Solar Energy Services Company Ltd

Contract Installation: Solar water heaters

WE DO WORKS!!

Catch The Sun! On or Off Grid.

Solar hurricane Lanterns with incorporated flashlight and USB charging port.
4-6 hours of continuous light on fully charged battery...better than 2-hour light bulb. Only $80.00

Solar Watches: Unisex* night light mode* Chronograph*
12/24-hour option* 50m waterproof* Alarms modes. Only $150.00

LED Solar Lighting, the sun will give you light night or day and will never send you a Bill.

Available! Dusk to Dawn LED Bulbs: consume electricity only at the right time.
Motion Sensor LED Bulbs: consume electricity only when needed. ideal for corridors, etc.
Overall, less electricity consumption with either bulb.

Heat pipe vacuum tube working principles.

Heat pipe or vacuum tube (evacuated tube) might seem like a new concept, you are probably using the concept every day and don't know or are aware of the vacuum concept. Laptop computers often use small heat pipes to conduct heat away from the CPU, air-conditioning systems commonly use heat pipes for heat conduction.
The heat pipe/copper rod is a hollow space, with air sucked out (evacuated;) hence the name Evacuated Tube or heat pipe system, much the same as the solar tube. In this case, insulation is not needed or required but rather to alter the state of the liquid inside. Inside the heat pipe is a small quantity of purified water and some special additives. At sea level water boils at 100℃, but if you climb to the top of a mountain, the boiling temperature will be less than 100℃. This is due to the difference in air pressure.
Based on this principle of water boiling at a lower temperature with decreased air pressure, by evacuating the heat pipe, the same result can be achieved. The heat pipes used in solar collectors have a boiling point of only 30℃. So, when the heat pipe is heated above 30℃ the water v***rizes. This v***r rises rapidly to the top of the heat pipe at very high temperatures and that heat is transferred to the water in the storage tank via conduction. As the heat is lost at the condenser (top), the v***r condenses to form a liquid (water) and returns to the bottom of the heat pipe to repeat the process.
At room temperature the water forms a small ball, much like mercury does when pour out on a flat surface at room temperature. When the heat pipe is shaken, the ball of water can be heard rattling inside. Although it is just water, it sounds like a piece of metal rattling inside.

Structure and Principal Heat-pipe vacuum tube:

This explanation makes heat pipes sound very simple. A hollow copper pipe with a very small amount of purified water inside the copper rod/heat pipe, with air sucked out of the rod to achieve evacuation, then placed into the hollow of two pieces of borosilicate glass circular in shape, fused together at both ends, forming a vacuum, with thin aluminum fins and caped sealed at the top. The inner glass is sprayed with a special technologically advanced heat absorbent film like spray for maximum heat absorbent from the sun and natural light, (radiation) and high heat retention.

Over 20 manufacturing procedures and strict quality control processes to achieve the right result. Heat pipe evacuated tube Quality Control. Material quality and cleansing process is extremely important towards the creation of a good quality heat pipe. If there are any impurities inside the heat pipe it will negatively affect its performance. The purity of the copper itself must also be very high, containing only trace amounts of oxygen and other elements. If the copper contains too much oxygen or other elements, they will leach out into the vacuum, forming pockets of air within the extreme top of the heat pipe. This will affect the movement of heat to the pipe's hottest point which is the condenser end (The Tip) then downward away from the condenser; this is not good for overall performance of the vacuum, hence the need to use highly pure copper.

The heat pipe used in solar manifold collectors comprises two copper components, the shaft, and the condenser (the top extreme tip). Prior to evacuation, the condenser is brazed to the shaft. The condenser has a much larger diameter than the shaft, this is to provide a large surface area over which heat transferred to the header via conduction. Oxygen free copper is used, ensuring excellent performance and life span.

Each heat pipe is tested for heat transfer performance and is exposed to 300℃ temperatures prior to being approved for use. For this reason, the copper heat pipes are relatively soft. Heat pipes that are very stiff have not been exposed to such stringent quality testing and may form an air pocket in the top, over time, greatly reducing heat transfer performance.

Heat pipe evacuated tube Freeze Protection.
Even though the heat pipe is a vacuum, and the boiling point has been reduced to only 25-30℃, the freezing point is still the same as water at sea level, 0℃. Because the heat pipe is located within the evacuated glass tube, brief overnight temperatures as low as -40℃ will not cause the heat pipe to freeze due to very minimal heat loss. Flat-plate collectors are different, there's a much higher and much faster percentage of heat loss, damages by repeated freezing. The water used in heat pipes still freezes in cold conditions, but it freezes in a controlled way that does not cause swelling of the copper pipe.
Therefore, evacuated tubes utilize 15 % more direct and indirect sun light and also natural light to produce heat and the vacumm concept retains the heat much longer. Because of this, an evacuated tube solar water heater is 15% more efficient than a flat plate (panel) solar water heater. This is best realized during long cloudy days.

As much as it is a much cheaper system, the Low Pressure or Gravity Flow solar water heaters are for very specific applications and is not suitable to work with Mains water pressure supply, except with an added electrically powered equipment., you will never be able to get the right mix, there will not be a proper equilibrium of hot and cold water to get the desired temperature with good pressure for a good enjoyable warm bath. The Mains water supply will always overpower or push back the low or gravity flow from that water heater.

