A Water Wall Solar Design Manual

Note: this is a full published, copyrighted work by an author other than Steve Baer. What follows is a factual summary in our own words, not a reproduction of the text — for verbatim passages, consult the source PDF directly.

Structure

Four chapters: (1) Why Use Water Wall Passive Solar Systems, (2) A Capsule History of Water Wall Solar Buildings, (3) The Basics of Passive Solar Design Using Water Walls, (4) Water Wall Construction, New and Retrofit. The 2005 preface frames the reissue as a response to rising oil prices and stalled interest in passive solar since the 1980s; Bainbridge notes he received the American Solar Energy Society’s Passive Solar Pioneer Award in 2004, which prompted him to revisit and reissue the manual.

Chapter 1 — why water walls

Argues water is the most cost-effective thermal-mass material (a 1980 cost table puts water at roughly $9,600 per 100,000 BTU of storage, versus ~$10,900 for phase-change salts and ~$14,400 for concrete). Frames “water wall” broadly as any use of water as thermal mass for passive heating/cooling, not just literal walls.

Chapter 2 — capsule history (the most archive-relevant section)

Bainbridge’s own account, drawn from personal experience working with Baer’s circle:

1947, MIT: what he calls probably the first water wall — Hoyt Hottel and students, an array of black-painted 1- and 5-gallon cans behind double-pane glass, tested in seven cubicles; provided 38–48% of heating demand, limited by poor design (curtains separating mass from room, inadequate insulation).
1972, Corrales, New Mexico: Steve Baer’s house, independently described as using stacked 55-gallon water drums for thermal mass behind single-pane glazing with R-10 insulated reflective covers (lowered on sunny winter days, closed at night) — Bainbridge states the house needed only about one cord of firewood per winter for backup heat despite modest wall/ceiling insulation. (Note: this archive’s own primary sources date the Baer House DrumWall installation to 1971, not 1972 — Bainbridge’s account is secondhand/retrospective and this is flagged as a minor discrepancy, not a correction.)
Bainbridge describes Baer’s influence spreading through Baer’s Living Systems design group, where Bainbridge himself worked, to figures including Jon Hammond (a water-wall retrofit and new solar office building, 1974–75; this manual’s 2005 edition is dedicated to him), Jim Plumb (helped develop culvert water storage), Tod Neubauer (technical/seismic expertise), Marshall Hunt (built the first culvert house), Greg Acker, and Denny Long (became a dedicated water-tank fabricator/installer, later founded a water-tank company).
Tim Maloney (One Design), influenced by both Baer and Hottel, began testing water-wall modules in 1974: first-generation plastic bags between sheet-metal panels, evolving through problems to a fourth-generation design of stackable plastic water tanks (~2’×8’×1.5’) fitted into stud-wall cavities.
Kalwall Corporation (later Solar Components) developed translucent fiberglass water-storage tubes, later used widely, including by the Total Environmental Action design group.
Wayne and Susan Nichols (New Mexico highlands near Santa Fe) tried concrete tanks, then developed the “Heat Wall” vinyl-bag-in-metal-frame system; their house reportedly got ~70% of heating from solar.
Mike and Judy Corbett built Village Homes, a 220-unit solar development in Davis, CA, that helped popularize water walls; designer John Hofacre there pushed large-scale water-wall installations; Marshall Hunt and Virginia Thigpen built a large culvert-wall home there.
Dick Bourne (Davis) developed the low-cost “Suntainer” and “Sunbin” water-wall modules.
Groups in Vancouver, BC (Solar Applications and Research Group) and Ohio (Water Wall Engineering Group, product name “Tubewall”) developed thin steel-tube-with-plastic-liner systems; Ames Laboratory experimented with an expensive glass-based water wall.
Ken Haggard and Polly Cooper are credited by Bainbridge as likely having “designed more water wall homes than anyone else in the world,” both in their own retrofit/straw-bale home and across 30+ years of practice; Phil Niles and Bruce Maeda provided thermal-performance evaluation support.
Bainbridge notes that falling energy prices in the 1980s–90s largely halted water-wall development industry-wide, with Solar Components’ translucent tubes as a rare survivor in the market.

Chapter 3 — design basics and performance data

Covers shell efficiency (orientation, insulation to R-30+ walls/R-40+ ceilings, weatherization, shading, landscaping), then “Six Rules” each for low-cost passive heating and passive cooling, and sizing guidance (roughly 3–8 gallons of water per square foot of south-facing glazing for heating). Cites a California Energy Commission study (Davis Alternative Technology Associates) finding a standard tract house with a water wall could meet 67–100% of heating and 95–100% of cooling load across seven California metro areas, and a nationwide evaluation of a “PSI Clerestory Water Wall House” design (by John Hofacre for the Passive Solar Institute) showing similarly strong percent-heating/percent-cooling coverage across ten U.S. cities from Los Angeles to Miami, with detailed annual utility-cost comparisons against conventional construction. A 1977-dollars cost breakdown for Bainbridge’s own first rectangular-steel-tank water-wall townhouse puts total passive-system cost at $2,900 (net $1,305 after a since-expired California solar tax credit), against $2,600 for conventional windows/drapes/furnace/AC — i.e., a net-negative added cost once the tax credit is figured in. Cross-references Harold Hay’s Skytherm roof-pond system and a “White Cap” roof-cooling system as complementary approaches for hot climates.

Chapter 4 — construction and retrofit

Practical guidance for both new construction (steel-tank or Solar Components translucent-tube water walls placed as a bench/seat/counter in front of south glazing, clerestory windows, ceiling fans) and retrofit (solar-access assessment, insulation upgrades by assembly, straw-bale wall wraps for older masonry/block/brick homes, window/door upgrades). Includes a case study of a three-bedroom, two-bath “Water Wall Solar Clerestory for the Sunbelt” house plan commissioned from John Hofacre by the Passive Solar Institute and evaluated in the ten-city study referenced in Chapter 3.

Why it matters for this archive

Independently corroborates Baer’s 1971/72 Corrales DrumWall house from outside the Zomeworks/Baer orbit, and situates it as the catalyzing event for a much broader 1970s–80s “water wall” movement this archive had only touched via Baer’s own Cool Cell brochure’s brief “Past Work” mentions of Hay, Buckley, and Maloney. Substantially expands what’s known about Timothy Maloney and adds a documented, independent claim about Ken Haggard and Polly Cooper‘s water-wall practice. Introduces the author himself, David A. Bainbridge — a direct member of Baer’s Living Systems design circle, later ASES Passive Solar Pioneer Award recipient (2004) and co-author of two books with Ken Haggard already cited elsewhere in this archive — as a concept worth documenting in his own right.