Thermomax ruggedness [RE-wrenches]

[Jason Fisher]

These tubes work so well in cloudy weather, you need to be careful when
using them on a PV direct pump. I've seen the fluid in a 30-tube header go
to steam due to stagnation on a PV direct system (El-sid on 20W panel) on
overcast days. We had a data logger on the system otherwise we wouldn't have
seen this. On clear days the pump keeps up just fine. Moral of the story,
ensure adequate flow under all conditions.

Jason Fisher

-----Original Message-----
From: larry [mailto:larry at h2nation.com]
Sent: Saturday, August 16, 2003 12:45 AM
To: RE-wrenches at topica.com
Subject: Re: Thermomax ruggedness [RE-wrenches]

Gary the Thermomax I believe is made of tempered glass and is pumped down to
10-6 Torre so for all intents and purposes it is a perfect vacuum. Any
energy entering the tube has no way of getting back out. Also the tube
creates essentially a beam so with a distributed load are quite mechanically
strong.

Although they really do quite well in cloudy weather the real performance is
when it is below zero and sunny. They beat a flat plate hands down. And yes
we do get some clouds on this side of the Cascades. Unlike a flat plate the
tubes take advantage of diffuse or cloud filtered sunlight so I have seen
hot water (120 f +) in cloudy weather when a flat plate isn't even above
ambient temps.

I am now looking at using the Solamax (same as Thermomax but without the
header heat exchanger) for several in floor heating systems and with the
test data I have seen they should outperform flat plates by a very wide
margin.

You really should check them out in your cloudy coastal climate.

Larry Elliott
----- Original Message -----
From: "Gary Higbee" <gary at windstreamsolar.com>
To: <RE-wrenches at topica.com>
Sent: Friday, August 15, 2003 8:57 PM
Subject: Re: Thermomax ruggedness [RE-wrenches]


> Larry,
>
> Wow, I'm impressed. This has been a nagging question for me for some time,
> and it's great to get some feedback regarding the Thermomax tubes. I've
> always known that sphere's/cylinders were very strong, but just what are
> these things made of--Kryptonite somethingerather? I've heard that these
> tubes can extract significant heat in cloudy weather, too, though I know
> that those of you on the East side of the big hills don't see much of
that!
>
> Gary
>
> From: "larry" <larry at h2nation.com>
> Subject: Re: Thermomax ruggedness [RE-wrenches]
>
>
> > I have one customer with a 60 tube setup that is inclined about 35
degrees
> > since they wanted most of the heat in the summer.
> >
> > About 2 months ago we experienced hail of at least 1" with very high
winds
> > and I thought for sure they would be toast.
> >
> > No damage at all. I saw in a video a demo where two fairly heftey guys
> stood
> > on a Thermomax tube set between two concrete blocks with no breakage. I
> know
> > that a high impact is more important but this was impressive.
> >
> > Larry Elliott
>
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