I’m looking to set up a DIY solar water heater. I wanted to get an idea of if my plan seems doable, and I had some questions about the plumbing.
The collector will be lying horizontally on a flat roof about 10 feet above the pool pump. The collector will consist of about 300 sqft of ¼†vinyl drip line irrigation tubing. I envision many parallel coils of tubing, all mounted on black-painted pegboard with zip-ties. The ¼†tube will feed off of (and ultimately into) a ½†drip irrigation tube using barbed connectors. There may be multiple of these ½†feeder lines and they would connect to a 1†line through some manner of manifold.
From the pool pump plumbing, I would have a ball valve for shutting off flow to the collector and check valve for the feed line, all at the 1.5†PVC size. Then there would be some sort of reducing fitting to get me down to the 1†irrigation tubing.
There would be no fittings other than a reducer for the 1†line feeding back into the 1.5†PVC.
I had a question, though. I’ve seen most DIY set-ups with both the output to and input from the heater on post-filter side of the plumbing. How can I ensure that there is enough pressure drop between the two tie-ins that it flows all the way up to the roof? Do I need some sort of diverting t valve at the line inputting into the heater? Can I put the output to the heater post-pump/pre-filter and the return line post filter?
Do I need a vacuum break in the tubing up on the roof?
The collector will be lying horizontally on a flat roof about 10 feet above the pool pump. The collector will consist of about 300 sqft of ¼†vinyl drip line irrigation tubing. I envision many parallel coils of tubing, all mounted on black-painted pegboard with zip-ties. The ¼†tube will feed off of (and ultimately into) a ½†drip irrigation tube using barbed connectors. There may be multiple of these ½†feeder lines and they would connect to a 1†line through some manner of manifold.
From the pool pump plumbing, I would have a ball valve for shutting off flow to the collector and check valve for the feed line, all at the 1.5†PVC size. Then there would be some sort of reducing fitting to get me down to the 1†irrigation tubing.
There would be no fittings other than a reducer for the 1†line feeding back into the 1.5†PVC.
I had a question, though. I’ve seen most DIY set-ups with both the output to and input from the heater on post-filter side of the plumbing. How can I ensure that there is enough pressure drop between the two tie-ins that it flows all the way up to the roof? Do I need some sort of diverting t valve at the line inputting into the heater? Can I put the output to the heater post-pump/pre-filter and the return line post filter?
Do I need a vacuum break in the tubing up on the roof?