the inspector took one look outside and said "Fine, I'll send the approval next week".

Pics here: Can you see them? http://s36.photobucket.com/albums/e49/C957/Solar project 2011/?albumview=slideshow

 

[krushavik]

Genius!! Will it be a single malt.

 

[Rohloff_Brompton_Rider]

interesting, i will follow your updates with interest. we're installing a rain water collecting and pump system for the toilets, we have four that get used a lot and waste a lot of clean water (min 9l per flush). we were considering the solar power systems that are advertised and decided against as we don't fancy being tied upto 25 years contract.

 

[just jim]

Thankyou!

 

[Headgardener]

Would you recomend one Globalti as our front roof faces near enough due south and do you recon a DIY job or a company fitted one to be the way to go?

 

[Yellow Fang]

Very jealous

. Is it all your own work?

 

[Globalti]

All my own work, except some help from a cyclist neighbour lifting the frame for the tubes onto the roof.

My other neighbour is a retired plumber who had his own business employing several blokes. He told me that I could be charging £3000 to £5000 for that job, which took me about 3 days and cost me around £650.

DIY is possible for most people, it really isn't difficult; just needs careful thought. I got all the bits from here: http://shop.solarpro...-Diff.-c-5.html

If you have a south-facing roof and easy access, as well as good access in the attic and can do simple plumbing, go for it. Even south west facing like ours is OK because evacuated tubes collect solar radiation from any angle. Ours begin picking up heat at 11.00 as the sun hits them.

 

[Yellow Fang]

Well done, I admire your plumbing skills.

 

[Globalti]

Thanks, plumbing really isn't difficult! It helps having a retired plumber neighbour who teaches you how to make compression and soldered joints!

 

[Fab Foodie]

One of the best slide-shows I've ever seen

Nice work!

 

[Headgardener]

Just a minor critisism but could you please slow down the slideshow as I had to watch it three times in order to look at the pictures and read the captions. Many thanks.HG.

 

[tomb1960]

Huge respect! How did you persuade Mrs Globalti that a) it was a good idea (it seems so obvious to me, but not Mrs B), and b) that it was well within your capabilities?

 

[Globalti]

Just a minor critisism but could you please slow down the slideshow as I had to watch it three times in order to look at the pictures and read the captions. Many thanks.HG.

You should be able to see the speed or stop/start controls at the bottom of the slideshow if you wiggle your mouse around. Can you? I've never done a slideshow before.

Huge respect! How did you persuade Mrs Globalti that a) it was a good idea (it seems so obvious to me, but not Mrs B), and b) that it was well within your capabilities?

Well I'd been talking about it for two years and we had even come close to spending £2000 on a fancy ready-made system with a flat collector until I came across a local bloke who sells the bits including the evacuated tubes. By the time I started I had already done two bathrooms and the downstairs loo so I don't think she had any concerns about my plumbing ability. However when she saw the control panel she hit the roof and refused to allow it in the utility room saying it looked "old-fashioned"; she wanted me to hide it in the airing cupboard upstairs! I had a huge row with her and ended up putting it on the garage wall opposite where it should be in the utility, with a loop of extra cable. After she had realised that the panel sensor was actually a useful and accurate outside temperature sensor she started going in and checking it several times a day so on Boxing day it only took a few minutes for me to drill a hole through and replace the panel inside the utility room! She came out to investigate the drilling sounds, caught me red-handed and just gave me one of those female mock exasperated looks. Battle won by stealth!

 

[dellzeqq]

GTi - precisely what would have stopped you from dropping two stories had you lost your footing when fixing the solar panel? Just asking.

 

[Globalti]

Well I'm a former rock-climber so confident at heights and can stroll around happily on the roof when it's dry. Access is easy because on the left the roof drops right down to above the attached garage door and you can just walk up the slope and join the main roof. However those tiles do liberate sand when you rub them, making them suddenly rather slippery so when my neighbour and I fitted the panel we both wore climbing harnesses with a doubled 12mm climbing rope thrown over the top of the roof and tied to a car below, which turned out to be a good precaution because we had a struggle slipping the SS straps up under the tiles. The straps cut my hands to ribbons and I bled all over the place. In the panel pic you can see a tile at the top that is pushed up exposing the battens and the felt; I wish I'd thought to do that before we started, a 30 minute struggle would have become a 3 minute doddle!