A Lucky Twist of Fate

moving!

Hey all

  I really like typepad, but my annual membership fee has come due, and due to my utter lack of having actually posted enough this past year to justify the expense...  off we go to a free host here.

so..  if you want to look at pictures and stuff....  get it out of your system..  In about a week this page will be suspended.

Solar Update!

It is blazing hot here in the ATL..  sooo  I've been experimenting with my solar hot water system..  Here's what I've learned..  When its 102 degrees outside and you turn the circulation pump off, the water in the solar panel reaches 215 degrees..  it may actually go higher than that..  it made that temperature at two in the afternoon and I turned the pump back on.  I've also, due to the wonderful thing called freecycle, been given a 50 gallon electric hot water tank..  I removed the elements and threaded a 6 foot piece of 1/2 soft copper tubing in a coil shape in the top element hole and out the bottom element hole...  drilled the stop out of a couple compression fittings and tightened them up.  I removed the heat exchanger from my original electric hot water tank and plumbed up the new one...  within an hour, the temperature at the bottom of the fifty gallon storage tank rose four degrees..  I think this is a much better setup.  I also wrapped the insulation around the original tank as originally planned..  here's a picture of the new setup.

Sunset

After some wicked thunderstorms yesterday afternoon, We managed a beautiful sunset!

It Actually Works!!

so..  I finally got the solar collector mounted on the roof and plumbed into the heat exchanger...  after several days of contemplation and a midnight epiphany, I managed to drain all the air from the system and got it heating water...  It's been working for a week now...  a solid week of thunderstorms and cloudy afternoon skies.  Today is the first day of actual full sun all morning..  at just after solar noon the temperature in the panel is 135 degrees.  I have a thermistor on both the solar panel and the bottom of the hot water tank so I am able to collect temperature data to evaluate how well the system is working..  here is what I've decided...  It doesn't heat water fast enough to be able to disconnect the lower element in the hot water tank.  I turned the thermostat on the lower element up to about 115 degrees.  The bare minimum temperature that must be maintained in order to fill the bathtub with hot water.  I feel certain at this point that two things must happen..  a second panel must be added to the roof to bring the temperature up there up a notch or two and there must be another "hot water tank" added in the basement.  I feel there needs to be a first storage tank..  with an integrated heat exchanger that solely heats water from the temperature it is when it enters the house to as warm as the solar panel can get it...  the water warmed from the first tank then feeds the second tank which will be returned to its default configuration.  Basically, this strategy will return the system to having all the hot water it initially did and also an additional 50 gallons of hot(warm) water in reserve.  The electric hot water tank should never be called on to heat water from 60 degrees up to full operating temperature... 

BTW, my theory about the paint protecting the mdf adequately is busted...  fortunately the sides were laminated with plywood as well, I will have to construct new sides and back for this panel when I build the second one, but I should be able to exact the repairs without taking the panel off the roof. I think I have enough material to build the second with a minimum of expenditure.  Speaking of which..  you're wondering how much this has cost me right??  About $800...  I think I can finish up with the second panel and adding another tank (I already have a slightly used gas water tank that I intend to convert) and keep the final total right around $1000..  How long will it take to save the money back out of our electric bill?  Probably three years....

Now We're Cookin'

Well..  Like the old axiom, as soon as you erect a windmill, the wind will not blow for days..  as soon as I placed the oven in the sun, the sun wen't behind a cloud.  I put a quart of 70 degree water in my dark blue pot in the oven..  we'll see how hot the water gets and how long that takes and I'll let you know next time!!

In the hour between four and five pm..  with partly cloudy skies..  the water temp gained 28 degrees.  guess I'm gonna have to cook dinner in it tomorrow.

Solar Collection

Hey everyone-

   First..  the thermo-siphon through the heat exchanger has to be working good..  it was too hot to touch when the water tank was turned back on, so I know when I get my collector online, the passive heat exchange into the tank will work.  I wrapped all the individual copper pipes with closed cell foam insulation made for wrapping hot water pipes.  the heat exchanger will be insulated inside the insulation blanket that I will wrap the hot water tank with also.  I'm thinking a big part of the efficiency of the solar hot water system will bear on how well everything is insulated.

