DIY Solar hot water Yes/No?

[Orionaut]

So, I am replacing some old 1950's flat panel radiators. They are still in reasonable condition however and the thought occurred that, painted matt black, a box made from plywood, lined with polystyrene and covered over with polycarbonate and bingo.

Cheap solar hot water panels!

The thing is. do I hook them up in series or in parallel.

Or perhaps switchable between say, parallel in the winter, series in the summer?

Any body else tried to make their own solar hot water system out of old radiators?

How did you get on? Was it worth the effort/expense?

 

[rodders]

Does this work, do they provide enough surface area?
Have others done it?

 

[Orionaut]

Does this work, do they provide enough surface area?
Have others done it?

The old radiators are not like modern ones. They are quite thin and have no fins.

I probably have around 8Msq worth that i could use, perhaps more.

I would have to figure out a way of mounting these on the roof, I would also need a new HWC, but I am contemplating getting a high pressure one anyway and these are available with Solar as well as boiler fed heating loops along with immersion heaters.

I was just wondering if anybody here had tried anything like this and what their experience was.

I also have one of these, and I generate about 1000L of WMO/Year...

But that is another story....

 

[Glaucus]

No, you need to worry about pressure, you need new systems to plumb it into and really in a cold country like this, you want them in a vacuum not just a box.
On top of that you can buy proper vacuum hot water panels for around £200.