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I had a thermo-syphonic solar hot water heater on the house in San Diego. It had lovely anodized copper collectors under special quartz glass panels. Upon initial installation, the system provided all the hot water we could use from March to November. From November to March, it was only useful to preheat the water. About 3 years into its 20 year warranted life, the storage tanks failed. The high calcium in the San Diego water destroyed the tanks and valves. The insulation became wet. No more hot water. Worse, the company who "warranted" the product was out of business. The $13,000 package was worthless in 3 years with no recourse. It was removed when I replaced the roof. The tanks went to the dump. The panels were donated to a local contractor who serviced some of the remaining victims in the area. Never again.

In hindsight, I should have realized that I would NEVER amortize the cost of that system vs simply using the natural gas heater in the house. Now I do the economic analysis FIRST. If that fails, nothing else matters.

BTW, I did do the economic analysis on my 2008 Mercury Mariner Hybrid. It was a wash with the promised $3,000 tax rebate. When I did my taxes, the $3000 rebate became $1202. Further, the promised mileage only works in mild climates with level roads. It's optimized for stop and go commuting. In the real world of Idaho, it gets 21 MPG during the winter and 25 MPG in the summer. Fall and Spring bump it to 27 MPG. EPA now claims 28 MPG combined/29 city/27 highway. The EPA estimate is less than honest. This is my last hybrid.

I am so sorry that you got hosed. That is what the BBB is for. If they have gone under, are any of the owners operating under other names?
My system has lasted these 20+ years. Yes, every 3-4 years I need to have the system bled. I have replaced 4 of the impeller pumps in that period (the system has 5 pumps, total.) I am quite happy with my experience.
When it comes time to “pop the roof’ over the garage to add a library, I will seriously consider adding a photovoltaic collector system, along with the needed storage system.

God bless.
Sursum Corda

>BTW, I did do the economic analysis on my 2008 Mercury Mariner Hybrid. [snip] it gets 21 MPG
>during the winter and 25 MPG in the summer. Fall and Spring bump it to 27 MPG. EPA now claims 28 MPG
>combined/29 city/27 highway. The EPA estimate is less than honest. This is my last hybrid.

Wow... I have an old 1983 Oldsmobile Regency 98, it’s Diesel and gets better fuel mileage. (And it’s not even a ‘native’ diesel engine, Oldsmobile just retrofitted their 350 engines to diesel.)