This article was published in ASHRAE Journal, September 2009.

Copyright 2009 American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc. Posted at www.ashrae.org. This article may not be copied and/or distributed electronically or in paper form without permission of ASHRAE. For more information about ASHRAE Journal, visit www.ashrae.org.

Solar Hot-Water Heating System

By Gaylen Atkinson, Member ASHRAE; and Tom Colvin P .E., Member ASHRAE session in June 2008. Unfortunately, our decision to not follow the original plan of o offset the environmental impact from the Societys annual meetings, collecting the money at the annual meeting and then completing the project caused ASHRAE launched its first sustainable footprint project at the 2008 Annual many of our problems through its normal design and installation process. Rushing Meeting in Salt Lake City. ASHRAEs Utah chapter designed and installed a solar the installation, we skipped submittal and material reviews, which forced us to correct domestic hot-water (DHW) heating system at a home for teens. These projects the resulting problems after installation. The design criteria is discussed here are an ongoing way for the Society to give back to the community where its and the installation process and commissioning is described in detail to give the meeting is held, and can serve as a way for the chapter to learn more about reader a sense of the various problems we encountered, the solutions we developed, solar DHW systems. and the important operation problems that The system was installed at the Lolie The chapter members, representing any solar system designer would want to Eccles Teen Home at the Salt Lake City many companies, teamed up to donate the know. Included are system diagrams and YWCA. This residential facility has the design, materials, and installation work Web screen shots of the data reported by capacity to serve 12 pregnant or parenting while many others contributed financially the system, design, installation, and comteen girls who are homeless or in state to the project (http://tinyurl.com/nt4dlf). custody. Although the deadlines for this Based on early overwhelming support for About the Authors project were tight, the system has been the project, the decision was made just Gaylen Atkinson is president of Atkinson Elecproducing solar heated water at its design weeks prior to the meeting to have the tronics, Inc., and Tom Colvin, P.E., is president capacity since startup. system operational prior to the opening of Colvin Engineering Associates in Salt Lake City.

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missioning recommendations, and summer 2008 and winter 200809 performance history.
System Design

The first task for the design effort was to define and reduce the load. Several different low-flow showerheads were tested by installing a sample at the existing facility to determine that the showerheads would suffice for the teenage girls. The administrator also assisted designers by providing some timed shower data from the current occupants to accurately predict hot-water usage on a daily basis. Based on administrator feedback, the predicted hot-water usage for the facility was estimated to be an average of 75 gallons/ day (284 L/day) on weekdays and 10 gallons/day (38 L/day) on weekends. The facility houses 12 teenage girls and their young children. Now that the facility has been operating with the solar system for the past 10 months, the actual hot-water usage has been measured and equates to 65 gallons/day (246 L/day) per person on weekdays and 5 gallons/day (19 L/day) per person on weekends. After the number, duration and time period for daily showers and laundry had been defined, the optimum storage volume was calculated. Using solar heating computer simulation software, the optimum solar panel size for this facility was determined to be a four-panel array of 4 ft by 8 ft (1.2 m by 2.4 m) panels (Photo 1). This systems size was predicted to provide 63% of the annual hot water for the facility. We decided to use photovoltaic (PV) powered dc pumping, a new trend in solar hot-water heating systems, rather than a conventional ac powered pump. This eliminated any parasitic cost of utility power because the pumping energy would be provided by the sun. The additional benefit is avoiding a glycol loss from system boil-overs during power outages.
Monitoring and Control

firm donated the design work and a local chapter members firm donated the installation and successfully persuaded other firms to donate storage tanks and other accessories. Only the solar collectors and mounting hardware were purchased, using money donated by ASHRAE members and other Region IX chapters. Excess contributions were given to the Louisville chapter to seed its sustainability project for the 2009 ASHRAE Annual Conference. The revised chapter plan required the system to be installed and running for the ribbon cutting on June 20, 2008, the day before the Annual Conference opened. ASHRAE president Kent Peterson attended, along with other dignitaries, local government officials, and representatives of the media. Because the system and installation were donated, there wasnt a general contractor to enforce project schedules. The project was producing hot water, along with the live Web demo, barely in time for the dedication. We would advise other chapters to allow the full year to accomplish their sustainability projects to avoid last-minute completion headaches.
Getting the System to Work

