The system is now complete and operating fully. Tweaking remains. SDHW has been operational since August 09 and the tie in to space heating was complete on 01/13/2010. Initial effectiveness seems promising. A custom 500 gallon Stainless Steel tank integrated into the Summer time AC system provides solar heated air to the house in front of the oil fired hot water baseboard system. The array is 200 tubes on the barn and the Glycol loop runs underground to the storage in the basement. Glycol loop was chosen due to the inability of running pipe meeting drainback requirements. Data will be provided for the first complete year interval on 01/2011

It features a prototype DPDB system using 2 SFB-30's. Storage is 80 gallons for DHW use. Collector mounting angle is 60 Degs for Winter optimum and reduced Summer over heating. Starting and ending storage temperature is tracked by owner each day. Top temperature in the storage tank so far near the end of January was 194 DegF!! A thermosyphon chill chaser hydronic baseboard section will probably be added to keep the maximum temperatures lower during heating season virtually eliminating the possibility of overheating while reducing oil usage further and increasing solar system efficiency.

First years data, Jan-Dec 2006. Easily a 90+% solar fraction was obtained. The numbers are average solar storage temperatures captured daily by the owner, DegF.

The owner has already realized 200 DegF in Dec. and hit 230 DegF in March as his top reading. Stratification runs as high as 76 Degs from hottest to coolest at the 230 DegF level.  Temperature is now being limited to 220 DegF by using a basement high mass radiant floor loop which is available. Owner is tracking several data elements going forward including start and end of day temps, backup oil burner runtimes and solar run times to name a few. This system was almost completely done by the owner with guidance from www.WeAreSolar.com. The end result is nothing short of an outstanding professional job in all ways!!! 

An 8th collector has been added to bring the total from 210 tubes to 240 tubes. Storage has been increased from 240 gallons to 320 gallons. Stratifications as high as 120 degsF have been obtained. Data for 01/01/07 to 12/31/07 will be coming in about a month. The 8th collector was just added so it's impact on the first years data will be negligible. The additional 80 gallons of storage was added on 04/21/07, so its impact will be 1/3 to 1/2 of what it will be for the coming years data, I.E., 01/01/08 to 12/31/08. At this time it appears there will be a 65% reduction in oil usage for the 07' year, comparing to pre-solar base years. It is guesstimated that with the 320 gallons of storage and the 8th collector, a 75% reduction should be achievable comparing to non-solar base years. Data will be presented when in hand.
PSD data for January 2, 2007 just in for #3 Lehighton. SOD tank temp 95 DegF, EOD tank temp 185 DegF, net gain over period 180, 000 Btus at an average collector output temp of 150 DegsF. That does not even include hot water loads or heating loads over the collection period. An average PSD yield of 25700+ Btus's per 30 tube unit!!!! Outstanding numbers at a high temperature!!!

Here are the average temps (DegF) for the final storage tank in the #3 Lehighton house. There are 4 - 80 gallon tanks and this is the #4 tank, which is the hottest. I used this tank because this tanks water is what is presented to the DHW and the radiant heating systems in reality. Differences in total year averages between monthly and seasonal temps are accumulated rounding differences only. You can look at either one as valid. This coming years data (01/01/2008-12/31/2008) will represent the system in its final configuration at 320 gallons and 8 collectors through the entire period. The total fuel reduction for the 2007 year came in at 65% due to a very, very cloudy November and December.

Array is located 37' (to top) from the basement storage on the North side of the house. The top of the array is actually level with the top of the house. (4) 80 gallon tanks are used for 320 gallons of potable water storage. System design is DPDB so no heat exchangers or anti-freeze are used, except for the space heating hot air exchanger. A single computerized pump solution is used to overcome head issues. Flow rate is 2.5 GPM to obtain a high level of temperature stratification across the four tanks. Collector angle is about 67 Degs for Horiz.. Array is wired for web based Data collection down the road. The owner put a tremendous amount of work into this system, as well as extended patience. System has been operational about a week. This shot happens to be on the Winter Solstice, a nice sunny day after a very, very cloudy end November and beginning December. Merry Christmas and a happy new year!!!

Most of the work was done by the owner with guidance from www.WeAreSolar.com. The quality of work from the owner was excellent.  The owner plans to add solar PV down the road. System is working very well as reported by owner.

Standing losses of the backup electric water heater are more of an energy load than the "real" load itself. An alternative pathway for the solar loop was initiated to include the backup electrics (electric backup and de-superheater tank) which keep them hot when the water heater timer has the backup in the off mode. When the backup heater is turned on, the backup tank is already hot allot of the time reducing usage accordingly. The timer was constructed for a 7 day cycle. BTU numbers are not available for this site due to the vacation status.