So what I'm thinking is getting our handyman who is licensed plumber to do it after we have a primer in hand to guide him/us through it. Or should we use an electrician as the primary rather than a plumber?

We seem to be in the perfect climate (sunny/mild) to take advantage of solar but there is VERY little solar in South Florida. Not because electric is cheap, it's not.
Nor is it reliable. Even in non-hurricane season we have short-term interruption to electric service.
Reasons for lack of installers I can think of are that the rich are here only 2-3 months a year (or less) and don't see solar cost benefit and there aren't enough year-round upper-middle spenders. Bulk of population is young family types and older retired with less disposable income.

Where can I get nuts and bolts HOW TO manual? If we can't explain how to do it it won't be done.

Here are some pictures of an evacutuated tube collector going on a tile roof:
http://www.anotherurl.com/therm/Thermomax.htm

Gary

They are in the middle of doing some updates to their website, so not everything may be up right now.

Gary

Here is another website which may be helpfull. It shows simple diagrams for the basic system, not too complicated.

Hope that helps,

Dan Martyn

In hot climates a proven strategy that works well is a heat recovery unit attached to your AC unit. It provides free hot water and also increases the efficiency of the AC a couple of SEER points by reducing head pressure (and electricity draw) on the compressor. You're paying for your A/C to move a great deal of heat out of your house, you might as well use that heat to provide you with hot water. Adding one of these to an older AC unit that still runs well is a good way to cut $30-$50 off your monthly power bill during AC season (which here in cent Fl can be about 9 months). The neatest thing about this solution is that it's cost-negative. In addition to being free hot water as opposed to other 'high efficiency' heaters that still consume energy, it actually lowers your cost of air conditioning. Here is a manufacturer's site for two of these and a power company document about it as well. The second mfg site has a neat calculator for your savings...but my experience shows it to be somewhat under-optimistic. I don't think it's taking into account how a hru will improve your AC's efficiency. There are claims that they don't work with higher efficiency unit, but I have two HRU connected to 13 SEER heat pumps that provide plenty of hot water.

http://www.trevormartin.com/about.asp

http://www.turbotecproducts.com/EPhome.html

http://www.p2pays.org/ref/11/10104.pdf

Gary