Joe's Thermal

[cye]

Photo and message received from Stu this morning

" Joe Harte, an old friend, sent me pictures of this lash-up which has been giving him free baths in Sligo. I thought you'd like to see them.

S"


Lovely, simple, and the pic speaks for itself. Thanks to Stu & of course Joe!

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[caveman]

Just brilliant. He could do with a length of pipe insulation though.

[stu]

That was the mark IV, here's the current model. The mark VI! See the wee funnel in the solar circuit?

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[cye]

treasure at the end of that rainbow for sure - free hot water.

what a great picture. thanks Stu and Joe

[joeharte]

Ah Stu - Trying to make me famous, are ye? I joined up to make a few notes I didn't happen to mention in a casual conversation last night.

The wee funnel works better than the feeder tank you see in the first pic. It's a slight airlocking issue because the piping in the panel wasn't 100% level. The pressure from the feeder tank didn't allow this to cure itself, and the thermosyphon effect just didn't start some days. The first sunny day with the funnel gave some spectacular geysers!

The Mark VIII is planned as a closed system with an expansion tank feeding in from the bottom end, but will need slightly better engineering (and a spare few quid for the tank). I'm considering using standard car anti-freeze as the fluid medium. I'd appreciate any thoughts on that idea.

[campbeji]

Hi Joe, Welcome to the forum, I hope you enjoy your time here :-)

I'm not an expert on this stuff, far from it, but i'd worry about the car anti-freeze in case there was an accidental contamination with the output water, i'd not enjoy showering in car anti-freeze.

I'm sure Cye of someone who knows what they are talking about will be along soon to give some better advice.

Good Luck
Jim