My water heater overheating sensor!

[netshaman]

This September following a prolonged power outage, my sensor overheated during my absence.
And the piping can't resist ...
No more pressure in the circuit!
And all because of a guy who hit a transformer during a rally!
I wait until the plumber verifies all that, and that the insurance plays ...
In short, all that to say that I would like to install a power supply based on a PV panel that would power a pure sinus computer type inverter.
What a power for the panel, knowing that the pump + regulation unit is within 100 Watts maximum.
I have examined the planar type sensor and there seems to be nothing, no trace of glycol.
The valve is not triggered on the circuit *, it is therefore a pipe which has peter but where?
Anyway, I'm in poop ...
Who is already in this forum who told me a year or two ago that a thermal panel doesn't overheat?
Huh?
It's like Fukushima it only happens once but you can feel it go by (the bill)!


* The valve outlet pipe is blocked by an insect nest !!!
This one would have been expelled by pressure otherwise!

[Christophe]

Sorry to hear this!

It is not normal that the safety valve has not relieved the excess pressure! Because normally the panels must hold at T ° (this is the case for all drain panels in case of non-functioning of the pump, they can rise high in T ° but without liquid therefore without pressure) but T ° + pressure it's more problematic ...

It is that there was either a bad calibration of this valve, or a defect on one of the panels ... in short the damage is done but for the repair, think of identifying the problem well that it does not happen again!


Have you identified the leaks? If a single weld has failed this should be repaired fairly easily! I think it was at the level of a tin solder which dropped because to explode a copper pipe it takes a lot more stress! Can't you see where the glycol sank?

I do not think that the nest played in the operation of the valve ...

Who is already in this forum who told me a year or two ago that a thermal panel doesn't overheat?
Huh?

Uh ... surely not me! See the debate on drain panels that we launched years ago: https://www.econologie.com/forums/systeme-so ... t8197.html I was talking about overheating!

[Christophe]

And for PV power, takes a safety factor of 2 to 3 (300W peak) ... but the investment will be heavy just for security!

Otherwise simply put an inverter on the solar circulator and regulator. Size it to last 5 to 6 hours ...

Either 500 to 600Wh of autonomy ... ah that makes a big battery anyway! Direct solar with small inverter is likely to cost less ... to dig and compare!

[netshaman]

I have not yet found the place where it was loose but I also believe that it is a weld.

[Christophe]

Yes, since the tin-based copper solder melts at around 180 ° C ... so largely before the copper breaks under pressure ...

If it is under a glass pane (which is more than likely) the repair may cost more than a new panel ... to see ...

ps: I shared this subject on the FB page of econology: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Je-baiss ... 3204713321

[netshaman]

Yes it is a flat sensor.
But I did not detect any trace of liquid inside or which would have flowed through the holes intended to drain the condensation.
The gycol in principle it leaves traces no and it smells strong?

[Christophe]

Yes for traces ... when it sinks ...

Except in your case it's probably gone in the form of vapor! Given the conditions ...

Your circuit is most likely not completely emptied but the leak prevents re-pressurization ...

Did you go up on the roof to get a closer look?

[netshaman]

If it is completely emptied!
There was only 1.5 bars of pressure left and when I went up on the roof to open the trap, poof!
No more pressure at all!
Barely more than 0.5 bars!
And so the 1 bars was just air!
I wonder how the pump did not deteriorate under these conditions!
The original pressure was 3 bars I specify.

[Christophe]

Uh ... how could the circuit which was in the cellar, so "not hot" and at the bottom of the panels, have been completely empty?

What is the pressure at your lowest pressure gauge on your circuit?

Normally it gives you the remaining water column (if 5 m of water = 0.5 bars)

[Did67]

1) My planar sensor has blocked dozens and dozens of times (on the De Dietrich model that I have, there is a safety that stops the circulator if the temperature difference between the panel's high probe and the probe low of the preparator exceeds 50 °, so when in full sun, you make a large draw, the bottom temperature can fall quickly from eg 35 ° to 12 ° - cold water temperature).

2) I have never seen anything negative in more than 10 years.

3) But my installer welded the installation with a silver solder, which withstands high temperatures. Not tin, which does not resist. I guess the panels met the same requirements.

View: http://www.brico.be/wabs/fiches/pdf/fr/8-1.pdf

It is marked in the De Dietrich assembly instructions (if you read it).

4) And indeed, there must be a safety valve calibrated at 3 bars. Why didn't it work?

5) 3 bars in the normal circuit, that seems a lot to me. I turn at 1,5 (house with 1 floor; less than 10 m between the top of the panels and the balloon in the basement; therefore max 1 bar). But that wouldn't have changed much. Just "weird" that your installer put so much pressure!