An automation company donated a full-featured system that could be used for system monitoring, energy performance calculations, and differential temperature control. Flow meters, temperature sensors, and other data points into the system were monitored, and Web pages of live data were displayed at the 2008 ASHRAE Annual Meeting (Figure 1). Custom automation programming was provided by Utah chapter members and firms owned by local members installed the solar piping and controls. Small solar hot-water systems typically lack the control sophistication of this project, but our automation has been essential to identifying problem areas during system commissioning. The secure project site required remote monitoring where we studied system performance data logs and fine-tuned the control software to obtain maximum energy collection (Figure 2).
Installation

The Teen Home was a good fit for this project because of its daily domestic hot-water usage requirements. We decided to install two 80 gallon (303 L) preheat tanks with built-in glycol heat exchangers feeding into two existing commercial 80 gallon (303 L) gas domestic water heaters. A local engineering
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The design engineering firm and mechanical contractor were well respected for their conventional HVAC expertise, but they didnt have a lot of recent solar hot-water system experience. As a result, we learned as we went. The first major issue we discovered during installation was that the company donating the storage tanks had mistakenly shipped the Florida version, which heated city water directly in the collectors without the glycol heat exchangers required by the much colder Utah climate. Since the tanks were already piped, we decided to leave them in place for the summer and correct the problem before winter. We evaluated keeping the tanks by adding a separate heat exchanger for the glycol with a domestic water pump. This would have required re-piping, modifying the controls with extra sensors, and more pump control. Fortunately, the company that donated the tanks volunteered to ship the correct tanks, and the installing contractor agreed to re-pipe them when they arrived, leaving the system operating according to its original design (Figure 3). The correct tanks were installed several months later and the glycol loop was isolated, but additional taps into the system were required to inject the glycol. In addition, once the glycol expansion tank was returned to its isolated loop function, we also had to add an additional expansion tank to handle the extra domestic hot-water storage capacity. We discovered the second major issue during the meeting while we were remotely monitoring the system. Because the home used very little hot water during the weekend, the storage tanks were reaching almost 180F (82C). We found the existing tempering valve was not piped correctly to inject cold water, because the original system piping schematic did not reflect the extra bypasses that we found after carefully tracing all the old and new piping. In addition, a check valve shown for the existing DHW recirculating pump was missing, so we were back-feeding very hot, solar-heated water into the system, bypassing the existing
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water heaters and tempering valve. This became apparent after we added control to the recirculating pump that had been running continuously before the solar water heating system was installed. We had to have the maintenance staff manually dump solar-heated water several times to prevent a potential hazardous situation. The installing contractor returned and re-piped the tempering valve and added a check valve, after which we were able to make the tempering valve function properly in its safety role. To prevent future problems, additional temperature sensors were added to monitor the hot-water system. We also added a solenoid valve, so the automation Photo 1: The (four) flat plate collectors with the solar pump PV panel. system could automatically dump hot water to prevent overheating on light usage days. The dc pump pushed about 2 gpm (0.13 L/s) of city water on peak solar days, or 0.5 gpm (0.03 L/s) per panel, falling within the collector manufacturers guidelines. However, this would probably not be adequate once glycol was added to the system. When the glycol heat exchanger tanks were installed, we ran the system on city water for a few days to discover any problems before we pumped in glycol. The tanks were piped reverse-return for the glycol and domestic water sides, but we discovered that one tank heated to 155F (68C) during the time that the other tank only heated to 125F (52C). We had the contractor re-pipe the glycol heat exchangers, counting every elbow and tee to make sure each tank heat exchanger was exactly Figure 1: Solar energy data on the projects live data Web site (www.utahashraesolar.tzo.com). balanced. The next day the two tanks were tracking within 0.5F (0.3C). If we had been using a higher head and flow acpowered pump, we could have corrected the problem by balancing with an isolation valve. This was not possible with the lowhead and low-flow photovoltaic-powered dc pump that we were using.
Controls and Live Monitoring

