Question:
I'm contemplating the next step in our families contribution to
reducing global warming. Does anyone have any experience with solar
water heaters?
Answer:
Since it appears that they work in England (many postings to that
effect) I am sure they will work in Texas hill country. They work very
well here in Fresno CA, but you will need to make sure yours is either a
drain down or a two stage with a non poisonous antifreeze exposed to any
wintertime freezing outside air temperatures. In either case you may
want to use your existing water heater as the final storage for the
potable hot water, so if it is necessary because of too little sun, or
other unusual extraordinary demands the original water heater will
automatically come to the rescue.
There are more efficient pool pumps, just be careful that there is
enough savings to warrant the cost. I found that by careful monitoring
the condition of my pool and it's chemistry that I could reduce my pool
pumps run time by 1/3 in the summer and 2/3 in the winter
(approximately), This was better than the more efficient pool pump
would do, but it is more effort and the same could be done after
installing a new pump.
Your water heater is an interesting problem area, The solar solution
has already been discussed, but there are another things that can be done
