Our solar hot water system for the new cheese room is coming along ever so slowly. I built a coil of about 90 feet of 3/4″ copper pipe as a heat exchanger to preheat the water we use for washing. I’m no plumber, but surprise! No Leaks! I also constructed a rack of PVC plastic (mostly spare parts) to hold the coil in position while building it, moving it, and placing it in the tank. Here you can see the coil inside the tank, which is lined with a heavy-duty EPDM pond liner.
Here are the external connections, all of which go through the lid so that there are no holes in the walls. From left to right: inlet and outlet to the solar panels (3/4″ pex inslulated and covered with 2″ PVC), inlet from the well (3/4″ PVC) and outlet to the hot water tank (3/4″ copper insulated and covered with 2″ PVC), and inlet and outlet to the pasteurizer (both 3/4″ copper insulated and covered with 2″ PVC).
We wanted to insulate all the hot water piping to minimize heat loss and the danger of burns. But you can’t have any exposed insulation in a food prep area, hence the PVC covering. I used “shark bite” fittings at the elbows– a 2″ elbow fits perfectly over a 3/4″ shark bite. At the ends, PVC 2″ to 3/4″ reducers.
Now we’re ready to fill the tank with water. I sure hope we don’t need to make any changes– when full, the 320-gallon tank will weigh about 2,700 pounds!
