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If you have a solar hot water heater and you are thinking of going on a vacation or your property is vacant this story might save you a lot of problems. We were in the process of selling our newly renovated energy efficient home and showing it to potential buyers during hot sunny summer days. This one morning we brought in a great prospect, mortgage pre-approved, likes the area, and she found us. As we were walking her through the house, everything was going wonderfully. She expressed that this was one of the better homes she has seen in the area and she liked the lay out of the upstairs. We then proceeded downstairs to show her the newly remodeled basement only to find a small flood! We couldn’t believe that there were massive amounts of water in the basement. Needless to say, our potential prospect was not too excited by the flood and left. Confused and angry, we looked around trying to determine where the water had come from. We thought that it may have come from the hot water system. Looking at the temperature gauge on the solar hot water storage tank, it read 170 degrees. Not knowing whether this temperature was good or bad we inspected the back-up electric hot water heater. There was no water flowing from either tank and no real indication if it had come from the solar hot water system or not, but the way that the basement floor slopes, all indications was it came from the hot water heater area, but why? An hour or two of mopping, squeegee, and feeling very frustrated over the loss of a very good potential buyer we called the solar hot water company that installed our system. We asked them to come out and see if the system they installed was the cause of our impromptu flood. Later on in the afternoon a representative from their company arrived and he inspeccted the solar hot water system and said that the flooding was definitely coming from the system. The temperature on the hot water storage tank was well above what it should be, maximum recommended temperature is 120-130 degrees. The representative felt the pipes and said they were too hot to be touched. He determined that the flood was caused by the relief valve having been activated to release pressure caused by excessively high temperatures in the tank. Because no one was living in the house and using hot water on a daily basis the water being produced through the solar hot water system was just sitting there, continuing to get hotter and hotter. He told us if we were going to continue to have the house vacant that we needed to release some of the hot water. With the temperatures outside reaching the mid 90’s, an extended heat wave forecasted, and no one in the house using any water, what was the solution then? First, we turned off the breaker for the regular electric hot water heater. There was no need to have two sources making hot water. The second thing that was recommended was that we turn on one hot water faucet in the house to the hottest temperature and leave it running on low into a sink. (If we were on city water and not well water, this would end up costing a fair amount of money as well as wasting a valuable natural resource by leaving water constantly running.) The principle behind leaving a hot water faucet slowly running would allow the cycling through of the cooler water sitting in the turned off regular hot water heater tank to transfer cooler water into the very hot water stored in the solar hot water tank. Mixing the waters together would bring the temperature down in the solar hot water tank and prevent pressure from building up to dangerous levels. However, with the temperatures expected to rise on the outside the installer could not guarantee that this stategy would be sufficient to keep the relief valve from triggering again and discharging gallons of scalding hot water onto the floor damaging property with the potential to cause bodily harm. Copyright © 2006, Energy Efficient Home Team™
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