The original control sequence called for differential control: starting and stopping the solar pump based on the collector output and tank temperatures. However, with PV powered pumping, we started with the much simpler approach of the PV panel powering the pump whenever the sun was shining, with load-matched Figure 2: Live solar collection hourly Btu data log from the project Web site. flow during the collection period. Because the automation system was calculating and logging collected in the storage tanks. The data logs showed the daily solar hot-water Btu production, we shortly discovered that the Btu count decreasing, while the collector output temperature pump operated for several hours beyond the 8 hour (4 hours was lower than the input. of solar noon) thermal collection period. This resulted in the We had temperature sensors on the collector output, input, flat plate collectors reradiating energy that had already been and the tank, so we programmed the automation system to
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prevent the pump from running unless the collector output was warmer than the tank. We wired the pump through a normally closed relay so that in the event of a power failure the pump would continue to operate from the PV panel. This turned out to be a wise decision as the building experienced several power failures and the PV-powered pump kept running during the outage, preventing overheating and loss of glycol. Another issue we found was that if the tanks were hot, typically in the afternoon, and clouds rolled in, the collector output temperature would drop rapidly. If substantial cold water entered the tank at the same time, due to laundry, etc., the tank temperature would be colder than the collector output, keeping the pump running Figure 3: Original piping diagram from the project Web site. and reradiating collected heat. This was also noticed by our Btu count going down as the collector input than the input, which corrected the problem. We experimented temperature would be several degrees hotter than the output. with time delays and minimum pump runtimes to prevent short We modified the control sequence to prevent the pump from cycling the pump on morning startup and reradiation prevenrunning whenever the collector output temperature was lower tion shutdown.

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We noticed significant burner runtime, making up standby losses, which was especially irritating when we had much higher solar tank preheat temperatures. We added control to the domestic water heater burners to shut them down (but with automatic restart if the tank temperature dropped too low) whenever the solar tank temperatures were significantly higher, saving a lot of gas. Because we had 160 gallons (606 L) of additional solar preheat storage capacity, we had the maintenance staff valve-off and operate only one domestic water heater at a time, which further cut the standby losses.
Fine-Tuning the System

After we corrected the problem with the solar pump running too long, our flow meter, which clocked one pulse per gallon, showed a thermosyphon, which caused additional reradiation of already stored energy. We suspected the solar loop check valve was stuck open (Figure 3). A new Figure 4: Piping for the tank transfer pump from the project Web site. valve was installed and the problem immediately D5 Solar 710B/D5 Solar 720B disappeared. The Btu logs showed that we had 10 been losing up to 20% of the Btus collected each 9 day before we stopped the PV pump extra runtime and the thermosyphon. 8 After the overheat dump valve was installed, 7 we never worried again about overheating on low usage days because hot water was automatically 6 dumped to prevent reaching 180F (82C) storage 5 tank temperature. The most effective sequence was running the dump valve for several minutes 4 any time the tank temperature hit 170F (77C) 3 before 4 p.m., dumping about an hours worth of collection. We found we could move the time to 2 about 3:30 p.m., which saved water, because the 1 remaining solar collection time didnt allow the 0 tanks to reach 180F (82C). We originally con0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 sidered stopping the pump when the tank reached gpm 180F (82C) but decided it was a bad idea for our system as the collectors would boil and lose glycol, Figure 5: Pump curve for dc solar pump. shutting the system down until it was recharged. After observing that almost 100 gallons (379 L) of hot water since the tank transfer pump was installed last fall. The pump were dumped each weekend in September to prevent overheat- has run for several hours each weekend during the hottest part ing, we experimented by adding a pump to transfer the solar of this summer. heated preheat tank water into the gas domestic water heaters, When we changed solar tanks and added glycol, the solar loop pushing the lower temperature domestic hot-water heater water dropped from 2 gpm (0.13 L/s) on city water to 1.6 gpm (0.10 into the preheat tanks, allowing several more hours of solar col- L/s) on glycol, which proved to be a problem. Several weeks lection in the afternoon (Figure 4). When we started the pump, later the collector temperature was more than 240F (116C), we found we also needed to add an external check valve as the there was no flow, and we suspected the glycol was boiling. We donated pump did not have one built in. Our sophisticated con- rushed to the project, found steam coming out of the collector trol logic was not necessary because all we needed was to run output automatic vent, and covered the collectors with a tarp the tank transfer pump for an hour after 2 p.m. in the afternoon, until we could correct the no-flow problem. whenever the pre-heat tank temperature exceeded 160F (71C). The glycol expansion tank pressure gauge had dropped to alWe never dumped hot water again on a weekend last fall. As most zero. We could not remove the pump for inspection because of Aug. 10, 2009, the emergency dump valve has not operated the isolation valves also included the expansion tank in the loop.
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We found the dc pump manufacturer had a model with a different body style that provided 1.5 times more flow at the pump curve point where we had been operating (Figure 5). We purchased and installed the new pump and a strainer with additional isolation valves for easy future removal. The glycol flow jumped from 1.6 to 2.0 gpm (0.10 to 0.13 L/s) with the new pump. We suspect that the system simply air locked because we didnt have enough flow with the thicker glycol at lower winter temperatures before the sun heated the panels. We installed a pressure transmitter at the same time so we could monitor glycol loop pressure. We tested the original, lower flow pump in a bucket and found it worked normally. We have not had an air locking problem due to insufficient flow since. The PV panel was originally installed at the same sun angle as the thermal collectors. The gap we had allowed for snow removal proved to be insufficient. In January, the sun was shining brightly after a significant snowstorm, and we noticed a very low PV voltage, about 12V instead of 18, powering the pump, and the collector temperature was above 240F (116C). We rushed to the project to save the glycol that was boiling due to low flow. We found the snow had refrozen before sliding completely off the PV panel so the bottom solar cells were blocked (all the cells in a PV panel are in a series), preventing sufficient current output to power the pump.

