Who makes these solar heating panels?

krsnaday · Jul 27, 2023

Hello,
We're getting roof work done and need to move these solar water heating panels that we have. They're potentially fafco panels from at least 20 - 30 years ago.
They're these tubes mounted in some sort of aluminum( I think) sheet with PVC pipes in between panels connected via clamps.

Can they be salvaged or is it best to toss these out and get new ones.?

Thanks a lot !!

MSchutzer · Jul 27, 2023

Fafco panels were plastic. Those look like they might be copper, and if copper they will last forever if you keep you water chemistry under control.

The vertical 1/2” tubes look like they are soldered into the headers, and then you have metal sheet (likely copper) soldered to the vertical tubes.

Take a knife or something sharp and scrape off some of the paint to see what the base material is made of.

I’ve had SunEarth copper panels on my roof for over 30 years now and they still work great. You just need to repaint them flat black every 7 to 10 years or so.

Those look a lot like the SunEarth panels that I have except that the sheeting has a different pattern than mine.

krsnaday · Jul 27, 2023

Ohhh Thank you so much. The pipes look like they’re copper there’s a slight greenish tint to it on the underside.
And it looks like the base is aluminum. It’s still shiny on the bottom. Let me attach a picture.

krsnaday · Jul 27, 2023

Picture of the bottom. It does look like its in good shape and the paint on the top has definitely flaked off but it looks like copper pipes embedded in aluminum panels.

mknauss · Jul 27, 2023

I would not advertise locally that those are copper. You might find them gone some night ------

krsnaday · Jul 28, 2023

lol. I’ll stop talking about them.

Who makes these solar heating panels?

krsnaday

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MSchutzer

krsnaday

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krsnaday

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mknauss

krsnaday

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