Hi all,

I've never made a solar water heater before, but there's an orphanage in Mexico (near Rosarito, about an hour drive from the border in San Diego) that is asking for help in installing a solar water heater unit.

Although I have no experience in this field, I offered my assistance in the project. In the brief research I've done, I see that there are a plethora of options out there when it comes to solar water heaters.

For a little bit of background, the orphanage uses roughly 1000 gallons of heated water per day. The orphanage is located on a large ranch that has a good amount of exposure to sunlight. I've only visited there during the summer, though, so I'm not quite sure what their winters are like. And I'll have to check with someone who works at the orphanage, but I don't believe that the temperature will ever get to freezing or below. Because the orphanage is visited by many Americans, and Mexican water doesn't settle with their stomachs very well, their water is treated, but I don't think this will have much of an effect on the solar water heater.

That said, what type of system do you think would be best? It sounds like batch water heaters are the simplest systems, but would it be the most efficient when you're talking about heating up 1000 gallons per day?

I'm probably getting in over my head here, but I was just looking for a good starting place before I really dive in and begin extensive research into one type of solar water heater.

Thanks in advance for any help or tips that you can give. As I said, this is going to be for a boys orphanage in Mexico, so it's for a very good cause.

Thanks!

-Josiah