I'm in hot water now. I don't have hot water!

submitted by yetanotherone_sigh from self.OffGrid

You need hot water for showering and washing dishes.

Methods:

Heat water on a gas stove or fire, one pot at a time. Slow. You can also coil a copper pipe around the chimney of a woodstove or just put the line into the coals of a fire.

Heat water with a coiled piece of black hose in the sun. Only works 9 months out of the year, but is effective. Must be drained in the winter. Cannot take showers in the morning, must use hot water in the evening.

A better way to heat water with solar is called a batch water heater. You take an old hot water heater tank that doesn't leak, you paint it black, and you put it into an insulated box with a glass window facing south. This will produce 100% of your hot water for a household in the summer, and 50% in the spring and fall. Must be drained and shut off in the winter. Plans here: http://www.byexample.net/projects/current/batch_collector/

Shower is currently using a propane camping heater. Hot water is currently made on a propane cook stove for washing dishes.

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newinsightfulfun

[–]yetanotherone_sigh[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

By the way, I'm going to plug a DIY solar site where I got the ideas about solar water heating:

https://builditsolar.com/Projects/Projects.htm

If you haven't gone there yet, GO THERE NOW AND SPEND SOME TIME LOOKING AROUND.

[–]useless_aether 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

for two years i had to haul potable water from a public well down the street. it is amazing how little water is actually needed to do the dishes.

[–]yetanotherone_sigh[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Yep! If you eat right out of the pan, you don't even need to wash a plate.

Seriously, though... if you take a look at how a normal house uses water, we aren't doing hardly any of that here.

We don't run laundry.

We don't have a dishwasher.

The toilet is a waterless composting system. It doesn't flush.

We take showers, wash hands, and do dishes. The people and the dogs drink water. That's it.

And we will water the garden eventually. But that will mostly be gray water.

[–]yetanotherone_sigh[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Another link for a batch solar water heater here: http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/jspui/bitstream/1957/15142/1/SolarHeaterManual.pdf (PDF warning)

This one was designed for Oregon. High latitude, not a lot of solar exposure.

If you put this in a normal house, you can put it inline with your existing hot water heater and use it as a pre-heater. You would need to add bypass valves so the system can be shut off and drained in the winter.