Solar Hot Water Heating

There are a lot of ways to heat water for a variety of purposes such as a store of heat, for hot water use, pools, and hot tubs and many more.

There's also a ton of information which can be expounded on at greater length in terms of equipment, videos, and other sources, which we will detail later.

This is just one set up that I think is pretty good on the surface, so I present it here just for information, but I can't vouche for it as I did not build it and do not have any actual experience with it.

Solar Hot Water Heater

Connected solar panels to a

28 Gal. Water Heater with

2 Elements: Top connected to 240v_4500w Element via AC and Bottom connected to

48v_600w DC Element via Two 285w Solar panels.

AC_E heats 80⁰<140⁰ in 10 min

DC_E heats 80⁰<105⁰ in 6 hrs. ?

2.49 watts to heat 1° x 40° = 99.6 x 28 Gal = 2788 watts ÷ 570 watts = 4.89 hours of perfect solar conditions.

Located in NW Puerto Rico.

Supposedly total array watts need to be about 30% less than element watts and total array voltage needs to be less than element, so it doesn't burn up?

48Vdc / 600W Element 3.84 Ohms • Solar Panel Watts 285 • 4.61 Ohms • SP x 2 = 9.22 Ohms / DC Element 3.84 Ohms

= 2.4 SP • Use 2 SP = 570W

Trina Solar Panel 285 Watts

Vmp 36.25V

Imp Current 7.86A

Open Circuit Voc 44.50V

Short Circuit Current Isc 8.49A _ Max Series Fuse 15A • SP x 2 = 9.22 Ohms / DC Element 3.84 Ohms = 2.4 SP • Use 2 SP = 570W

Trina Solar Panel 285 Watts

Vmp 36.25V

Imp Current 7.86A

Open Circuit Voc 44.50V

Short Circuit Current Isc 8.49A _ Max Series Fuse 15A