Solar Water Heater, Anyone?

[calais66]

Does anyone have any experience with solar water heaters of the type that use external heating plates? My '51 Flying Cloud does not currently have (among other things) a water heater. I'm thinking of mounting a solar water heater on the roof, but definitely not eager to drill holes. That said, I'm also not eager to cut an access port in the side for a propane water heater. What say you? Thanks!

[68Streamline]

Here is my 2 cents. I opted for an electric on demand water heater on my '58 Flying Cloud. For a couple of reasons. I replaced a 80 lbs propane heater with a less than 3 lbs heater to minimize the overall weight. Second, i will not be using hot water much u less i have full hookup. If im dry camping, i will minimize the use of water, and propane so no long hot showers.

[RM66caravel]

We have a 66 caravel and although I thought about one for my house (not going to happen) but never for the Caravel because we are space challenged! I think that you would probably do better with a portable solar hot water heater of which I saw the plans for one, I dont remember if it was in the mother earth news or on some prepers sshow.
Cliff

[calais66]

The heater I'm looking at has a panel of about 24"x24" so it would fit between the hatches on the roof. Just not sure how effective they are or how warm it would keep the water at night.

[timmaah]

Originally Posted by calais66

The heater I'm looking at has a panel of about 24"x24" so it would fit between the hatches on the roof. Just not sure how effective they are or how warm it would keep the water at night.

Do you have a link to the part? I'd love to research it a bit.
I am really surprised there are not any solutions for RVs out there.

[calais66]

Here's the link:

http://www.heliatos.com/Solar_Water_Heaters.html

It seems like a good deal, but want to get feedback before I start poking holes.

[calais66]

And more specifically...

http://shop.heliatos.com/EZ-37-Solar...ls-0710007.htm

[timmaah]

Very cool. My wife would love one of those hooked to the roof. Seems a waste to turn on the propane for 5 quick minutes of dish washing.

You would still need a tank of some sort and a pump to cycle the water through it. That would get annoying if it is as loud as our normal water pump.

But yeah, the source and return line routing is a bummer.

Also odd that the spec sheet doesn't say anything about how many degrees you can expect to heat X amount of water in X amount of time.

[calais66]

Yeah, it seems that when it comes to pumping water there's no free lunch. But I'm leaning towards it from a cost as well as a 'not cut a hole in the side of my AS' perspective.

There's a video review online that shows it heating to 100*+ on a 70* day, so I think it would be efficient, at least in sunlight.

[ncrowe]

Did you do it? I just installed 🙇 Heliatos panel on my 67 GT I'm rehabbing. Since the inner skins are off, I've run copper inside the walls.