Hydrogen gas production

I would like to produce hydrogen gas from solar......for use in a hot water tank and for a cooking stove......Does anyone have any solid links on how to set up such a system?

Hydrogen is processed out of water using electrolysis, suggest you look up "Browns gas", HHO production or the water car groups.
I've been working with this stuff for about 5 years now and use it on my vehicles, with good results.
The amount of current needed to produce it can be high, so it might be a good idea to determine what volume of gas you think you need and work backwards from there. If your solar array produces an over abundance of juice it would be worth the investigation.

Good luck
David   

Because of conversion losses, you will need more solar panel capacity then you will net from burning the H2. $$$  Methane would be a cheaper option if you can grow the biomass, which of course is condensed sunlight.

never thought about that.......so what you are saying is, i should go ahead and just run those appliances off of solar?

I have not looked into biomass at all

Heating (water, air, food) with solar derived electricity requires a lot of solar PV and energy storage as a rule. That does depend on how much of the assorted heating you plan to do. But generally speaking solar powered electrical resistance heating requires more storage than one might think. 

Unless you have a wind or hydro system with power to burn (pun intended), I would not use PV for resistive heating, including H2 production. Electricity is a high grade source of energy that is best used for things that can not use a lower form of energy. I prefer to use a biologicaly converted energy source over a technologicaly produced one. Green manure crops and  poop =methane (gas) for stove and backup lighting. Wood or IR solar = heat :domestic hot water, hydronic heat . Ethanol (liquid) for transportation and backup generator . PV, wind, or hydro = electricity (lighting, electronics, power tools, etc..) By using the lowest form of energy for each application, you reduce your technological vulnerability.

I'm sorry I wasn't thinking earlier, you may want to look into solar concentrators using oil as the transfer medium, similar to the large solar generation stations in the Mojave.

The system I built in the late 80's used a 10' parabolic (reflective) dish collector  focused to 12"coil with cotton seed oil pumping through it, this went into a 10 gal. tank filled with steel ball bearings acting as the heat sink, insulated with high temp refractory would keep 700+deg f 24 hr. We were looking to generate steam for a micro turbine, but the system could easily provide hot water or direct heat coils for a stove/oven.

Just another idea

David

Philip Freddolino wrote:
Unless you have a wind or hydro system with power to burn (pun intended), I would not use PV for resistive heating, including H2 production. Electricity is a high grade source of energy that is best used for things that can not use a lower form of energy.

oxyhydrogen is a great way of storing that energy.
can convert with as much efficiency as a battery by using fuel-cell or stirling-engine.

I prefer to use a biologicaly converted energy source over a technologicaly produced one. Green manure crops and   poop =methane (gas) for stove and backup lighting.

how do you collect it?
and how much poop are we talking about?

Wood or IR solar = heat :domestic hot water, hydronic heat.

granted that would work most places outside the poles.
for polar-conditions it's best to have wind-turbines.

Ethanol (liquid) for transportation and backup generator.

again how much grain are you using?
and what about all the energy for distillation?
Did you know that plants are less efficient than solar-panels?
or so I hear...

I'm quite interested though,
can I use any rotting grain to make alcohol?

PV, wind, or hydro = electricity (lighting, electronics, power tools, etc..)

right but how do you store that electricity?

By using the lowest form of energy for each application,
you reduce your technological vulnerability.

I'd say when you're using a diversity of fuels,
you increase chances of some being available.