Evaluation of a freeze resistant integrated collector/storage solar water-heater for northern Europe

The widescale adoption of most solar water-heating systems in colder climat es is hampered by the fact that they require freeze protection, which inevi tably leads to an increase in the unit cost. Integrated collector/storage s olar water heaters (ICSSWH), due to their large thermal masses and simple c ompact structures, give good resistances to freezing in most climates. The experimentally determined performance of two full-size ICSSWHs for the wint er period in Northern Ireland is reported. The ICSSWHs tested incorporated a novel heat-retaining storage vessel. Details of the performance of the tw o designs tested for 3 months over the winter period are presented in this paper. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.