The main energy source used to heat water in rural Cameroonian households is wood. The use of wood as an energy source (wood fuel) has negative environmental and health impacts, which can be avoided by using alternative energy sources that contribute to eliminating wood use. Harnessing solar energy for water heating can reduce typical households’ water heating wood fuel consumption to between 50% and 70%. The objective of this study was to fabricate a Flat Plate Domestic Water Heater (FPDWH) and experimentally investigate its performance and efficiency under local environmental conditions. A passive open loop flat plate serpentine solar flat plate domestic water heater was fabricated from local materials; and its performance in terms of heated water temperatures and thermal efficiency was investigated under local irradiance conditions in Bambili, North West Region of Cameroon; where the average solar irradiance was 484.8 W/m2 in the rainy season and 498.8 W/m2 in dry season; with maximum values of 892.0 W/m2 and 849.0 W/m2 in the respective seasons. Results showed average heated water outlet temperatures of 32.6？C and 34.1？C in the rainy and dry seasons respectively; with maximum values of 47.0？C and 40.9？C in the respective seasons. The average thermal efficiency of the FPDWH was 49.8% in the rainy season and 51.8% in the dry season, and the maximum was 92.9% and 92.3% during rainy and dry seasons respectively. A temperature difference of 11.5？C between the cold inlet and heated outlet water was attained with the highest outlet temperature of 47？C during the rainy season. These performance measures indicate the viability of the locally fabricated FPDWH as a low-cost technology that can be exploited for domestic water heating services, thereby eliminating the use of wood and corresponding negative health and environmental impacts.
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