Using solar power for heating water is common in many parts of the world - Israel and China come to mind. It can be very cost effective in the US, but never really took off.
This ad is 110 years old. Aubrey Eneas founded the Solar Motor Company of Boston to build solar-powered motors to replace steam engines and relocated to Los Angeles in the early 1900s to build solar engines to pump water. He also built residential solar hot water systems and supposed a few thousand were sold. Unfortunately his motor business went under. I haven't come across anything on how well his hot water heaters worked ... I can only imagine it must have been for the wealthy as hot water was a luxury in the day...
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