DIY Solar Panels

alert

Registered User
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98
Hi there,

Has anyone constructed their own solar panels?

I've been chatting to some installers and can't get justification for their prices, (this seems to happen me a lot these days ), the best I've gotten so far is that they supply a "computer", (when pressed he admitted it was a chip ), to monitor the temperature of the water. This has presuaded me that I should consider the "DIY" option, especially since they won't have a teleporter and expect my plumber, (again me!), to install it anyway.

There isn't much science or engineering involved in hooking up a couple of old rads painted black to an immersion system so I was wondering if anyone has already done so. And if so how they got on.


ALERT.
 
I saw this being done on the program "Its Not Easy Being Green" a few days ago. They soldered together brass piping, painted it black and put it in a frame. They hooked it up to the water supply and it was working well. I didn't see all details though..

Here's a start:
 
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There was a piece on Nationwide (RTE1 this evening) about a fella that made a solar panel from painted rads and put them into a wooden frame with a double glazed unit on top. Then it showed him having a shower in the garden..........
 
Yes they would work, just a little plumbing experience and it could be fairly easy to set up. He had it running through the coil on a lagged cylinder and I presume the "external shower" was fed from this.
 
In relation to Solar panels,just picked up a brochure today in hardware store Greenline company.They offered 36 tubes plus 300L Cylinder for 3000 euro or 54 tubes plus 300L cylinder 4250 euro. What do you think the installation charges would be for this system?
Does any grant exist to install such a system? Would not be capable of DIY
 
Does any grant exist to install such a system?

[broken link removed]

this link shows what grants are available and what companies qualify for it...
its currently €300 per sq m of solar collector...
i dont see greenline on the list....