I was a little concerned about the mixed reviews, but I used it last year and hooked it up again this year and it was great kzfaq.infoUgkx-izdrK3eF-HMvjzeBOxToD6Fx-4ulJUh . I couldn't get my 10' Intex pool above 76 degrees the year prior and last year I got it to 90 and had to put ice in it. This worked so well! I have just 1 mat hooked up to a 1,000 GPH Intex pump and it makes a significant reduction in the flow rate coming back into the pool, but that is to be expected with how far the water has to travel through the mat.

To keep the tubes from going too far into the header, how about using a narrow dowel or some other narrow, long strip of wood that is as long as the header -- put it in the header when you are inserting the tubes, and they will not go in too far.

I like how you managed to get humans to do most of the work. Impressive setup too.

Lead solder melts at 183° C (361° F), so the copper pipes in your solar heater must have got incredibly hot in order to melt the solder joints. It is far more likely that expansion and contraction of the pipes due to extreme temperature changes caused the quite modestly created joints to crack. Punching the holes in the 1" pipe to create suitable sized flared joints after drilling appropriately sized pilot holes may have enabled stronger soldered joints to be created. Also, non-lead solder has a higher melting point than lead solder and possibly also creates a stronger mechanical joint.

Awesome! I made myself an experimantal solar boiler from empty soda cans and some copper tubes in a kinda similar setup, only my copper tubes run through the stagged soda cans that I painted black with heat resistant paint.I used these materials to save on money but it is way less efficient as your design. I have been thinking about this design many times wondering how well it would work and I am glad to see this design in operation and pleasantly surprised that it works so well big thumbs up!

Now that's darn close to factory made collectors...well done

Gotta like anyone who happily sits on the floor to work. You can't beat a good floor! Also, any video with a cat is a great video. Liked and subscribed.

Awesome KZfaq man. Thanks for showing us how to build a solar water heater system. Electricity is so expensive these days so this will help loads.

nice job You could flare the header holes to get a better solder bond ... Start with .25" holes

There is a lot of negative comments here, that makes me think it must be worth building

Wow! Best video I have seen on this. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

Just watched your video. Very nice. A lot of labor involved. As Homeless said silver solder might be a better choice but you did well. I did this decades ago when I worked at a solar installation company in Virginia Beach. We used, if I remember correctly, one inch hard copper for the headers. When we brazed we put a 3/4 inch copper pipe inside the one inch to get the depth correct on the risers into the headers. 1/2 inch risers and we used extruded aluminum collectors. Just looked on the internet and the heat transfer panels we used are still being sold as radiant floor heating panels. White fiber glass because pink out-gasses. Nice job on the collectors. I'm very impressed with what you did.

I did this 25 years ago, Should have used Sil-Braze instead of Solder, it got so hot that the lead solder melted when I did not have water going thru it.

Current copper prices make this project a luxury item!

Thanks for your time and sharing such a cool project!

Awesome panel, lot of work pays off!!😇😁

We need that to power my turbines! Love it!

The music makes me feel like I'm watching unsolved mysterys...

Description sounds very funny :)) The tutorial is good. I like the idea of supporting the pipes with the lateral part of the frame.

Great video. When I built mine I made the collector from a full size thin galvo sheet and when soldered it warped terribly and I could only solder every 4" or so due to the warp and a few years later the solder came unstuck from the hot/cold temp cycle. I saw a video where a guy cut strips of galvo sheet and soldered them onto each pipe. What a winning idea. I wish I had done that as it would have been SO much easier to do and there is little warping and you still have the same collector surface area. Keep up the great vids, they're not easy to do.

Great instructions. Would love to see it looked up to the house heating system

Well done. I am currently building a much smaller system in the UK, but my design choices are very similar to yours. I have used heavy aluminium sheeting for the collector panel and less tubes in the matrix (Since there is less sunshine here.) and also had to include computer control and drain valves to handle frost. I will let you know how I get on once its finished.

nice to see a craftsman at work

Ti faccio i miei complimenti per questo lavoro,I congratulate you for this job

Wow there is some wonderful ingenuity in this process. Very interesting to watch. But with the price of copper wouldn't it be cheaper to just buy one from a manufacturer?

Nice job! I've seen panels built with 3/4 flex pvc in a flat coil. ($50 / 100 Ft.) Probably not as efficient but a hell of a lot cheaper and faster.

awesome, can't wait to do this my self too.. thanks for the tips..

Excellent, sir. Thank you. You are one smart kitty.

its funny how he say "one of his mini projects" wow!!!!

O my all you people commenting and most of you are really lost find out how a solar hot water heater work before you make comments that just don't make since or ask questions a drain down system would be the best to build so you will need a tank and a few other components do a little research before making a judgement on what some one builds p.s. it would take a 5-7 years for this system to pay for its self but a system like this can be used in way more ways that could shorten this time if you know what you are doing.

I did this years ago exactly like this procedure. I made mine a 4' x 4' panel enclosed in glass. I then mounted the panel to a home made sun tracking device. I rolled it out of the garage into the Florida sun and within minutes the test water was boiling violently. I damn near got a face full of steam.

this is awesome set up, can't wait to build one too.. this is inspiring and very helpful.

