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Big Fin™ Water Heater
Observations: April 2006
In the ‘70s when Zomeworks introduced the Big Fin™ Absorber Plate, ¾” pipe and 8” wide fins were chosen to reduce the number of parts and simplify installation. Today, 25 years later, with old systems continuing to work, Chuck Marken explained their success; ¾” pipe takes much longer to clog with sediment or hard water deposits than 3/8” or ½” pipe, from which most absorbers are made. Thus, Big Fins even after 25 years survive hard water.
We have designed a new Big Fin using .040” sheet aluminum that weighs .66 lb/ linear ft, instead of the .88 lb/ linear ft for the extruded Big Fin.
Figure 12
Figure 12 shows how a 5” front fin bolts to the partially shaded 8” back fin. Even with poor heat transfer between the front and back fins, this resembles the ideal tapered fin and, with only 75% of the metal, carries as much solar heat to the ¾” pipe as the .070” thick extrusion. (Patent applied for.)
Buying Information
Zomeworks Universal Fixed Racks™ are available through our network of dealers and distributors.
For more information, please contact Zomeworks
