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Originally Posted by randen
Launboy Good job with the solar. Did you know there are polycarbinate sheets for roofing avalible to cover your solar hot water collectors. The home Depot and other suppliers carry them. They are clear corrigated roofing sheets treated for ultra violet exposiure and quiet reasonably priced. Just to cover them to prevent the wind and exposure from removing heat would improve their efficency.
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I never thought to use the polycarbinate sheets. I've tried to think of things that would be cheap and work but that never occured as one. I like it and will definitely look into prices. I also have a 4'x10' panel thats not mounted up anywhere that might work better for hot tub heat, it'd be 40,000 btu and I could mount it on a stand at a higher angle close to the tub so I'd have less piping outside. This also has the benefit of acting as a wind break somewhat.
Quote:
Originally Posted by randen
The short answer yes but no. Don.t forget if there is no heat the heat pump is not going to help. You will only gather the small amount of heat that is there and start to freeze the panel. Remember the solar hot water panel is insulated all around and if there is no sun there is no heat and you will form frost on the interior of the panel.
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I realize it wouldn't work well on days with no sun, but on days where there's only enough sun to get the water to say 70*. Not hot enough to heat with directly but there's still plenty of energy available to be withdrawn from that water. This could be used in conjunction with the ground loop to lessen the draw of heat from the ground.
Adam