Abstract
THE large amount of sunshine available in California during the summer has led to the extensive use of solar water-heating apparatus for domestic purposes, and a detailed account of their construction and use is given by Prof. F. A. Brooks of the Berkeley Agricultural Experiment Station in Bulletin 602 of the College of Agriculture. The solar absorber consists of a zigzag pipe in a glass-covered, thermally insulated box placed on a sloping roof facing south, in front of attic windows so that the glass may be readily cleaned. An insulated pipe leads from the top of it to the top of an insulated hot-water tank in the attic roof and another pipe from the bottom of the absorber to the bottom of the tank. In the winter the solar absorber is supplemented by a coil in the range connected to the tank in the same way. The useful life of such an installation is fifteen years, and the cost per 1,000 British thermal units of solar heat absorbed is about one ninth of a cent.
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Solar Heaters in California. Nature 139, 794 (1937). https://doi.org/10.1038/139794c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/139794c0