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I've not seen it but I know people have used their excess solar once absorption voltage has been reached, to heat water.
I use a ~60 watt heating pad under my showerbag, but I have not set it up to skim the solar excess. higher voltage it sucks higher wattage and can drag battery voltage below absorption.
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For me it was less expensive and easier to install a Hott rod 120 Vac 450 watt water heater that replaced my anode rod. I didn't have to buy wire, switch/ fuse, thermostat etc.
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Jim
I don't suppose you might remember if that anode thread was 1"NPT ?
stay tuned
popeye
Weirdo Overlord : FMS Fleet Ops , Awards , Badges , aka Tamerlane the Impaler Mod.
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just pulled my anode and it's 1" threads
would need to crunch the numbers to see if it was efficient,if you have extra solar/battery could just leave it on,not being a fan of
gas,something to think about
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The Hott rods come with two adapters to fit atwood and Suburban water heaters.
I have mistakenly left mine on for days. Since it was keeping the water hot it really did not use a lot of power.
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09-11-2018, 07:39 AM
(This post was last modified: 09-11-2018, 07:46 AM by tx2sturgis.)
Gary, if you use a 600 watt 12v element, then at 12 volts or 13 volts (supplied from your battery bank), that's about 45 to 50 amps that you have to control with a thermostat, which means you will need that low-current thermostat to control either a continuous duty solenoid or industrial contactor similar to what are used on electric forklifts.
It can be done but you will need some HEAVY gauge wire and substantial control components.
Even the thermostat on a residential 240v electric water heater using a 4000 watt element will only need to control about 17 amps.
I suspect that one of those thermostats would melt trying to control 50 amps.
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