What kind of solder did you use? Is it like silver solder? if yes, what %? thanks

Great video... I don't know how you found time to build all those panels when you are so busy as a full time sales director for the copper marketing board !!! LOL I'm not sure what the return on investment would be on such a high initial capital outlay and how easy it would be to solder the crossing sections so perfectly and reliably to avoid periodic leakage. ASIDE from the cost it was a very well made video though so I applaud your concept and construction skills... just seems a little expensive and there are a few issues with material toxicity and potential upkeep that would prevent it from being a fully fledged solution

Excellent video explanation. Getting inspired to do it. Regards and Thank you from India

beautiful work, well done

A guy builds a beautiful solar panel and some of you guys can only think of spelling?

"Hi, this is Nik the cat. I was going to show you how to build something but I'm a cat. I'm going to sleep first so don't wake my up for 17 hours...."

great effort, great result . Thanks for sharing really cool.

Great video, meticulously well-done project!!!!

Why go to all the time and expense of buying copper tube and soldering it when you can get what you need for free by recycling the back of an old fridge? Why buy glass front when you can massively improve cold weather efficiency by recycling double glazed units from old windows - or better yet doors?

wouldn't it need some kind of pressure release valve? you know so it wouldn't become a bomb

Looks like a good way to heart the floors as well. Shalom

Very cool. I helped a teacher build some panels for his pool and to preheat water before going into the water heater back in the early seventies. We use copper tubing and sheet metal that a had a every four inches. We tested it also and had superheated water. I like seeing people doing things for themselves. When the EPA starts regulating carbon (and they will soon) output heating your home and driving will get very expensive very fast.

the idea is already there the video does not solve any common problems for example the cost of the materials the resistance that will be made by the tap water over time that will turn tubes like to be like plastic tube the difficulty of making one the perfect size for home depends on average temperature or shiny days --- the leakage is happened because steam inside the tube steam can happen because the the fraction inside the tubes and the high temperature more fraction means low pressure means low boiling point

Instead of cutting those 60 foot spools of soft copper into small pieces and having all the solder joints, wouldn't it be better to leave the coils intact, and run the water through all 60 feet of it? If you have 2 coils of copper, put 2 coils side by side, spreading out the coil as much as you can to fill the space of the panel. Then you only have 4 solder joints at the end, where the ends of the input and output of the coil go into a T. This would avoid the leaks you are seeing, which are caused by expansion/contraction, and not enough surface area to solder.

I worked in Mauritius for some months where this type of water heater is more-or-less standard for most homes. They do get a ton of sunshine but even in Winter when they can have several weeks of cloud, these things were still delivering hot water. I should add that they also employed well insulated hot-water tanks. The government there give pretty generous grants to older homes that have them installed. If you get the sunshine then they certainly do the job.

Ah you speak my language and measuring standards too...wonderful 🇬🇧

much easier to use a tee fitting unstead if all that drilling.

wait wait wait wait, using LEAD based solder for WATER pipes? everything BUT that is cool

Good job, I may try to replicate it but in a smaller scale, tnx for shearing it!

Built mine out of four lengths of 8 foot ABS 3 inch diameter pipes. Held just over 11 gallons and gave plenty of hot water for rinsing. Mother had a sink in the yard and wanted some hot water. Not for drinking, just for rinsing things off. Worked nice in Southern California.

that must of been expensive ...... better hope no one goes out and steals all that copper

BRAZE this BRAZE BRAZE BRAZE. Solder is way way too weak for long term use without it being a true socket joint.

WOW thats a lot of work. I made mine with copper fittings. I guess either way is fine. thanks for sharing.

this IS the kind of thinking we need NOW, and in the NEAR future

Thumbs up for the creepy music!

Cost $1biljon in copper

Very high quality presentation of technical information. Great Job! Can't wait to apply many of the techniques you offered here to make short headers for 4 homemade evacuated tubes on a light rack. I hope to test the theory that a greater number of smaller solar panels separated 30 feet apart to capitalize on good sun locals, could approach or exceed the efficiency per ft^2 of a larger panel by emphasizing simple & inexpensive insulation strategy for glycol or water lines between headers.

Nice work done there for energy saving ...love it. Also like the freedom of idea. I hope the mad people don't come and take way your hard work. I think we all should use nature resource, and it free. Yes it free solar energy. Thanks

So expensive and so meny working hours. Lithuanians use old radiator and wood box with glass :D

It must of cost a fortune.

Nice system. It might be a little to rich for my personal use, but I do like it. I hope your upgrade on the joints worked well. Thanks for the video.

Nice project, very artisan, now in 2019 the copper is replaced for cristal to high empty getting better in efficiency and price.

Commercial Solar Panels are Expensive. If you want to power your house cheaply Simply Go to *Google* and *Search* for: *Top DIY Solar Panels Research By John Sommer* It has the plans and explanation there.

Way more complicated than it should have been.. Too much cutting and soldering. Making a loop configuration would have been much easier.

Since you can create steam on the other end, you can probably connect a little steam turbine also to create a little bit of electricity at the same time. I like the video and the idea of having free hot water without electricity. Thanks!

