Most of the ones I see on ebay are flat plate so I'm going to need 2 pumps as well for that route. 1 to take the fluid from inside the hotwater tank and circulate it and 1 to take the water from the solar tank and circulate it.
Also I lose that instant preheated water going into the tank option that I'd get from having a preheat tank hotter then the hotwater tank is set to.
Flat plate may be my cheapest option but it's still brutal. On that subject
Jan 23 - sorting and databasing the contents of the pantry continued... still more to go.
Jan 24 - Spent some more time looking at commercial options for heat exchangers. The stainless heat exchanger option puts them at over $2500 so far. I can find $1800 double wall units built into a tank but it's a copper exchanger brazed to a glass lined steel tank so it will rust away eventually like a regular very expensive hotwater tank.
The semi-local manufacturer of the original stainless tank with stainless exchanger that I was/am hoping is ok budget wise just said call our wholesalers when I wanted pricing. I hate companies that don't want to sell directly to the customer and put agreements in to force you through wholesalers. The local wholesaler closed 1 minute after I got there so I decided not to keep them late. Maybe tomorrow.
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