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Old 04-04-10, 09:34 PM   #14
bennelson
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Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: SE Wisconsin
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The odd day or two that I have had decent sun, I got pretty good temperatures in the 55 gallon drum.

I also pulled a pump out of a junk pile and hooked it up. It's a much higher gallon-per-minute model. At the higher flow rate, there seems to be less of a difference in temperature between the panel water and the barrel water. It all seems to heat up slowly, but at the same time.

With the lower speed pump, the water in the panel gets hot quicker. The water from the panel into the barrel is rather hot, but nice and cold when it comes back out of the water. I know that it is the DIFFERENCE in temperature that directly relates to the efficiency of heat transfer. So, I think that the slower speed pump is actually more efficient.

Also, even if the water gets nice and hot during the day, it is still cold the next morning. Nights are still pretty cold in the spring, and the 55-gallon drum is open on top and not insulated at all.

The exciting news today is that I chopped the top off the pressure tank. Today was an "EV Build Day" over at a friends house. We have a plasma cutter over there, so I was able to use it to cut the top off the tank. Now, I should be able to start the work installing copper pipe heat exchangers into the tank.
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