Has anyone here put in a solar HW system, or at least priced one? I'd consider it if the economics were there, I currently use electric for hot water heating. Given that a conventional electric or gas fired water heater can be purchased for $300 or so, and given the relatively simple components involved in a solar system, I'd think the hardware cost wouldn't be that great. If it were $1000 or less I'd consider it, payback would be reasonable. The biggest expense I'd guess (other than labor, which I'd do myself) would be for the insulated HE for water storage. Is there anyway to add a heat exchanger within the shell of an existing water heater tank? I've got a "super-insulated" Marathon one I would want to keep. One headache here is that we get well below freezing in the winter, I'd look at a secondary system with antifreeze.
Bri
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