23 DIY Solar Water Heaters to Reduce Your Energy Bills

Looks like living in this world is becoming a costlier affair by the day! Every other day seems to inflict masses across the world with raise in utility costs. So, here we are with 23 DIY Solar water heaters to reduce your energy bills, helping you save significant sum of money over a period of time.

1- Barrel Water Heater

Food grade plastic 55-gallon barrels have so many uses around the homestead, including heating water.

Here we have a free plan that will show you how to use a barrel and sheets of polycarbonate to create a passive DIY solar water heater by Instructables. Use the hot water for in-home use or to warm the garden soil for early or late-season vegetable production.

Build one of these barrel diy solar water heaters near the garden so you can use the heated water to warm the soil. Tubing placed under the soil will circulate the solar-warmed water under the soil and raise the soil temperature so seeds will germinate faster in the spring and plants will continue to be productive later in the fall.

2- Copper Coil Solar Water Heater

We suggest this DIY solar water heater on youtube made with copper tubing if you want super hot water at a super fast speed.

Get free hot water for the rest of your life at home, on the farm, at a remote cabin, or an off-grid homestead with this idea. Watch this YouTube video for complete how-to instructions that take you through the DIY process.

Heating water and keeping it hot all the time is a waste of electricity and/or gas. Building a solar water heater will eliminate the waste of natural resources and reduce your energy bills.

3- Solar Hot Water Kit

Learn how to install a solar hot water heating kit by Familyhandyman with these free instructions. A closed loop system is used to heat the water when the sun is shining and keep it warm inside a tank. The water is always hot and ready for use.

With a kit like this one we have, you can reduce your water-heating energy bill by 50% or more. The kit includes everything you will need and these detailed instructions will show you how to install it. It’s an easy and affordable way to have hot water any time you want.

4-  Passive Solar Water Heater

Learn how to build an easy and affordable DIY solar water heater by Mother Earth News with these free plans. A simple plywood box, a couple of house windows or plexiglass, an old hot water heater, and some pipe fittings are the majority of building items needed for this project.

These items are inexpensive (maybe even free) when you find them used and recycle them into a new solar water heater. And the money savings will continue after you finish this DIY project when your energy bill is reduced because you no longer are using electricity or gas to heat your home’s water.

5-  Batch DIY Solar Water Heater From Stock Tank

This Batch Solar Water Heater from Stock Tank by BUILD IT SOLAR is another homemade solar heater project that can help you cut your utility bills. You will be compelled to appreciate the simple innovation of introducing the reflector, which really makes a huge difference in this diy endeavour.

6-  DIY Solar Water Heating System

Solar DIY water heater by BUILD IT SOLAR not only serve you with financial benefits, but they are also really interesting ideas to go with. Moreover, these also contribute to the wellness of environment.

7- Homemade Hot Water Heater

Use the sun to heat the water for use in your home. Your family can enjoy hot showers, baths and wash dishes without wasting natural resources or increasing the amount of money spent on your energy bill.

As a matter of fact, a homemade hot water heater like this one we have will reduce your energy bill at home. Learn how to build an efficient, affordable home water heater in this YouTube video that uses the sun to heat the water.

This is ideal for an off-grid homestead, cabin, hunting or fishing camp, or anywhere else hot water is desired. A small solar panel and food grade 55-gallon plastic barrel will heat and store water until it’s needed.

8-  Thermosyphon DIY Water Heating System

With this one, you also get a (kind of) blueprint, making it a whole lot easier and understandable in the end; another great diy solar water heater idea by Build It Solar to add that winter warmth without the worries of losing cash for it every month.

9-  DIY Solar Hot Water Batch Collector

Sparing some time building this diy solar water heater by By Example will leave you with much needed warmth of cash as well as hot water in winters of many years to come ahead.

10-  DIY Solar Water Heater

If you have some fondness for DIY ventures, this DIY solar panel water heater by Thesietch would be a great project for you. Not only will you be excited and thrilled in building your solar thermal panel, but you will also be happy to get warm water all winters without having to pay a dime for it. In fact, this might make you a popular personality of your neighborhood, with people wanting to know how you came up with such a great idea. You may also like to see homemade wood burning stoves and heaters.

11- DIY Solar Powered Hot Water Collection System

If you are an avid DIYer, the chances are that most of the things needed for this project would already be in your garage or attic. Even if you are not one, you would conveniently get everything from your nearest big box store. So, just pull up your sleeves to follow Nateful.com in helping you complete this interesting and beneficial project. You may also like to see DIY solar air heater for garage.