The situation worsens if more than one person is taking a bath in two separate bathrooms or is trying to use hot water in another part of the house. The results vairy depends on how low or tall/high your house is. Also, those water heaters require specific type of plumbing and connections for fluent flow, and you may still experience unequal hot and cold-water mix.

Choosing Your Solar Water Heater. ©
In our last post, we got positive feedbacks. We say thank you to persons who took time to read through the entire post. Persons welcomed the information and are pleased with the bit of information gained.

Because of this, we thought we would move towards another question frequently ask, especially by first-time buyers of solar water heaters and even customers who have had their solar water heater installed for many years. We would like to share a little on the correct/right size, capacity, and type on what we’ve come across during our over twenty years dealing with all brands, types, makes, models, and sizes of solar heaters for domestic, hotel and commercial purposes.

The purchase and installation of the right, correct or suitable water capacity or size of a solar water heater is very important in all applications. But now we will focus on domestic application or, household usage.

This is important because it allows you to spend the right amount of money for the comfortability of sufficient quantity of hot water when needed. Any unreasonable excess is money not well spent.
Excessive or oversized water quantity or capacity of solar water heaters are not recommended because of unfavorable effects by you most likely will not make use of the excess storage. Unreasonable Excess storage does not allow your heater to go through the process of Fall in temperature to adequately decompress. This will affect your solar heater in many ways, like overheating, which will cause frequent tripping of safety valves, overheating also causes increased pounds per square inch (PSI) within the holding tank. There’s more combustible pressure within the holding tank, panels or manifold which will eventually develop leaks and gradually lead to shortened life period of your system, especially if a pressure reducer valve was not installed on initial installation or this valve is incorrectly adjusted to scientifically control Main’s water supply to the heater.

Possibilities of replacement or repair costs are more likely and could be costly.

If you have an oversized or unreasonable excess capacity solar water heater installed there must be Draw or use of hot water more frequently than usual.

When we come across cases like this, we advise customers to use hot water to do laundry at least once a week. This can also be applied if you have the right size but make very little use of the hot water. If you’re oversized or sized correctly and sometimes not at home and no hot water is being used for long periods of time, let’s say two weeks or more, we recommend that you shut/close the cold-water supply line to the heater and leave one or two hot water taps open, this will allow the heater to be free from build-up combustible pressure for too long a period, tripping valves and leaks. Don’t worry, if your stop or cutoff valve is working properly, once there’s no water going into the water heater, no water will come out of the water heater once the water reaches below level of the exit point. Your water heater can safely sit there for a long time. If you can’t reach the stop valves or have a passive system installed, we recommend that you have someone to go in and run the hot water for at least 15 minutes as often as possible. Doing this is a precautionary measure and is especially important during all Sun seasons.

Correctly sized or not, it is not recommended to leave your water heater under water pressure supply and unused for very long periods, especially during all Sun seasons.
Calculations should be 10 gallons per person in the household. If you’re frequently having guests, friends, or family members on long stays, calculate at 12 gallons per individual is reasonable. If you’re also using hot water often for laundry an added 15 gallons is recommended. But you can work your way around this if you have a small budget, you can have the Right-Person-Use-Size and still use hot water for washing by doing laundry early morning. This will allow the solar heater to adequately recharge during the day for nighttime use. The results are better on sunny days.

As much as it is a much cheaper system, the Low Pressure or Gravity Flow solar water heaters are for very specific applications and is not suitable to work with Mains water pressure supply, accept with an added electrically powered equipment., you will never be able to get the right mixture, there will not be a proper equilibrium of hot and cold water to get the desired temperature with good pressure for a good enjoyable warm bath. The Mains water supply will always overpower the low or gravity flow from that water heater. The situation worsens it more than one person in taking a bath in two separate bathrooms. Also, those water heaters require specific type of plumbing and connections for fluent flow, and you may still experience unequal hot and cold-water mixture.

In our next Post, we will discuss the differences, advantages and disadvantages of Flat Plate Collector and Evacuated Tube Solar Water Heaters and Low/Gravity Pressure and Pressurized solar water heaters.

1.5kw Off Grid PV System Installed, Aupicon.
Home still under construction, batteries and inverter are temporarily positioned.

Excited, Thrilled, Elated, Jubilant, Overjoyed, Happy, were some of the words we used to describe the customer's reaction from start to finish of the project.

Relocate from 3rd floor to basement pump room a conventional electrical water heater and convert the tank to produce hot water and work as a 100% solar water heater. All pipes are hidden and runs parallel with down drain pipes.

This is just one of the reasons we've gained the reputation across St.Lucia as "The Best Minds" when it comes to solar water heaters.

Solar Inverters are now available. Build your own small PV system. Ideal for small homes, Mobile Food Van's, etc. 12/24/36 DC volts - AC 220 volts. Max support power 300w and 500w.

Memories... Seven years ago... designed and installed two 25k PV systems... Government Projects... Bravo to the workers involved.

Solar Garden/Pathway lights, limited amount available.

At Cosmos St. Lucia with Love, Passive Solar Water Heater System installed. Jaw dropping background,