Before too much time passes by I should take the time to describe the system. It was designed and installed by Solar Energy Services, Inc. They have a lot of experience with solar systems in the Maryland area and were great to work with. They were on site just a couple weeks after contracting with them and the crew took two days to complete the install. On the 1st day they swapped out my old water heater for the new one with a heat exchanger and installed the panels on the roof. The second day they connected the closed part of the system between the exchanger and the panels and activated the system. (more on that later). If I had to do it again, or for anyone else that is interested, I would highly recommend Solar Energy Services, Inc.
Now for the system. At the heart of the system are two solar collector panels manufactured by Alternate Energy Technologies, LLC. AET is a Florida based company that has been at the forefront of flat panel technology since 1975. Inside, they use Thermafin copper welded collector fins. For my installation we used a pair of AE-32 panels. These are 4x8 panels providing ~60 square feet of absorber area. The SRCC rating for these panels is here: http://securedb.fsec.ucf.edu/srcc/coll_detail?srcc_id=2002001E .
Here is a neat video describing the 'Thermafin' manufacturing process:
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