solar wand

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ws9876
ws9876 Solar Expert Posts: 440 ✭✭✭
in Solar Product Reviews & Opinions #1
anyone have one of these by Butler...???? what do you think of it..??? I guess they are 550$ now...
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  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    #2
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    Re: solar wand

    i think it's worthless for most applications. 1000a? i want to see how anybody would wire it as that would be outrageously big wire.
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  • ggunn
    ggunn Solar Expert Posts: 1,973 ✭✭✭
    #3
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    Re: solar wand
    niel wrote: »
    i think it's worthless for most applications. 1000a? i want to see how anybody would wire it as that would be outrageously big wire.
    I'm confused. I googled it and came up with a link to the Butler Solar Wand, which is a heat exchanger that cycles glycol from a rooftop collector through a replacement to an electrical heating element in a conventional water heater. It's not electrical at all.

    I didn't see a reference to 1000A anywhere, but many electrical heating elements for water heaters are 1000W; perhaps that is what was meant?
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  • Cariboocoot
    Cariboocoot Banned Posts: 17,615 ✭✭✭
    #4
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    Re: solar wand

    Water heater elements are usually 3500 Watts, not 1000.
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  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    #5
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    Re: solar wand

    my bad as i was looking at something else. senior moment.:cry:
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  • ggunn
    ggunn Solar Expert Posts: 1,973 ✭✭✭
    #6
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    Re: solar wand
    Cariboocoot wrote: »
    Water heater elements are usually 3500 Watts, not 1000.
    They come in different flavors. I once built a CO2 fog machine from a small metal oil drum and a water heater element I got at a hardware store. It was 1000W @ 120VAC.
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  • ws9876
    ws9876 Solar Expert Posts: 440 ✭✭✭
    #7
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    Re: solar wand

    its the glycol circulator folks
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  • ggunn
    ggunn Solar Expert Posts: 1,973 ✭✭✭
    #8
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    Re: solar wand
    ws9876 wrote: »
    its the glycol circulator folks
    We know.

    Eighteen characters...
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  • Cariboocoot
    Cariboocoot Banned Posts: 17,615 ✭✭✭
    #9
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    Re: solar wand
    ws9876 wrote: »
    its the glycol circulator folks

    To that end, I shouldn't think there's much surface area in an element-sized heat exchanger to do much transfer at the temperature available. In other words, I wouldn't expect the glycol unit to get as hot as an electric one. That doesn't mean it won't work, but expect the recovery time to be much longer. Probably better with a smaller tank.

    And I did says water heater elements are usually 3500 Watts, not always 3500 Watts. Some of them are 4500, in fact; faster recovery time (at the expense of more electric of course).
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