In 1987, Al Rich decided to use his expertise to design and market a new domestic solar water heater, one that would be less expensive and pleasing to the eye. My main objection to them is that, to me, they were ugly and far too expensive. As he worked on his design, it occurred to Rich that his ideas might be patentable. In 1993, Rich was awarded a second patent that detailed further improvements to his original Skylite product. The numbers below refer to parts of this diagram.
Water is heated using the solar system primarily.
However, during long stretches of cloudy days or during high levels of hot water use, the conventional water heater will fire so that adequate supply is maintained. This is known as a 'closed-loop' system. For more details on this and other aspects of Rich's system, see the copy of his patent on the World Wide Web. He also patented vents in the solar panel which release steam when the water gets too hot. Rich's goal was to make the system cheap and easy to maintain.