Ron Theaker’s Solar Hydronic Heating System

This month we’re shining a light on solar entrepreneurs who are bringing new solutions to the market. As the industry grows, new businesses will emerge to create jobs and serve new kinds of customers. It’s fun to think about where we’re headed.

Ron Theaker is the founder of Digital Solar Heat, and the inventor of a solar hydronic heating system with interseasonal storage. We asked him to talk about his company and where they are headed.

HeatSpring: Can you talk about your work and what you’re up to?

Ron: Invented a working Solar Hydronic Heating System with interseasonal storage, where the newest Gen-2 is good enough to provide heating for example, in a home or a (5,000 SqFt) warehouse in western Canada for a year. 2 Patents have been garnered to date and the University of Wisconsin have provided a modelling of the system in the extreme cold that is Western Canada, with excellent results. White paper available.

HeatSpring: Why is this work important for the industry?

Ron: Finally, a working solar heating system that can be integrated into a standard hydronic platform, that has enough storage to store summer heat for use in winter.

HeatSpring: What do you hope to accomplish in your work over the next 1-3 years?

Ron: Design and install solar heating systems in almost any building worldwide, and provide a solar thermal solution to cooling in any, even remote areas.

Solar heating has suffered from poor design and installation in the past, now DSH offers a system that recently was vetted and modeled by the University of Wisconsin. The modeling showed a heating offset of 85% in the cold that is Calgary Alberta Canada using the ‘typical’ solar heating design. The key to the patented DSH design is the ability to store all summer heat for use later, AND to optimize the use of EvT solar Collectors that perform well even at -30C. This extends the performance envelope to all year. In addition the heating system itself is essentially a low caloric, typical hydronic design already popular in most countries. DSH has been designing and installing their solar heating system since 2003, with a recent change to Gen-2 re-engineering to meet the harsh Canadian requirements.