Campsite Off-Grid Solar Water Heating System – Harnessing the Power of the Sun Without Electricity

Campsite Off-Grid Solar Water Heating System offers an innovative and eco-friendly solution for providing hot water without the need for electricity. This highly efficient system is designed to cater to campsite needs, ensuring campers can enjoy hot showers and other amenities while minimizing environmental impact.

Thermosiphon Geyser Solar Water Heating System: A Cost-Effective and Sustainable Choice Thermosiphon Geyser solar water heating systems represent an exceptional and cost-effective method for producing hot water, known for their straightforward design and minimal installation requirements. Although more commonly found in regions with hotter climates, we have developed a solution that can be effectively utilized in Northern Europe. This system optimizes heat energy and leverages the natural convection movement, where hot water rises and cold water sinks.

300 L Thermosipon Solar Thermal Showers

How It Works:

• The process begins as the glycol (Thesol) in the solar panel is heated, causing it to expand and become less dense, making it buoyant compared to the cooler liquid at the panel’s bottom.
• The natural convection movement drives the heated Thesol upward through the system, while gravity simultaneously returns cooler liquid to the lower part of the panel.
• The hot Thesol from the solar panel moves into the flow connection pipe, gravitates into the cylinder, and then returns at a lower temperature through the return line.
• This cycle continues until the water reaches an equilibrium with solar radiation input.

Thermosipon Geyser Solar Water Heating Showers in Dorset

Highwood Camping’s Implementation: In early 2016, Highwood Camping embraced this innovative technology by installing two Hot Solar Water Thermosiphon Geyser systems, offering free hot water solutions to its guests. These systems included:

• A 150L tank system supplying two showers with one solar panel.
• A 300L tank system, equipped with two solar panels, catering to two showers and a wash-up sink.

The installation was carried out by a local plumber and approved by Wessex Water before Highwood Camping’s grand opening. These systems are designed to be portable, mounted on trailers, and easily connected to the mains water supply, ensuring flexibility and ease of use.

In conclusions we saved considerable electricity expenditure, the exact amount is to be worked out as we have to find a like for like small site (TBC). For a small site such as ours the solar water heating units more than serve our purpose, if we were to double our capacity to 4400 person stays we would need to replace the 150L shower unit with a larger capacity unit. Probably the largest plus point when running a service business is that the sustainable nature of the campsite attracts a niche family market that want to stay on a site with Eco credentials, this leads to great feedback and happy clients.

Performance and Sustainability: During the first year of operation, Highwood Camping recorded remarkable results despite facing challenging weather conditions, including the wettest year on record and lower summer temperatures:

• Over 1,110 people stayed at the campsite for 28 days or more during late July and August, reaching 50% capacity.
• The campsite used 22,000 liters of water, averaging only 20 liters per day per person.
• Approximately 80% of the water consumption was hot water, demonstrating the efficiency of the solar water heating system.
• The Thermosiphon systems consistently met the demand for warm water, except for a single day when the blending valves had to be adjusted due to water being too hot.

Customer Satisfaction and Sustainability:

Campers at Highwood Camping appreciated the sustainable approach, and feedback on campsite listing sites consistently reflected 100% satisfaction with the performance of the Solar Showers.