So, Here is my solar collector -->

   A few words on it's design.  first of all, I'm putting this on the roof of my girlfriends house.  Those of you who have seen this house, know that it is a very nice house.  Those of you who know my girlfriend, know she would not put up with shitty lookin stuff on the roof of her house, so I purchased a sheet of 1/2" MDF to build it out of.  The size is 34" x 74" which was dictated by the size of the piece of glass which was salvaged from a sliding glass door.  MDF is actually a perfect material to make it with..  the collector will not sit directly on the roof..  there will be airflow all around it and the paint will protect it from absorbing water.  Also, MDF is dirt cheap..  a 4' x 8' sheet is only $16.  Second, this system will require a circulation pump..  no way around it, therefore, I designed it so the cold water inlet and the hot water outlet are close to each other so both pipes can be insulated together and will only be visibly unappealing in the one spot and not all over the roof..  The cold inlet is 3/4" copper and splits into two 1/2 copper vertical pipes which rejoin at the bottom manifold which is 3/4" copper and extends through the right side of the box where it can be attached to another collector if I decide I need more than one in the system.  There are three 1/2" copper pipes that return fluid to the top of the collector into another 3/4" copper manifold that extends through both sides of the collector.  On the left as a return to the heat exchanger, on the right as a return from the next collector.  I capped both pipes on the right side of the collector, figuring to add unions when the second collector is installed.  Further thought has led me to the position that I will connect future panels with pex instead of unions.  I'll explain those reasons in the future if it becomes relevant, otherwise just consider it planning for phase three.  Sorry I didn't take a picture of the copper grid when I made it..  shear laziness, then when I was ready to put the collector together, laziness struck again...  the camera was upstairs...  so it goes..  I painted the grid and absorber plate outside...  I burnt my fingertips carrying it inside..  It should heat water!

Hot Water

Ok..  Some of you know that I went to France to learn about solar energy and most importantly, how to harness said energy.  I've come home with all this fantastic knowledge which I just have to put to use.  I've started building a solar hot water system for my home in Georgia..  Today, I got the heat exchanger installed.  The following pictures are of the heat exchanger itself and installed next to my hot water tank.

First...  the water under the tank was not from any of my solder joints leaking.... I opted to put the original boiler valve back on instead of the new one I bought in order to save $5, I had a hard time getting it to close fully.

Second...  no, there are no unions in the system..  I'll put those in when I have to change the hot water tank..  Hopefully many years from now.  There is, however, a dielectric nipple between the tank and the copper pipe at the bottom. hopefully that will further extend the life of the tank.

The heat exchanger in the first picture, is the same both top and bottom, however it is assembled so the fluid goes out the opposite end, hopefully maximizing the efficiency of the heat exchanger.  The design of the heat exchanger is a direct copy from The Maine Solar Primer (warning: 20 mb .pdf) (Thanks to Richard Komp for permission to use and post to the internet (also thanks to The Dharma House for posting said to their site))

Once the pump and solar collector are installed, the lower heating element will be disconnected and the thermostat will be lowered to ~110 degrees and the whole assembly (tank and heat exchanger) will be wrapped in an insulating blanket designed for water heaters and available at any box store.

   So far, in practical application what I would do differently, instead of a symetrical heat exchanger, I would put three tees accross the bottom instead of 2 tees and a reducing elbow, I would then put the cold water into the system thru the heat exchanger instead of right into the bottom of the tank.

My Little Swimmer!

The picture says it all!

Bomba Shack!!

Gotta say...  no place like it on earth!

Tortola, Tortola, Jost Van Dyke, Virgin Gorda, Tortola, St John, St. John, St. John.  Too much sun and fun...  If you have to turn 36..  it's as good a place as any...  Especially if you're there when the moon is full!

What is it about Blogs?

    We all have one right?   Why is it we never update them? 

   My current news is that Hazel and I have been successful at teaching Huck to swim..  I'll take a picture of that..  what a riot.  Unfortunately, there is so much pollen on the lake it's yellow...  Gross..  Not good for pictures.

   Second, Rawls and I are headed to St Thomas, Tortola, and St John!  I'm outta here tomorrow, Rawls to follow Thursday night Through San Juan and we meet up on Tortola Friday morning where we stay till the 4th, then 4 days on St John and back to STT.  Home on the 10th!

Happy Birthday to me huh?