Butler Sun Solutions Double-Wall Heat Exchanger

On April 02, 2008 in Uncategorized

Just ran across this really cool double wall heat exchanger from Butler Sun Solutions.

This is not your normal heat exchanger though, it is made to be installed in an existing water heater. Here is the description from their site:

“1. Solar Heat Exchange Wand (Patent Pending)
The Butler Sun Solutions Solar Wand allows readily available, standard hot water tanks to be adapted quickly and easily for solar heating. The Solar Wand is a double walled heat exchanger that fits into any full size, 40 gallon and up, domestic hot water tank. It screws into the outlet port of a standard hot water tank. It provides a new hot water outlet and new solar collector fluid input and output connections. The Solar Wand has about two square feet of heat transfer surface inside the tank. The solar collector fluid, usually a mixture of propylene glycol and water, is isolated from the hot water by two copper walls and the space in between is vented outside of the tank. SRCC OG-300 Certification still pending.

The Solar Wand allows the solar system installer to use the existing hot water tank and a single pump to circulate fluid from the solar collector to the Solar Wand. Hot water tanks with built in heat exchangers are not usually available at water heater retail outlets.

When the hot water tank fails after many years of normal use, a new tank will be installed and the Solar Wand transferred from the old tank to the new tank during installation. Homeowners can install the Solar Wand and solar collectors themselves saving money. Professional installers will save time and effort. “

They also have collectors and will set up complete systems. I have no affiliation with them and this is not a paid endorsement

Their website does have some good documentation and information so check this out if you have a chance.

It seems a little on the expensive side at $330 for the shorter version and $340 for the longer version, but it is a small family owned domestic business, that seems knowledgeable and also seems to have a decent product.

Please drop me a line if you have any experience with this company, as I’m sure others would like a review (both product and customer service wise)

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