Copper Cricket [RE-wrenches]

Doug Pratt dpratt at pacific.net
Thu Feb 1 21:15:49 PST 2001


"John Blittersdorf, Cent. VT Solar & Wind" wrote:

>   Do any of you have any experience with the Copper Cricket hot water
> collector? I have a service call to make on one and remember reading about
> them years ago. I think Home Power had an article on it.

They ran a water/alcohol mix in the collector loop. It prevented freezing and
also provided the circulation power. You run the collector loop at slightly
lower than atmospheric pressure, that made the alcohol boil at a lower
temperature, which provided the push for the hot water. A very clever design.
No pumps or sensors, completely heat driven. When the collector tank got to
170 degrees or so, it would stop working because the alcohol couldn't condense
in the heat exchanger any more.  They usually quit working because they lost
vacuum. I'm sorry, I've got no info on servicing.  They went out of biz over 5
years ago.  It was a great design, I wish someone would pick it up again.
-Doug Pratt
Real Goods Technical Editor

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