Solar Plumbing

Ryan has been working on building a homemade solar drain back tank. This unit allows a non-toxic antifreeze to drain out of the solar panel during down times. If the antifreeze is not circulated properly, it could become corrosive and destroy the panel.

This is what he had to use.

He started with a five gallon bucket with an epoxy coating the interior. He drilled a hole in the top and bottom and removed the handle.

He then took a 1/2" bulkhead fitting and affixed it to the bottom of the bucket through the hole.

Then he cut two pieces of pink foam insulation and drilled similar holes in the center of them.

He used a spray foam to glue the foam to the top and bottom of the bucket, allowing for the tee fitting to stick through.

He wrapped the entire unit in a fiberglass insulation...

And finally encircled the unit with an aluminum sheet casing for a nice finish.

Ryan could have gone online and got a similar pre-constructed unit for nearly $400. However, after purchasing $40 worth of materials from the local hardware store and a half-day of work, HUG has a solar drain back tank of their very own at less than 10% of the cost of buying online.

Now that's buying local!