With that music, I kept thinking the guy from Unsolved Mysteries would start narrating at any moment. Awesome vid, great mind.

Why say sodder not solder, SOL-DER, can't you read the packaging?

And it only uses a half ton of copper! It's not like copper is expensive or anything. Solar technology is a load of crap. There is no way everyone could afford to have this installed, therefore it is impractical. might work for this guy, but it will not provide 24/7. It depends on the weather damn it!!

Great job ... thanks for sharing.

Excellent build of what must be a very highly efficient panel.

Very well done and thank you so much.

...awesome project by the way!!!

Good job thanks for sharing mint idea for a cabin

Tinning both sides of all joints will guarantee a 100% seal using less heat and if the temperature of the system is melting out holes in the joint use a higher temperature solder or silver solder that I use on AC it has a higher melting point. Soft solder typically has a melting point range of 90 to 450 °C (190 to 840 °F; 360 to 720 K) and is commonly used in electronics, plumbing, and sheet metal work. Alloys that melt between 180 and 190 °C (360 and 370 °F; 450 and 460 K) are the most commonly used. The boiling point of a liquid varies according to the applied pressure; the normal boiling point is the temperature at which the vapour pressure is equal to the standard sea-level atmospheric pressure (760 mm [29.92 inches] of mercury). At sea level, water boils at 100° C (212° F). The strongest of the solders contain moderate amounts of silver and as such is called silver solder. 95-5 tin/antimony solder is a low-temperature lead-free solder with a narrow melting range. It is primarily used for copper plumbing tubes but can be used for other general soldering applications. The rapid melting characteristics require close-fitting connections as it is difficult to “bridge” or fill wide clearances. If your drill bit is dull and or you press too hard you can make oval holes causing wide clearances. I always tin all my joints, this video link will show you how to do tinning to sheet copper to let you solder sheet copper to the tubing so you can make two tinned surfaces bond or solder together using less heat because solder to solder transfers heat faster than heating copper to melt the solder. Even if you only tinned the copper sheet and melt the solder from the tinned sheet up to the tubing will bridge faster transferring the heat from the tinned sheet aiming torch from the side holding solder along with where the tubing meets the sheet should help to use less heat to seal all the sheet to tubing with no ripples. Best to be tinning both pieces of any joint, hope some of these suggestions help. Tinning: Soldering Coppers and Sheet Copper: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/rKqGlLJkxKnFmXU.html

really shows how intelligent you are to be judging this man for the way he speaks instead of the knowledge and intellect he presents.

Well done! (But what a mountain of work!)

I like it a lot. Thank you.

In very high climates such as Arizona it is wise to put a pressure relief valve on your equipment. I have seen plenty of the valves opening up due to very high pressures.

Great Build Thanks for Sharing

great work.... steam is awesome

Good video. Thanks

Smart idea, great job, I want to do it, THANKS !!

Молодец так держать. Уважаю умных людей.

Cool! Building a water heating solar panel can be very useful for those who wants to save money and electricity.

Great work

Great and informative video.

this is so awesome !!

Great video, I am building a solar water still for good clean drinking water and have started with a similar header system, it is about 18 inches wide and has 13 1/2 inch stub tubes of copper soldered into the top and bottom header. The stubs stick out about 2 inches. I can make any length of poly pipe and put it in a box with insulation. That is as far as I have gone with it. Another seperate box will contain the hot water condenser to collect H20 like a batch solar still with a hot water+

got my next project for next year.. thanks..

Incredible... thanks!

This was very nicely presented! Impressive heat--could run steam heat radiators with that, if one gets enuf sun. We have very hard water here...corrodes metal pipes. Also, we get freezing weather in winter. I would try this using PEX. Might sacrifice some heat, but, OTH, can use perhaps, black barrels as the heat collectors, with the tubing coiled inside.

Great job!

In mexico I had a big coil of cheap black plastic pipe on the roof.. and it made great hot water !

That's brilliant idea, to have a sheet on top of copper tubes to distribute heat evenly and very effectively.

I built one 30 years ago using the matrix from a supermarket freezer...it was so efficient that running off a garden hose pipe the outlet pipe at 1/2 flow was just steam!

Hi Sorin, there are many ways to do the same job and you could reduce the number of joints, but remember that this guy said he had some leaks at the joints; even one bad joint is a problem. Whatever you do there will always be issues of thermal expansion that the system has to cope with. A brazed joint will cope with the mechanical forces much much better than a soldered joint. A brazed joint is sometimes referred to as ‘hard soldering’ it requires a higher temperature. Kind Regards ... Andy

When drilling your header pipe use a flaring bit it will give you more surface area for the solder or brazing other than just the thickness of the pipe

2 of 2 It’s a good idea to avoid ‘straight on’ joints as the thermal expansion is the most powerful that way, have a bit of unsoldered serpentine below the header so the expansion can be accommodated. I’ve made brazing equipment for commercial units, they use friction drilling to create more joint area, (see KZfaq for ‘friction drilling’) Well done on the project, it’s not until you do something like this that you find out all the things that can come back and bit you. Kind Regards ... Andy