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[RSI]

I've been thinking about this a bit and if I'm wrong please feel free to correct me, but I can't see either system from Natures Comfort doing much good in Northern Indiana when you don't see the sun for three days, it doesn't get above zero during the day and is well below zero at night those three days. I could actually see losing quite a bit of heat out of them.

Now maybe drain em once the hard part of winter sets in then refill and use them come spring to add some heat to the system and come high summer letting them heat your DMH.

Maybe for hard winters fill the system with antifreeze and have a small circulating pump running at all times and a zoning valve, temperature gets above a certain point, zoning valve kicks in and runs the antifreeze thru a 30 plate heat exchanger at the back of the boiler that the return water from the house circulates thru the other side of the fphe.

The tubes are vacuum insulated so there is no heat loss there. The pipe and header are the only places that might freeze. They supposedly put out some heat with very little light so probably never make less than they lose unless covered so no light at all gets to them.

[mlappin]

Actually Marty you pretty much hit the nail on the head with how most solar thermal systems work, the biggest difference being instead of using a zone valve, they typically monitor the differential and turn on the circ as needed. I have set a few of these up and they work very well in tandem with an OWB, perhaps I should take some time to look at the Natures Comfort system?

I take it those come with a port to monitor manifold temp? Or do you just glue an external sensor to the manifold to run the circ?

[12valve]

according to Natures comfort the ideal way to run there is without power and let thermo-siphoning move the water.  This would be ideal in the summer.  Then maybe run a small circ pump in the winter.

[12valve]

according to Natures comfort the ideal way to run there is without power and let thermo-siphoning move the water.  This would be ideal in the summer.  Then maybe run a small circ pump in the winter.

This is from Natures Confort install manual.

"• All water lines for the solar system are required to be a minimum 1” for proper flow and the best thermo-siphoning
performance and must be super insulated. Heat tape will be necessary to install BEFORE you super insulate. Use a
heat tape that has a thermostat so it will only turn on if it gets cold to save energy. This is required to protect your
system! If a line freezes, thermo-siphoning cannot take place and boiling can occur, possibly pushing out and
breaking a glass tube or a line can break, draining the system which can also result in damage to your SM-H60 or
your boiler."

So ya just gotta "super Insulate"  after you heat tape..

[mlappin]

according to Natures comfort the ideal way to run there is without power and let thermo-siphoning move the water.  This would be ideal in the summer.  Then maybe run a small circ pump in the winter.

This is from Natures Confort install manual.

"• All water lines for the solar system are required to be a minimum 1” for proper flow and the best thermo-siphoning
performance and must be super insulated. Heat tape will be necessary to install BEFORE you super insulate. Use a
heat tape that has a thermostat so it will only turn on if it gets cold to save energy. This is required to protect your
system! If a line freezes, thermo-siphoning cannot take place and boiling can occur, possibly pushing out and
breaking a glass tube or a line can break, draining the system which can also result in damage to your SM-H60 or
your boiler."

So ya just gotta "super Insulate"  after you heat tape..

This is all based on if you can place the solar panel relatively close to your boiler.

The yard slopes of pretty steep to the east of my boiler, to the North is the fruit trees and the wife's lilac bushes so that side is definitely off limits. To the south is where I stack the wood and also plant the wife's Canna's come warm weather so that's off limits as well. To the west is the sidewalk and where I park my Cummins and the plow truck...

In an earlier post I was using antifreeze, a small circulator, and FPHE so the fluid would always circulate and reduce the chances of freezing.

[12valve]

according to Natures comfort the ideal way to run there is without power and let thermo-siphoning move the water.  This would be ideal in the summer.  Then maybe run a small circ pump in the winter.

This is from Natures Confort install manual.

"• All water lines for the solar system are required to be a minimum 1” for proper flow and the best thermo-siphoning
performance and must be super insulated. Heat tape will be necessary to install BEFORE you super insulate. Use a
heat tape that has a thermostat so it will only turn on if it gets cold to save energy. This is required to protect your
system! If a line freezes, thermo-siphoning cannot take place and boiling can occur, possibly pushing out and
breaking a glass tube or a line can break, draining the system which can also result in damage to your SM-H60 or
your boiler."

So ya just gotta "super Insulate"  after you heat tape..

This is all based on if you can place the solar panel relatively close to your boiler.

The yard slopes of pretty steep to the east of my boiler, to the North is the fruit trees and the wife's lilac bushes so that side is definitely off limits. To the south is where I stack the wood and also plant the wife's Canna's come warm weather so that's off limits as well. To the west is the sidewalk and where I park my Cummins and the plow truck...

In an earlier post I was using antifreeze, a small circulator, and FPHE so the fluid would always circulate and reduce the chances of freezing.

Got it Mlappin, It is nice that it is designed to be powerless, but I think running a small pump and either a heat exchanger, or antifreeze would not work just as well.