Plumbing Connection 3-2015

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3 0 PLUMBING CONNECTION SPRING 2015
R eplacing evacuated tubes can always be a challenge,
particularly when you can’t find the manufacturer
who made the original brand of tube you are trying
to replace. Solar Hot Water Parts receives a lot of enquiries
from people trying to find the exact brand of replacement
part. In most cases they’re not always available or practical
to buy. I hear stories of people calling every plumber in the
phonebook in an attempt to find old stock to fix broken
evacuated tubes.
There are some simple solutions to repairing a system
that is no longer sold and knowing what they are will come
in handy when picking up extra repair work from customers
who can’t find the parts they need.
Sometimes you can get lucky and find a small local
manufacturer who stocks replacement tubes. These guys
often have a couple of sizes in stock. The unfortunate
fact is: you can’t easily post individual or small numbers of
evacuated tubes. If you know the length and diameter of the
tube you’re replacing, you will generally be able to find an
easy way to fix the problem.
For the purpose of this article we went out on site with
a new adjustable evacuated tube holder we just brought
into the country. We replaced broken tubes on a Hills Solar
system with Apricus evacuated tubes. A local householder
had contacted us due to his problem of having had broken
tubes on his roof for the past six months. Until then he was
unable to find the parts or someone to fix them. This is a
fairly common enquiry we receive from people trying to buy
replacement tubes.
We measured the outside diameter (OD) and inside
diameter (ID) of the Hills tube and the OD and ID of the
Apricus tubes and found out they were similar. The Apricus
tube was a little longer and had a different end finish to
the tube, meaning it didn’t fit into the Hills tube holder. The
internals of the two tubes are different. But because the ID
of the tubes was similar we simply kept the original heat pipe
and sputtered aluminium support from the Hills system and
slid the new Apricus tube over the top and into position. We
added the adjustable version of the Hills cap into the bottom
rack on the frame and fitted the tube. The problem was easy
to fix and using the Apricus tube was an advantage because
they can normally be bought at any plumbing supplier or
local reseller and if they don’t have them in stock they can
normally get them in.
Using the adjustable tube holder, we were able to securely
support and fix the tube back into place. The adjustable tube
holder works with the original Hills style tubes and other
style tubes like the Apricus. The advantage of the adjustable
tube holder is it can be posted and easily used to replace
a number of tubes. It is simple solution for a sometimes
tricky problem. There will always be brands of tube that
will be harder to find than others but if you take the time to
find a simple solution it can be a good way to generate more
repairs for your business,.
IMAGE 1: Broken Hills tube.
SOLAR FIX
MATHEW BRIGGS
BROKEN EVACUATED TUBES CAN BE HARD TO REPAIR AS ORIGINAL PARTS ARE OFTEN HARD TO FIND.
MATHEWBRIGGS DESCRIBES SOME SIMPLE SOLUTIONS THAT CAN BE EMPLOYED TO MAKE THE TASK LESS DIFFICULT.
REPAIRING BROKEN TUBES
Solar Hot Water Parts
Mathew Briggs is a commercial plumber and director of
– specialising in solar hot
water replacement parts for all systems.
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