experience w/ Sunfield tubes?
Wonder if anyone could share with me their experience w/ Sunfield vac tubes..??
failure rate...response from company?, etc... Have not installed this brand and like to stick with suppliers I know will take good care of me. Great SRCC ratings, but know very little else about their panels.
never heard of them
I've never heard of them, but there are lots and lots of chinese evacuated tube manufacturers and more and more of them are finding their way to North America. Most buy their tubes from someone else and really just build frames and manifolds.
They might be great or they might be junk. If you don't know the company or its history or financial strength, I'd be concerned about their ability to be around to honor the warranty.
Also, on their website they show two items which make me skeptical:
1- the solar wand heat exchanger (with all of 2 sq ft of heat exchange area)
2- a DC (solar) pumped evacuated tube system (which we've found doesn't work that well since evac tube collectors make heat over a much wider range of insolation conditions than PV panels generate useable current.
as always, i think it is buyer beware and I personally feel better once I've looked a vendor in the eye and shook his hand (and held the product in my hand). That isn't always possible, but it sure helps me sleep better at night.
~Fortunat
www.revisionenergy.com
Not a magic wand
Barry Butler has been one of the best inventors in the field of residential solar, and the solar wand allows the use of any conventional tank for solar, which is a great goal.
Unfortunately, when I look at the OG-300 test results of the Butler Sun solar wand systems, the performance penalty just looks too high.
Superinsulated Passive solar house, Buderus in floor backup heat by Mark Eatherton, 3KW grid-tied PV system, various solar thermal experiments
