Drainback w/ 80 Gal. Tank & 64 SqFt. CollectorsWrite a review

I finished installing my system this past week in early January. Outside temps around 30-35 deg. mid day. The first day of operation the system gave a solar gain to the water in the storage tank up 40 deg. in about 4 hours.
As the sun goes down the pumps shut off and the fluid drains back into the drain back tank, safe from freezing.
In my opinion drainback is the best way to go.
Using distilled water for the solar fluid and no glycol worries. No heat dump worries either.
Alt-e is a great company to work with. Staff is very knowledgeable and friendly.
The delivery was in wood crates and very well protected.
Heavy so have help on hand.
Quality of the collectors, tank, pumps and controller all seem very good.
If you are in the Annapolis area and need any help, feel free to email me (google Annapolis Builder)
Mike K.

The AET drainback systems would seem to be ideal for freezing climates. Mine has more collector surface area than necessary for TX because I wanted to flush mount it to my roof (which is really too shallow for winter). Nevertheless: today its 50 degrees out, the sun is low and yet I had 140 degrees in my tank by 3PM.

I built this system myself and would encourage anyone reasonably handy to try it. Mine is configured as a two-tank "preheat" system and works very well. We turned off the electric backup all summer and fall, and the system continued working even through cloudy weather. The drainback loop is *way* easier to maintain and care for than pressurized glycol loops I don't have to worry about overheating in the brutal TX summers.

Two words of caution: If you have an 8 ft ceiling (I do), the space between the top of the storage tank and the bottom of the drainback tank is not much so plan your plumbing carefully. Also, AET for some reason ships the collectors in crates with cardboard sides. Mine were heavily damaged the first shipment (which I refused), and the cardboard was punctured the second shipment. AET did not seem to care much that their shipper is damaging their well-engineered product, but maybe this has been rectified by now.

The only drawback to the design is the need to solder connections to the collectors. AET really should manufacture these with some type of union like some other major manufacturers do. Soldering on the roof is very tricky and I dread the day I'll have to take the panels down to replace my shingles.