Muehllehner Solar Hot Water System

Technical Specifications

System SupplierAlternate Energy Technologies (AET)
2 Collectors Model AE-32 4*8 ft each
Storage Tank with heat exchanger,  
made by Rheem
80 gallons
ContractorTerrytown Plumbing
Baraboo
We connected the system in such a way that we can either use the solar hot water as the input to a normal LP hot water heater (for days when the solar hot water is not warm enough) or the LP hot water heater can be bypasses.

We have bypassed the LP water heater since the beginning of May and have relied solely on the solar hot water since then except for 2 days. The LP water heater has been turned off (pilot only) since May.

Technical Performance

I have added a temperature monitor to the system, which records the temperature on the collector and in the water tank every 20 minutes. Below the data for the month of July 2007 are shown. As can be seen, the water temperature (black solid curve) never went below 100°F.