Copper Coil Heat Exchanger for Solar Thermal Storage Tanks Video

Join us as Todd Paternoster goes over the copper coil heat exchangers used in non pressurized tanks.

Product Information & Downloads

StorMaxx Tanks Product Page

• StorMaxx-Ptec Residential Solar Hot Water Tank Brochure
• StorMaxx-Ptec Residential Solar Hot Water Tank Data Sheet
• StorMaxx-DW Residential Solar Hot Water Tank Brochure
• StorMaxx-NP Non-pressurized Solar Hot Water Tank Brochure
• StorMaxx-NP Non-pressurized Solar Hot Water Tank Data Sheet
• Marathon Tanks

Video Transcript

Copper Coil Heat Exchangers

Hi, this is Todd Paternoster, SunMaxx Solar. I’d like to take a moment to talk about our indirect hot water coils. These coils can be modified for both the solar loop, the heating loop, and domestic hot water loop. In conjunction with the non-pressurized storage tanks, we can modify these coils to do just about any load that you need to be done. They come in standard sizes. We typically build them in 60, 90, 120, and 180 foot coils, although there are a couple of modifications we can make for specific heat loads like radiant floor. Now, these coils are going to be inserted in the tank. They come with a small foot on the bottom, and that foot is going to sit on the bottom of the storage tank. They’re spaced so that we get a nice plume of convection. Inside of the storage tank we want the water as it heats up to rise up and through the coil and so we get a nice plume of convection through this coil. It has very effective heat exchange.

A couple of things, I’ve heard several people wonder why we don’t have a larger coil, an inch diameter, an inch and a quarter, or even smaller diameter coil, and it really boils down to surface area to volume ratio. As we increase the surface area is responsible for heat exchange, but the surface area only increases by a factor of the square, while volume increases by a cube. So as we increase the volume by a cube, we don’t get the proportionate increase in surface area, so we lose the ability as you get larger. So this is really a time-tested design using this type L, ¾ inch copper coil heat exchanger. What we want to do is we want to know what your load is, we’re going to design which coil is most appropriate. We also want to know how many square foot of collector you have, then we’re going to design which coil is most appropriate. When it comes to hot water systems, it’s not so much the load that we’re looking for, but the flow rate that we’re after. We have to make sure we maintain no more than 5 feet per second through these coils. So if I’ve got 60 gallons per minute, I’m just going to put several of these in parallel. So, it’s very important that we get the appropriate information from you, and we’re going to design the coil that fits your application the best. The SunMaxx indirect StorMaxx NP non-pressure copper coil heat exchanger is a very nice customized approach to any of your problems.