Heat and hot water for winter desert rats

[SoulRaven]

Heat and hot water for winter desert rats

The post about the 5-gallon $300 rooftop solar hot water heater got my Rube Goldberg Appalachian mind racing.

So my thoughts are to take a black 30-gallon plastic drum and mount it horizontally to the top of the van with a manual petcock that can be attached to a garden hose. Inside the van is another 30-gallon plastic drum mounted vertically with a suction tube inside attached to a 12-volt bilge pump that is mounted on top of the drum.

In the morning you pump the water from the barrel inside the van to the one on top (please feel free to add deflectors like a solar oven). Before sunset via gravity you empty the roof barrel into the van barrel, which will now acts as a hot water radiator providing heat during the night.

Depending on the cost of the barrels you could be looking at a good $25 for this installation.

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

An intriguing concept. Just off the top of my head - I haven't run any numbers yet - I'm thinking a 30 gallon drum doesn't have enough surface area for the volume to get as warm as it could. Long lengths of 8" pvc pipe painted black would make a much better solar collector. If you had enough room on your roof . . .

Regards
John

 

[akrvbob]

The desert is surprisingly cold in the winter, rooftop solar heat doesn't work unless it's in small tubes and inside a box to capture the heat. Then it works well. I'm not speculating, I know from direct experience. See the story here:
http://www.cheaprvliving.com/solar-hot-water-electricity/

30 gallons of water weighs 240 pounds in a very tiny area mounted high on a roof--not a good idea.
Bob