Solar water heat INSTALLED :)
April 23, 2007 
The guys from Solar Source arrived this morning and about 3 hours later the installation was done! I had thought we'd need a day or more to heat up the 40-gallon roof-top tank. Nope. Jerry, the crew foreman, came in and we turned on a bath tap and a sink for about 2 minutes to flush some of the cold water, and at that point I had to remove my hand. I tested it a little while ago with an oven thermometer, and within a minute or two the temp was up to 130F ...I pulled the thermometer away then, 'cause the splashing water was too hot. Amazing. For safety, I plan to install anti-scald faucets in the bathrooms. Anyway ...the pic on the left (click to enlarge) shows the water heater for the house water up there on the roof ...above the panels that we already have had for heating the pool water.
The pic on the right (if you click to enlarge) is annotated to show what the garage looks like now. The 'old' gas-fired water heater - which is only 2 years old, since we bought it new with the house - is now completely disconnected. Jerry and the guys already drained it for us. Nice! I'll pop it on Craigslist in a few days.
This will be a definite experiment, seeing how much - if any - we need to adjust our lifestyle to fit with using only the sun to heat our water. I love it.
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