The thermal collectors had only melted away the top one-third of the snow cover but were sufficiently exposed to overheat and boil the glycol. We immediately cleared the PV panel, and the resultant flow cooled the temperature. Fortunately, we only had to recharge a small amount of missing glycol. We remounted the PV panel on stand-offs so that snow would slide completely off before the snow started melting on the thermal collectors. Upon questioning the maintenance staff, we found that they had been clearing away snow after storms, but hadnt this time. We wanted to ensure that snow removal would happen naturally and not cause a problem again. In March 2009, we added a solar radiance sensor, so we could compare collector output with actual solar availability, to gain experience with collector efficiency in our geographic area. The glycol pressure sensor was wired in so we could monitor system pressure. We added a dc current sensor to the PV-powered pump, so we could learn how it performs versus its pump curve. The peak flow ran at 1.5 gpm (0.09 L/s) instead of the 2.0 gpm (0.3 L/s) we had last fall, we suspected either the strainer needed cleaning, or there was some other problem. In April 2009 we noticed that the collector inlet temperature was much higher at night and during the day than had been the case previously. It often exceeded the collector outlet temperature, while the solar tanks were gaining in temperature during daytime

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collection periods. This caused erroneous Btu collection data and short cycled the pump as the controls program was trying to prevent a supposed reradiation problem. We commanded the pump to run continuously during the daily collection period until we could get back to the project to determine the source of the problem. The solar radiation sensor data energy potential showed that we were not collecting the daily energy we had obtained previously. The glycol pressure sensor, which had also been wired just weeks previously, showed that we had lost glycol from over the winter. Returning to the project, we tightened unions where we noticed glycol drips, cleaned the strainer, which improved the pump flow, and replaced a faulty temperature sensor on the collector inlet, which explained the diminished Btu collection. We also recharged the glycol to make up the loss from over the winter. In early May 2009 the glycol boiled due to a pump vapor lock because the solar radiation was higher than it had been in the winter. We suspected a problem with the glycol expansion tank, which was installed without access to the pressure port. We had to remove the tank from the line for testing where we measured 50 psi (345 kPa), much higher than the 12 psi (83 kPa) listed on the label. We bled the pressure back to 12 psi (83 kPa), reinstalled the tank, and charged the glycol and it has been operating normally since. Because the automation system monitors all of the sensors, our live system data Web site (www.utahashraesolar.tzo.com) has become popular for those in the solar industry wanting to monitor solar performance. It is also used as an instructional tool for schools and solar energy classes. We have learned a lot about how solar hot-water systems operate, especially in the cold Utah climate, and are anticipating the performance this summer.
Lessons Learned

