Solar powered storage tank heating system

[kalebjarrod]

I am lloking at cutting some costs involed with my discus and in turn build some more cool stuff

i was thinking of a series of poly loops conected to my holding tanks, plumbed through the walls in my garage.

again trying to get some thoughts on the topic, i have some ideas myself just throwing the subject around

Question? If i install two bulk heads / tank throughs, one at the top, one at the bottom of the storage tank. Would the water naturally travel from the bottom bulkhead (where the coldest water sits) through the pipework warming up on its way, and out the top bulkhead? Like natural water movemnt? Would it be eoungh to create some sort of flow?

If not what sort of 12volt pumps can be attached to a solar panel?

[Dave76]

Hi Ryan

Not sure how it would go flowing normally - would be pretty slow IMO.

On a larger scale they do the same for swimming pool water - pump it up through black pipes mounted on the roof of the house ti be heated by the sun - then back into the pool. Maybe do a search for how that all works & see if that gives you any ideas?

Regards

Dave

[Proteus]

the main issue would be regulating the heat...

other than that it shouldnt be too difficult

[kalebjarrod]

Dave,

that is exactley where i got my idea from, the water coming out of a system i built similar for a pool is very very warm. Not sure of the exact temp

Proteus,

maybe somesort of a thermal swicth hooked to a 12 volt sump pump?

i would need to get the system to turn off at night as this would just cool the tanks.

[kalebjarrod]

O.k

so i have set up a temporary series of poly coils on the roof and hooked it up to a davey

water is certainlly coming out warmer might need a few more coils and some sort of heat trap to fully obtain the best from the sun

might be a job for the fish shed

[kalebjarrod]

O/K

tried a bigger pump and it worked a bit better

might try a solar heat colector next weekend

got the temp from 15 to 26 degrees c

a few more degrees and i got water hot enough for changes

[Mattzilla]

wow sounds great!!!

[DiscusMan]

Hey,

has there been any improvements on this.

Wanna give us an idea of exactly how you hooked it up as in how many coils etc.

I have been thinking about this myself as running the heater in the storage container has to be much more expensive than a pump to put the water on the roof.

I was thinking of some elaborate maze of poly pipes with heaps of t intersection and as much surafec area on teh roof as possible. Perhaps even using some reducing sections so maybe 13mm pipe to the roof the go down to the next size down for the coils but have lots of them.

I was also contemplating runniong a full solar power setup adn running my whole fishroom off solar power adn batteries. Dont know how many 12 volt heaters i need or even if they are available.

Wayne

[kalebjarrod]

Hey whanye

i have found that the intensity of the wimter sun dose't allow me to continue the project till it warms up

it certainlly warms the water in the winter but not enough and quickly enough to facilitate water changes

the idea with the solar collect will work it better but i am flat out and had some stands to build so the idea got sheveld for a while

(and to be honest my next project has to be another rack setup, too many fish and not enough tanks)

I will continue it but i have to allocate time for it in spring

[DiscusMan]

Mate,

I am going to go ahead with a similar setup in teh coming weeks.

For me I am changing 1000 LItres of water a day in my setup. The heater is ovbiously costing me a fortune and in the end the temperature drop is minimal in a large system and the fish dont mind as i have previously change it with water that i havent heated adn there was no problems.

But warmer water is always better.

Ill take pics of what i do and post them as well

Wayne