Got a bunch of solar hot water panels, for free!
 

Today me and Ben Nelson took a road trip up to central Wisconsin to pickup some solar hot water panels that Ben's cousin had removed from her house a while ago. We had messed around with one of these panels a while ago and documented it here. The panels need some refurbishing work done to them. But, in total we now have 10 panels that are about 3'x6.5' for a total of 195 square feet of collector!

Here are some of the pics from the trip:

Here is what we found when we got there. The panels have been in the barn for quite some time with the glass off of them.
http://ecorenovator.org/pictures/house424.JPG

http://ecorenovator.org/pictures/house425.JPG



So, we loaded up Ben's truck with the glass first.
http://ecorenovator.org/pictures/house426.JPG



Then we stacked the panels on top of them.
http://ecorenovator.org/pictures/house427.JPG



A couple hours later we were back at my house with the panels all unloaded!
http://ecorenovator.org/pictures/house428.JPG




Ben has some video of the expedition that he'll share later. :)

Yeah, the best part was putting in the first sheet of glass and seeing that the tailgate wouldn't close....

We also logged our fuel use on the trip. We got 27.9 MPG with the truck carrying both of us, 9 solar hot water panels, and some assorted pipes, spare tire, and other gear. That was in the rain and the dark.

I'm sure if Tim was driving, we could have broke 30 mpg.... ;)

8 hours of driving... THAT was a long day. But hey, FREE SOLAR PANELS!

I'm just so glad nothing came off that X-mas tree truck we were stuck behind on the trip home.

Oh, also, we drove right past the headquarters of the Midwest Renewable Energy Association on both the ride there and back! If it weren't such back weather (and dark) I would have been tempted to stop and take a photo of our truck o' solar panels in front of the MREA.

Anywhoo - here's some video of our trip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_lZlRQOsKw

Wooo, nicely put together Ben! Thanks once again.

I love the music selected... kind of upbeat, cheery, almost like a nice sunny warm day which is the exact opposite of the weather conditions the day we picked up the panels haha.

Nice price.

Why did the previous owner remove them from service? Where are you going to mount them?

That is exactly what I asked him when we met. When he bought the house the inspector said that they were hooked up to the main water supply and if there were any leaks it could likely cause some severe damage to the house. So, they had them removed.

As for mounting them, I'm still working on that. But, I think I have a spot picked out. The yellow line shows the approximate location.

http://ecorenovator.org/forum/attach...aragesolar.jpg


I did a solar site analysis on the location and there is some tree cover that will block sunlight. That is the difference between the winter and summer lines. My question (and I sent this to Gary at builditsolar) is how much sun generally gets through deciduous trees in the winter? Obviously it depends on how many branches are in the way, but I'd guess roughly 50% in general.

This is the site analysis from my height. I'm thinking I can probably put the panels up on stilts to get better sunlight in the morning hours in the winter time. The summer time won't be a problem as I've already calculated they'll more than provide all the hot water needs I have in summer.

http://ecorenovator.org/forum/attach...1&d=1289827502

Congratualtions on a great score on the SHW panels. I am, as they say, green with envy. :p

For a ground mount, it's generally a good idea to get them up in the air at least a little so that snow has somewhere to go.

I agree, I'll have to calculate how far I'll actually need to put them up to clear the obstruction.

Wow!:eek: Why can't I make a find like this???