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randen · 10-23-12, 11:50 AM

The cost of copper is not cheap but its coeffeicient of heat conduction is more than twice than that of aluminum. I haven't experimented with the two conductors (fins)side by side to gather any gained effeicency with the copper in a solar hot water collector. The copper spool that I had bought was about $600.00 and my feeling is if I'm going to utilize my labour to offset the cost of a comercially manufactured unit I would like it built better. The panels I had built, I used twice the amount of insulation and copper fin soldered to the copper risers and the low iron glass. The box used to house the collector is recycled stainless steel. Utilizing the better materials hopfully I had built a better panel than a commercial unit. The finished product looks good and performs well and the one panel is custom fitted to its location on the balconey.

To answer the question the copper fin material is 0.008" x 4" Oh and the black paint is just an barbeque flat black aerosol

To help the motivation for Daox. The only days we have the back-up heat pump on are the consecutive cloudy days. The sunny days we heat the home entirerly with solar heat collected by our panels. Keep going!!!

I had hoped to start the install of a solar collector system to the shop this fall. With the new performance of the Home made GSHP for heating the shop the need to augment the heat input to reduce the cost of heating has lowered the need on the to-do list. It will still happen but later.

As of late I've embarked on a project of an electric pick-up truck to reduce the cost of transportation. My cost for gasoline for the year is approx $3500-$4000 The cost to heat the shop used to be $2800 and now $350. Even if I reduced it to $0 the time and effort will not effect the strain on the wallet like reducing the expenedure on gasoline and we know how that price can creep (jump) up.

The installation of the solar collectors will still happen all the materials are here and the provisional tubing to integrate the hot water to the heating system in the shop is stubbed out in the wall, awaiting. Till then I'm being entertained with the flow of electrons from a sizable Nimh battery pack thru a inverter motor controller to a 106hp electric motor that will turn the wheels. Ha

Randen

10-23-12, 11:50 AM	#9
randen Uber EcoRenovator Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Strathroy Ontario Canada Posts: 657 Thanks: 9 Thanked 191 Times in 129 Posts	The cost of copper is not cheap but its coeffeicient of heat conduction is more than twice than that of aluminum. I haven't experimented with the two conductors (fins)side by side to gather any gained effeicency with the copper in a solar hot water collector. The copper spool that I had bought was about $600.00 and my feeling is if I'm going to utilize my labour to offset the cost of a comercially manufactured unit I would like it built better. The panels I had built, I used twice the amount of insulation and copper fin soldered to the copper risers and the low iron glass. The box used to house the collector is recycled stainless steel. Utilizing the better materials hopfully I had built a better panel than a commercial unit. The finished product looks good and performs well and the one panel is custom fitted to its location on the balconey. To answer the question the copper fin material is 0.008" x 4" Oh and the black paint is just an barbeque flat black aerosol To help the motivation for Daox. The only days we have the back-up heat pump on are the consecutive cloudy days. The sunny days we heat the home entirerly with solar heat collected by our panels. Keep going!!! I had hoped to start the install of a solar collector system to the shop this fall. With the new performance of the Home made GSHP for heating the shop the need to augment the heat input to reduce the cost of heating has lowered the need on the to-do list. It will still happen but later. As of late I've embarked on a project of an electric pick-up truck to reduce the cost of transportation. My cost for gasoline for the year is approx $3500-$4000 The cost to heat the shop used to be $2800 and now $350. Even if I reduced it to $0 the time and effort will not effect the strain on the wallet like reducing the expenedure on gasoline and we know how that price can creep (jump) up. The installation of the solar collectors will still happen all the materials are here and the provisional tubing to integrate the hot water to the heating system in the shop is stubbed out in the wall, awaiting. Till then I'm being entertained with the flow of electrons from a sizable Nimh battery pack thru a inverter motor controller to a 106hp electric motor that will turn the wheels. Ha Randen Last edited by randen; 10-23-12 at 12:26 PM.. Reason: paint used