California has great potential to capitalize on solar power. There has been significant expansion in integrating solar electric units in California. The use of solar water heating has not been experiencing the same expansion as solar electric power. Solar water heating systems can reduce the use of the heating system currently being used in homes. A home owner can save up to eighty percent on a heating bill. A solar water heating system will decrease the time period of waiting for water to heat up. These systems reduce heating bills and help the environment, but they are not expanding at the same rate as solar electric units. Some households view the short run costs of the solar collector and installation to be too expensive. There is maintenance that needs to be done periodically that could be expensive. Excess heated water goes to waste, unlike the solar electric systems that can store power. With the solar water heating system that the team intends to build, the problems households have with solar water systems will be addressed.

The goal is to create a solar water heating unit system that will let home owners name their price. Customers will be able to choose where they want heating in their homes. We will not be removing any current parts of the home, instead we will add on to an existing water system. An objective is to simplify the installation process and make maintenance easier to handle. Water will be moved using a thermo cline in order to extend the lifetime of the solar water heating system. In order to make California customer homes eligible for the “Green Initiative Incentive” it will be a closed loop system. This will also make building codes easier to follow and ensure that the customer’s home is not completely dependent on the system. The goal will be met by adding a three part solar water heating system to the home. The three part system will consist of a solar thermal collector, TES tank, and heat exchanger.

This three part system will be made up of a solar thermal collector, TES tank, and heat exchanger. The solar collector will be made up of evacuated tubes with copper tubes and a thin absorber plate spray painted with anti-rusting black paint. The tubes will be lined up in parallel all connected to a manifold. The copper tube inside the evacuated tube will extend into the manifold in order to heat up water than is running through the manifold. Hot water will be sent to the TES tank of the system. The TES tank will house about one hundred cylinders that contain thermal wax. Hot water collected in the tank during the day will melt the wax into a liquid form. After daylight hours, when the solar collector is not used, the wax will return to its solid state and release latent energy into the water, thus heating the water up. This design is used in order to extend the period of not using the other water heating system in the home. The heat exchanger will wrap around the piping in the house. This design is used in order to fulfill our idea to let home owners choose where they want heated water sent and giving them an opportunity to set their price.

This solar water heating system will introduce competition to other water heating system, particularly the gas and electric water heating systems found in most homes across southern California. The plan is to have households recognize that the implementation of a TES tank and a “you set the price” system will reduce the cost of installing and maintaining a solar water heater. It will look economically appealing to home owners because the short run costs (installation) will decrease, and the long run costs (maintenance and heating bills) will also decrease. The decrease of natural gas use will also have an impact on the environment. The TES tank will decrease the time of the gas heating system, thus reducing carbon and other greenhouse emissions.