Power4Patriots Copper User manual

COPPER

Solar Water Heater–Copper Version
Instruction Manual
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Power4Patriots Solar Water Heater – Copper

Solar Water Heater – Copper Version Materials
K2 long aluminum profile
K2 short aluminum profile
Kcorrugated tin sheets to fit long x short frame
Kmineral wool insulation to fit long x short frame
K3/16 inch popping rivets
K24 copper Ts 1.25 inch to 1 inch (3/4 will work, too)
K24 pieces 1.25 inch diameter copper pipes cut 2.2 inches
K2 copper endcaps, 1.25 inch
K12 copper pipes 6 feet
K4 6 inch copper pipes (1 inch or 3/4 inch, depending on Ts)
K2 short hoses
K1 sheet copper (a bit larger than long x short frame)
K1 can heat-resistant black spray paint
K1 piece 6mm glass (to fit long x short frame)
K20 aluminum clamps
K6 corner support pieces
K1 tube heat resistant silicone
K1 piece Tee 3/4 inch
K1 valve 3/4 inch
K1 water controller
K1 water tank
K1 expansion water tank
K1 ventilation valve
K1 temperature sensor
Ktemperature sensor cable
Kcopper pipe and connectors to fit your space
KPVC pipe and connectors to fit your space
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Introduction
This manual is a walk-through construction of a olar Water Heater that uses a copper collector.
The solar hot water system we will build includes a tank to store heated water for distribution
throughout our house.
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When you open a hot water faucet, hot water is drawn out of the tank and is replaced by cold water
from your water source. Our tank has a copper heat exchanger inside (think 100 feet of copper
tubing loosely coiled inside the tank).
Water is heated by the sun in a solar collector and circulated through this coil to heat the water
around it inside the tank.
Just as “hot air rises,” so does hot water, which means that the hottest water is always at the top of
the tank and the top of the collector. Hot water is drawn from the top of the collector and piped to
the top of the heat exchanger in the tank. As the hot water passes through the coil, it gives up its
heat energy to the surrounding water in the tank, exits at the bottom and is returned to the bottom of the
collector. The tank we will be using also has an electric heating element for days without sun.
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We will need a pump – that you can power with solar panels – to circulate water in the solar collector
through the heat exchanger in the tank, and you need a controller to tell the pump when to operate,
so that it doesn’t run all the time. The controller senses the difference in temperature between the
water stored in our tank and the temperature of the water in the collector, and when the difference
is great enough, the controller turns on the pump to circulate water through the system. You can
adjust the controller to optimize your system operation. We found a unit that combines a pump and
a controller, so we will be working with one box instead of two.
Our solar collector consists of an insulated aluminum frame – which we’re going to build – to hold
a system of copper tubing, which is the guts of our collector and which we are also going to build.
The copper tubing and everything else inside the frame is painted with a heat resistant flat black
paint to maximize heat absorption. The whole thing will be covered with glass.
We have an air vent on the output side of the collector to allow any air that may build up in our
system to escape, so that our system is always fully charged with water.
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Your components do not have to be this close together – we’re showing them this way simply by
way of illustration – but the greater the distance between your tank and your collector, the more you
will have to contend with potential heat loss.
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Power4Patriots Solar Water Heater – Copper
Tools Needed
Before we get started, let’s take a look at the tools we’ll need to complete the project.
The first tool is the PVC tube cutter.
You will also need a tape measure,
An angle grinder for cutting the
aluminum frame,
A Phillips screwdriver and a flathead
screwdriver.
Other tools we’ll need are a metal file
for smoothing the edges of the frame,
A hammer

And a pair of pliers with a diagonal cutting
edge,
A riveting tool, which will be used to put the frame together. This tool needs to be able to
cut 3/16 inch rivets, so make sure it’s a heavy-duty one.
A pipe wrench, which will come in handy when
tightening the pipe joints,
And a utility knife or office knife.
The pipe-cutter will be used to make a
clean cut on the copper tubing.
You will also need a marker.
The blowtorch will be used to solder the joints in our copper
piping.
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We’ll need an electric hand drill to drill holes in our
aluminum frame to put the pieces together.
We’ll use the air pump to pressure test
our copper tubing system for leaks, or
you can use an electric air compressor,
but it’s not really necessary.
You can probably use a bench vise.
We’ll need a PVC welding tool when we start
piping the collector to the rest of our system.
We’ll also want a couple of clutch style clamps.
These should be all of the tools you need for this project.
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Power4Patriots Solar Water Heater – Copper

Let s Get Started
Let’s get started building our frame. We are using some prefabricated Z-shaped aluminum stock 4
1/2 inches wide, and after we have cut it to length, we are going to need to do some cutting on the
ends to fabricate our frame.
The frame is 40 inches wide by 80 inches long, and we’ve cut the stock to length, so that each piece
is long enough for us to create a flap 1 1/16 inches long at each end, which we will fold over so that
we can fasten the ends and sides together to create the finished dimensions.
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1 1/16 inches is the width of the short
sides of the z-shaped stock.
We started by measuring off 1 1/16 inches and now we are making the cuts to create our flap.
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Using the file, we smooth the
edges of the cuts.
Now we’re bending the flap we have created to a 90-degree angle, using the hammer and a wood
block – an 18-inch section of 6x6 hardwood fencepost ought to get it.
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We use popping rivets to fasten an end
and side together.
Using the drill and a 1/4-inch bit, we make 1/4-inch holes in the first piece.
We’re using a punch to mark where we want to drill. This keeps the bit from skating around and
scratching up the work piece.
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We’re using clamps to fix both pieces together at the desired angle, then we drill through the holes
in the first piece into and through the second piece.
We’re using the riveting tool to fasten the two pieces together with 3/16” popping rivets.
After we fasten the first corner with the rivets, we use the clamps to set up the next one, mark the
place for the holes with the punch and drill through both pieces at once, then fasten the corner with
rivets and move on to the other two.
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Now we are going to install corrugated steel sheets for the bottom of the frame.
Make sure you lay them down with the ridges parallel to the ends of the panel. This will help
stabilize our frame.
We are going to use the 3/16-inch rivets to fix the sheets in place.
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We use the punch to mark where to drill the holes and drill all the way through the sheet and the frame.
After we make the holes, using the same heavy-duty riveting tool, we fix the sheet to the frame.
We do this on both sides, then we move to the other end of the frame. If the two pieces of sheeting
are not long enough to overlap,
you will have to put a third piece
in the middle. Try to line all
these pieces up so that the ridges
fit together, one sheet on top of
the other. This will make a nice
flat bottom for your panel.
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We want this frame to be as rigid as possible – to avoid damage to the glass sheet later on – so we
are going to add a pre-drilled slotted metal bracket or brace on the inside of each corner using the
3/16-inch rivets and 1/4-inch bolts, washers and nuts.
Use the holes in the bracket as your guide for drilling holes through one side of the frame and fasten
the bracket to that side using the 3/16-inch rivets.
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Power4Patriots Solar Water Heater – Copper

You may need to flatten the slotted side of the bracket
against the other side of the frame with a hammer.
Drill two 1/4-inch holes through the slot through the
frame and fasten the bracket to that side of the frame.
You do this by putting a washer on your 1/4-inch bolt
and putting it through the hole from the inside of the
frame. Crank the nut down with a wrench and use the grinder to cut off the excess on the outside
of the frame.
To insulate the panel, so that the
sun’s heat will stay in the water in
the copper tubing of your collector
and not radiate into your roof, we
use mineral wool, sometimes
called “rock wool.” We were able
to find it in 2-inch slabs the exact
width of our frame.
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