EcoRenovator - View Single Post - Solar water preheater project based on builditsolar $1000 system

strider3700 · 01-18-11, 05:12 PM

So after doing all of my research and finding a bunch of examples of single wall systems listed as for sale in BC and meeting the CAN/CSA - F379 requirement which the BC building code says they have to meet, I went downtown with printouts from those manufacturers as well as a printout from SolarBC which listed various systems in a table and showed if they met F379 requirements or where still under testing and if they where single wall or double wall heat exchangers.

I met with the city inspector and showed him a new drawing I had done where I was going to use a commercial DHW storage tank with internal heat exchanger that met F379 requirements and just pump the solar fluid from my 160 gallon tank through that coil giving me a really big hot solar fluid tank and a preheat tank before my electric hotwater tank... I then pointed out that these commercially manufactured and approved tanks are single wall heat exchangers so how is this any different then my original proposed system? I then provided the printouts from the manufacturers websites describing the systems.

I then asked if I could see F379 since it is what I have to meet and I can't get it for free. He told me he doesn't have a copy because it isn't out yet. This is where I think things have gone off the track. To make a long story short he heard at a conference that they are going to change the requirement to be double walled and there was some sort of uproar about that but that is where he got the basis to reject my system from. I pointed out that the 2006 BC building code has 2 entries on solar and they both say it must meet the national code which is F379 and F383 which means in 2006 both F379 and F383 must have existed. As well I saw that a new version of F379 at least came out in 2008 and a new version was in the works but was not released yet so nor had I seen a date on when it would become the requirement. I mentioned that the US code has a single wall specification that made it ok under certain very safe circumstances and perhaps something similar was in the Canadian code. He rightfully didn't overly care much what the US code says.

He mentioned hearing that installations in Burnaby had been ripped out due to having single wall heat exchangers. I can't see how that wouldn't have been grandfathered like pretty much everything else is. Perhaps it was a commercial install and insurance wouldn't cover it but the city shouldn't be able to make you change what they already approved.

So basically the inspector had not done any research and had just said no based on something he overheard at a conference. In the end he took all of my printouts and said he'd do some research but it would take awhile. Hopefully he has better luck getting answers back about this from someone then I have. My next step is to start talking to some of the solar suppliers about their single wall units and see how they are OK in BC. They must have read F379. So far SolarBC the advocacy group for solar in my province hasn't even responded to my emails.

01-18-11, 05:12 PM	#10
strider3700 Master EcoRenovator Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Vancouver Island BC Posts: 745 Thanks: 23 Thanked 37 Times in 30 Posts	So after doing all of my research and finding a bunch of examples of single wall systems listed as for sale in BC and meeting the CAN/CSA - F379 requirement which the BC building code says they have to meet, I went downtown with printouts from those manufacturers as well as a printout from SolarBC which listed various systems in a table and showed if they met F379 requirements or where still under testing and if they where single wall or double wall heat exchangers. I met with the city inspector and showed him a new drawing I had done where I was going to use a commercial DHW storage tank with internal heat exchanger that met F379 requirements and just pump the solar fluid from my 160 gallon tank through that coil giving me a really big hot solar fluid tank and a preheat tank before my electric hotwater tank... I then pointed out that these commercially manufactured and approved tanks are single wall heat exchangers so how is this any different then my original proposed system? I then provided the printouts from the manufacturers websites describing the systems. I then asked if I could see F379 since it is what I have to meet and I can't get it for free. He told me he doesn't have a copy because it isn't out yet. This is where I think things have gone off the track. To make a long story short he heard at a conference that they are going to change the requirement to be double walled and there was some sort of uproar about that but that is where he got the basis to reject my system from. I pointed out that the 2006 BC building code has 2 entries on solar and they both say it must meet the national code which is F379 and F383 which means in 2006 both F379 and F383 must have existed. As well I saw that a new version of F379 at least came out in 2008 and a new version was in the works but was not released yet so nor had I seen a date on when it would become the requirement. I mentioned that the US code has a single wall specification that made it ok under certain very safe circumstances and perhaps something similar was in the Canadian code. He rightfully didn't overly care much what the US code says. He mentioned hearing that installations in Burnaby had been ripped out due to having single wall heat exchangers. I can't see how that wouldn't have been grandfathered like pretty much everything else is. Perhaps it was a commercial install and insurance wouldn't cover it but the city shouldn't be able to make you change what they already approved. So basically the inspector had not done any research and had just said no based on something he overheard at a conference. In the end he took all of my printouts and said he'd do some research but it would take awhile. Hopefully he has better luck getting answers back about this from someone then I have. My next step is to start talking to some of the solar suppliers about their single wall units and see how they are OK in BC. They must have read F379. So far SolarBC the advocacy group for solar in my province hasn't even responded to my emails.