I recieved some solar hot water panels from my grandpa a while back. I want them to help heat my small building, so I decided to start taking one apart of see if I could refurbish it. Here are some photos from my experience-
Collector before disassembly
Another view of the collector before disassembly.
Removal of the top weather channel revealed the glass was actually two seperate pieces of tempered glass.
The underside of the channel.
A better shot showing the glass spacers made from plywood.
One side was almost rotted away-
The spacer after the top piece of glass was removed.
There was foam wrapped in foil surrounding the absorber. The foil was about at its end as you can tell…
Long pieces of white foam lined the collector, some of the pieces were waterlogged and heavy.
The far end was plywood wrapped in foil; almost rotted away.
Foam wrapped in foil on the long side of the collector.
Here you can see the foam that was all waterlogged and creating a major moisture problem.
A good view of the absorber plate with all of the side foam removed.
More of the foil has flaked off as seen here-
More shoddy foil.
The plywood piece of wood on one end of the collector was totally rotten. It didnt take much to get it out.
Another shot of the rotten wood-
After removing the wood piece, the absorber slid right out of the collector body. It actually was pretty light.
Another picture of the absorber sitting in the collector body.
The absorber plate and copper pipes that are soldered to it. This is the underside of the absorber.
The absorber plate and copper pipes that are soldered to it. This is the underside of the absorber.
The collector body with only a few things left. On top was a piece of
particle board with foil taped to it. Most of that was falling off- The
board was wet on one end, and smelled funky.
The foil wrapped particle board, a thin layer of the nasty, dusty foam, and underneath that was the white foam.
Wet particle board.
Kinda wet thin nasty, dusty foam.
Both the particle board and foam, all wet and soggy.
White foam on the bottom of the collecor body.
Empty collector body, pretty heavily rusted and hole filled.
The other end is better but still has some patchy rust.
Wet white foam. Heavy and stupid.
Well, thats all to report for now. I have to figure out what I am going to replace the wood with as well the foam- I think I have my work cut out for me. If anyone has any good ideas, be sure to drop me a comment. Thatd be great!
-Erik
technorati tags:solar, panel, take-apart, sol-aire
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