This past winter, Salt Lake City experienced inversions and cloudy days that diminished our solar collection. The winter city water temperatures have dropped to the low 40s and the summer city water has been almost 60F (16C). The collector angles are at our latitude of 40, which means peak collection should be in March and September. We are anticipating the comparison of the owners summer gas bills from summer 2008 to summer 2009 to compare with the estimated savings from our logging of the solar-collected Btus. The live data reported by the automation has allowed us to remotely diagnose many of the operational problems that we encountered. The energy calculations allowed us to enhance the solar system performance. From following the live data Web site, we suspect that the discrepancy between the accumulative solar-collected Btus and the cumulative DHW usage Btus is the result of the heat gain from the boiler room to the domestic water/tank piping system.
System Recommendations

We found that with the daily average usage remaining similar, we can collect and store solar heated water that is about 70F (39C) over ambient. In the summer our daytime temperatures average 80F to 90F (27C to 32C), and we were achieving 150F (66C) regularly. In the winter with 30F to 40F (1C to 4C) in the daytime, we were storing 100F to 120F (38C to 49C) regularly.

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Reduce the load with low usage fixtures and determine the daily load profile. Size the system for a reasonable payback, not the entire load. Design the system for the climatic conditions and evaluate the structure for collector location and angle, wind loading, and pipe routing. Ensure adequate room to prevent snow buildup and allow natural snow removal. If the system is being added to an existing building, carefully survey the piping, connection points, and valving to ensure a simple interface. Just because the hot-water heating system has been operational for several years, dont assume all of the components are working. Verify proper operation of existing water heaters, mixing valves, circulation pumps, check valves and other key components, as the solar heated water can be much hotter than a conventional DHW system. You cant just turn off the sun when its convenient. Since the solar collection capacity will likely exceed usage at times during the year, the design must include a means of rejecting the excess heat along with ensuring pump operation during power outages to prevent system boil-overs (PV pumping or emergency power).
Installation Recommendations

The plumbing contractor should be the prime contractor and be responsible to coordinate the roofing, electrical, insulation, and controls. The piping schematic should be detailed, showing correct locations for
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all valves, sensors, glycol taps, with adequate isolation valves for servicing each component. Check the expansion tank pressure during installation because the label may not be correct. Make sure the pressure port is available for future maintenance testing. A preconstruction meeting with the plumbing contractor and designer should emphasize the importance of equalizing the pressure drop through each circuit/tank to ensure balanced flow.
Commissioning and Operation Recommendations

Encourage the owner/operator to observe typical operating temperatures and system pressures so that problems can be identified if observed temperatures are out of the normal range or a leak occurs.
Recommendations for Future Projects

The construction team should include a knowledgeable person with solar control experience to verify proper flows, temperature differences, and quantified solar performance. Have a sun screen (tarp) available for the collectors so commissioning work can be performed during the daytime by turning off the sun. Educate the owner/operator to maintain clean collectors and provide them a list of troubleshooting recommendations. Request the owner to record operational problems with date and time. Snowy climates should include snow removal instructions to prevent lost collection days.

Dont let the joy of contributing to a great cause overshadow the need to allow sufficient time for good design, product submittals, sequential construction, and thorough commissioning. If future chapter sustainability projects are automated and live Web data are available to all ASHRAE members, the collective knowledge gain will be beneficial to our industry. The chapter host committee and Board of Governors should appoint a sustainability project committee with a strong chair, clear lines of authority, deadlines, monthly reporting, technical review, and fundraising to implement the project. Allow at least a full year from project inception to completion. We hope the detailed report of our experiences will be beneficial to others as they embark on future solar projects. We encourage readers to look at the chapter Web site (www. utahashraesolar.tzo.com) and provide comments or recommendations for a collective learning experience.

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