Case Study #2

Long-time Berea residents Steve and Patti Boyce decided that 2003 would be the year to make some energy-saving home improvements, and their investments have already begun to pay off. In the year that followed, they saw their electric bills drop by an average of 44 percent. Their home improvements included the installation of a solar water heater, energy efficient appliances, and greater reliance on their wood stove. Their first step was to convert nearly all of their lighting to compact fluorescent bulbs, which use a quarter of the energy of standard incandescent bulbs (while having much longer life-spans).

The Boyce’s solar water heater utilizes a 4’x10’ solar collector mounted on their roof. The collector uses a propylene glycol solution to transfer the sun’s energy to the home’s electric water heater via a heat exchanger. The electric water heater, heat exchanger, pumps and other equipment are located in the laundry room, which is below the collector panel.

The solar water heater was installed in October 2003, along with a new 50 gallon electric water heater. The lower element of the electric water heater was disconnected while the upper element remains plugged in. In this arrangement the solar collector provides supplemental heating to the electric water heater, reducing its energy consumption while ensuring a continuous supply of hot water, regardless of the weather conditions. A switch enables residents to turn off the electric element during sunny weather when the solar collector can provide sufficient energy to maintain hot water in the water tank.

Steve and Patti have been very satisfied with the system and have not experienced any shortage of hot water. They noted that over the Christmas holiday in 2003 they had seven guests visiting for a week and there was enough hot water for everyone’s needs, although people did need to take shorter showers.

The Boyce’s house is located on a wooded hillside in Madison County. At first glance one would not expect this to be a good site for an active solar system like a water heater, because the house is surrounded by trees. However, a site analysis determined that one spot on the roof had access to enough open sky for the system to work well. They did remove one tree in the front yard which would have shaded the solar collector panel. The system was installed by Joshua Bills for a total cost of $3,500.

To date there have been no maintenance problems with the solar water heater. The Boyce’s are considering expanding the system to provide hot water for radiant space heating.