Opeyemi Adesoye

Debi Baker wrote:Also on mine the panels are in parallel not in series,  so water does not go thru one panel and then thru the other .  It is plumbed so that fresh water goes into the bottom of both panels and hot water out of the top of both panels,  so the inlet of both are connected together and the outlets of both are connected together ( not outlet of one connected to inlet of the other) That at least is how mine and others I have seen are done

Maybe you could try having the panels on one of the slops of that roof, maybe the morning sun slope, instead of balanced on the ridge and plumb the bottom of the tank to the bottom of the panels and plumb the top of the panels to the top of the tank.  So the waster thermosiphons thru the panels and tank.  Around here what I see is the the cold tap water then connected also to the bottom of the tank

Thank you Debi.

Actually, the unit has been test - runned on the ground before placing on the roof and it worked fine.

From your suggestion, it must have been from the slope I didn't consider. While I test- runned  it on the ground I tilted it at an angle.

I will try this.

This has helped a lot.

Many thanks once again.

thomas rubino wrote:Hi Opeyemi;    First let me tell you that I have never built or lived with solar hot water.   That said, so you know I am not an expert.
The only system I had first hand experience with, was for heating an outdoor swimming pool in Canada.  The collector's were definitely higher than the pool.
I believe your collector's should be higher than your reservoir, to get a thermos syphon going.    

Thank you very much Thomas.

thomas rubino wrote:Hi Opeyemi;   Welcome to Permies!
I think we will need some photo's to better understand your system.
Is this hot water for your home ? How big is the reservoir?  How long is the sun shining on your collector's?
If you just had this installed ,can you ask the installer why its not working properly?
Is this a widely used system in your area? Or is this a new company?
Maybe there are others with a similar system, that have had the same problem?

Thank you so much for the reply.

Below are additional details:


Size of reservoir = 200 litres.
Suntime = About 9 hours.

I built it myself.

Hello,

I just had a Solar Hot water (thermosyphon) system installed. I tried to follow all rules guiding thermosyphon. I discovered that the water in the reservoir isn't getting hot.

Below are some specifics of the system:
- There are two collectors side by side.
-The outlet of the second collector is connected to the reservoir which is place about 600mm from the top of the collector.

Faults noticed:
- The inlet temperature the first collector (from the bottom of the reservoir)  is greater than the outlet of the first collector and this is greater than the inlet temperature into the second collector which is also greater than the outlet temperature into the reservoir.

I suspect reverse thermosyphon but I don't really know the cause.
Please, I need help.

Opeyemi.