Drainback Level
 

A drainback tank only needs to be a small distance below the bottom of the solar collector. The shortest distance is best. Not sure why you would go to all the effort to dig through your floor?

That part of your basement is weird.

I have no idea why anyone would have built it like that. There was no reason at all for that part to be higher. I thought for sure, there must have been a cistern or something under there! :confused:

The panels will be roughly 80 feet from the tank on a rack outside. That means I need 20 inches of vertical slope to have all the water drain back to the tank. The lower I can get the tank in the basement, the less fill I'll need outside to bury the pipes.

I talked to my neighbor who used to own my house about 15 years ago. He said at one point there was a shallow well pump right in that area. I don't see why that would have any effect on the platform... But, thats what he was able to tell me.

Would it be better to have a closed loop with anti freeze and heat exchanger instead of trying to make a drain back system?
If it freezes on you it could be a lot of work to repair.

Drain back systems are cheaper, simpler and a little more efficient. So, unless I run into some other major issues I'll keep it as a drain back.

While adding drain tile to the basement we also used the rented jack hammer to punch a hole in the wall to run pipe out to the solar panel rack, and take out a platform that had been made in the basement.

http://ecorenovator.org/pictures/solar005.JPG

http://ecorenovator.org/pictures/solar012.JPG

http://ecorenovator.org/pictures/solar011.JPG



We also poured a new slab under where a raised platform used to be. This will give me a bit more room for the tank.

http://ecorenovator.org/pictures/solar021.JPG

Keep up the good work!

:thumbup:

How is your tank project coming along? Please do keep us posted.

There are no updates as of right now. However, I was thinking of this just yesterday. With spring here, I'll be starting to work on the whole solar system quite soon.