Thermal Performance Assessment of Solar Water Heater under Florida South Africa Summer Climate Condition

The design and thermal performance of solar heater material applications were researched in this study. The first design featured an acrylic tube with a diameter of 200 mm, a thickness of 4 mm and a length of 600 mm, and a coiled copper tube (6 mm in diameter) that had been painted black and ran within the acrylic tube. In the second design, the acrylic tube was replaced with a sheet metal tube that had been painted black and had the same dimensions as the acrylic tube. For three days, the experiment was run simultaneously on both designs for four hours a day. Both concepts were put to the test by heating water in a fixed position. It was found that the design using an acrylic material warmed water to a higher temperature and faster than the design using a sheet metal tube that had been painted black. Where acrylic material was used, water temperature increased by 19 per cent within an hour (from an initial temperature of 23.9 °C) and by 37 per cent within four hours. This design attained a maximum temperature of 38.8 degrees Celsius. Within one hour, the water temperature in the black sheet metal tube increased by 13 per cent within one hour and by 28 per cent within four hours. The maximum water temperature reached by this design was 32.9 degrees Celsius