Solar hot water heater for the dock

It is always nice to have hot water when cleaning things. When we upgraded our water heater in the house to a larger capacity one I had the old one to get rid of. I made a solar water heater from it for free hot water at the dock.

The old water heater tank was still OK. The steel tank has three inches of Styrofoam insulation around it and then a metal jacket around that. The top and the bottom of the old water heater were left untouched. Laying the water heater on its side I drew a door on the side of the water heater that went from the top to the bottom and about  ½ way around the tank.  I cut the door out of the metal jacket of the old water heater unit and then took the insulation off the tank under the section of metal jacket that was removed. 

What I had was the old water heater with ½ the steel tank exposed. I made a wood box that I could put the unit in and then the box could be tilted to let the side of the water heater tank that was now exposed, face the sun. By painting the exposed tank side black it absorbed more heat.

By attaching a water hose to the top of the tank where water would normally go in, the heater tank can be filled. By attaching a water hose to the exit where the hot water originally came out, I could get the solar heated water out. It takes about two hours of sun on the tank side to heat up the water. It is hot enough to take a bath in, and it is free hot water. It is nice to have hot water at the dock, and it stays hot for about three hours after it gets dark.

We could pant shrubs and flowers around it to make it look better. I did put a mermaid by it. Maybe a flower box built in to the side of the box would help. We might get flower scented hot water then.  8-)

It is ugly, but the hot water is nice. If you have an out of the way full sun spot it is great. You can also plumb the outlet hot water side of the solar heater  to the water inlet side of your regular hot water heater. It becomes a pre-heater for your regular water heater. It can cut the water heater's work down by one third and that cuts your water heating bill way down. That makes the ugly less ugly. 8-)