12-  Another Simple DIY Solar Water Heater

As the name suggests, this is another of those simple but rewarding DIY projects by I Will Try to help you in getting warm water during winters without high utility costs, also helping Mother Nature by harnessing the power of sun rather than any other nature-harming technology. You may also like to see diy solar pool heaters.

13-  DIY Solar Water Heater

Broken into three individual parts; The Collector, The Emitter and The Installation, this DIY Solar Water Heater project instructables is yet another practical and helpful idea that can make any DIY’er really happy in making as well as reaping the money saving benefits.

14- Rooftop Hot Water Heater

We like this ingenious idea the most that will show you how to build an efficient hot water heater by Instructables on the rooftop of your home.

The direct sunlight and the reflection of the sun are very strong on the rooftop of any structure and generate plenty of heat to heat a large amount of water. Provide enough hot water to your home for free with this rooftop water heater.

These free written instructions and diagrams will take you through the DIY process so you can enjoy hot water for free.

15-  Mini Pump DIY Solar Water Heater

Here is one great DIY solar heater project by Instructables that can help you have lots of hot water showers without much to worry about the utility bills.

16-  DIY Solar Water Heater With a Difference

From China comes another wonder, a diy solar water heater by MakeZine that would really surprise you. Why? Because Ma Yanjun, the Chinese farmer who invented this, used empty beer bottles for this;: have more on this for you.

17- Bread Box Homemade Solar Water Heater

This design resembles a bread box and it works perfectly using solar energy to heat water and reduce energy bills.

The simple design is highly efficient at heating water and it’s easy to build. The DIY project by Solar Cooking captures the rays of the sun on a slanted box top and heats tubing filled with water inside the box. The heated water is then stored in a tank that is also inside the box.

Passive solar energy heats the water and keeps it hot for use when you need it. The building cost is almost nothing and the cost of heating water will be nothing if you build this bread box solar water heater.

18- Recycled Cans

Here is a great way to recycle beverage cans! Save all your aluminum cans then recycle them into a DIY solar water heater by Off Grid World.

It’s a free way to have hot water in your home. An ideal way to save money, conserve natural resources, and reduce the amount of waste you send to the landfill. If you have an off-grid homestead then you need a reliable way to have hot water without using electricity and this recycled can solar water heater may be just right for your needs.

19- Plastic Bottles

So much plastic waste is generated by beverage bottles it’s great to find a way to recycle them. Discover an efficient way to heat water using recycled plastic bottles in this YouTube video. Inside the plastic bottles is a phenomenon known as the ‘greenhouse effect’ and is much like the heat generated inside a vehicle when the windows are rolled up and the vehicle is in direct sunlight.

The solar energy is captured by the plastic bottles and used to heat water. You can reduce your energy bill and keep usable plastic out of the landfill with this unique idea.

20- Solar Water Heater Hot Box

This solar hot box can be built anywhere hot water is needed. Take a hot shower after a long day at work or play and wash up the dishes after a good meal cooked on an open fire with this idea for a DIY solar water heater by Mother Earth News

The hot box is basically a glass cover wood box that has copper tubing inside. The glass allows the sunlight to shine in and the wood box holds the heat to heat water that runs through the copper tubing.

It’s a simple design that is easy to build even if you don’t have any carpentry skills. Check out these free plans for all the details.

21- Rubber Tube Solar Water Heater

Black rubber tubing gets very hot when it’s placed in direct sunlight. When water is run through the black tubing, the water is heated and ready to use for bathing and washing.

Great for use in remote locations and for off-grid homesteads. It’s cost efficient as well as energy efficient. A rubber tube water heater is cheap to build and can be used for on or off grid homesteads.

These free instructions will take you through the building process so you can confidently build this rubber tube solar water heater by Paksc. It’s cheap and easy to construct and will supply hot water to your home for years to reduce your energy bill. This water heater is also great to build for off-grid homesteads or cabins.

 

22- DIY Passive Solar Water Heater

Talking of simplicity, there is no way you wouldn’t want to know about this simple yet practical and convenient diy solar water heating arrangement by Mother Earth News

23- DIY Solar Hot Water Heater and Shower

Save Household Energy have a great homemade water heater idea to share with you if you want to enjoy your winters without worrying about energy costs to bear at the end. This project shall cost you around $ 25 with some lumber and other unused household items already lying around.

Conclusion

As they say, every single person counts. We have tried our best to help you for guiding a diy solar water heater, and now it’s your turn to put in your efforts by choosing a DIY solar heater idea that suits you the best.