The students really enjoyed the experience, as did I, since it was the first time a alumni of the SNAP house has been by to share their story. We welcome others!
Here are some images of that day.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Visitors from Mexico
On Friday, March 6th we had a wonderful group of students from a technical school in Mexico come visit our home. They will be participating in the 2010 International Solar Decathlon competition. Dason Whitsett, from the 2005 UT SNAP house team gave the students a tour of the home and provided first hand insight about the building design, mechanical systems, and overall experience.
The students really enjoyed the experience, as did I, since it was the first time a alumni of the SNAP house has been by to share their story. We welcome others!
Here are some images of that day.
The students really enjoyed the experience, as did I, since it was the first time a alumni of the SNAP house has been by to share their story. We welcome others!
Here are some images of that day.
Solar Water and PV Electrical Update- a bit of clarity
It seems that there was a blurb in communication between us and BCDC about how the new hot water system will be working. According to Blackland, "The Harden House will continue to get heated water from the Solar House tank but will have a gas heater as backup if the water is too cool. In essence, the Solar House system will act to "pre-heat" the Harden House water."
There will be no shut off valves between the two units, like we indicated in the previous post and diagram. So, essentially the the flash heater (and its high usage of electric) is still part of the equation.
As far as connecting the Solar Electrical system working the latest news from BCDC is: "The PV panels need a final inspection which requires a plaque be placed on the solar meter box. Eric Kay has the data from Aaron Cloninger and is to get the plaque made soon. But he also needs to reinstate the electric permit that lapsed Feb. 1. With those done, we can hopefuly flip the switch."
There will be no shut off valves between the two units, like we indicated in the previous post and diagram. So, essentially the the flash heater (and its high usage of electric) is still part of the equation.
As far as connecting the Solar Electrical system working the latest news from BCDC is: "The PV panels need a final inspection which requires a plaque be placed on the solar meter box. Eric Kay has the data from Aaron Cloninger and is to get the plaque made soon. But he also needs to reinstate the electric permit that lapsed Feb. 1. With those done, we can hopefuly flip the switch."
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Lessons Learned- Learning Lessons about the hot water system
Well, this past week we had a wonderful meeting with the folks at Blackland about the hot water system. It was agreed amongst us all that the problems associated with the hot water system was our first "lesson learned" at the Solar Harden Duplex.
THE LESSON (Detailed in the previous post and summarized here)
Based on our data collection-that indicates high water usage (waste) at the Harden residence- and personal stories of lack of hot water (SNAP and Harden residents), Blackland has decided to install a gas powered hot water tank in the Harden house. This will allow the Harden tenants to readily get hot water without drawing it from our thermal hot water system. In addition, Adam and I will have one less meter to record and one less bill to reconfigure every month.
Even though the new tank will solve the current problem, we all agreed that during the summer, the original design of the solar thermal hot water system just might work. Therefore, we are going to create a hybrid system. I mean, do we really want to waste all that free solar energy? Especially since the SNAP house current solar thermal system is completely over sized for Adam and I; especially in the summer time.
THE HOT-WATER HYBRID SYSTEM
The new hybrid system will consist of all the existing components: Solar thermal evacuated tubes, the hot water tank, pump, and flash heater. Except now we will be adding the 30 gallon water storage tank at the Harden House that has two supply lines. The two supply lines allow us to switch from them using the 30 gallon tank or having our solar thermal system from our 108.6 gallon water tank preheat their water. Therefore, during the colder season (Nov-Feb) in Austin the Harden residents will draw hot water from their own tank and during the hotter seasons (Mar-Sept) the Harden residence will draw their hot water from our tank. I think the hybrid system is best explained in the diagram below.
Of course, this poses a new question for us all....During the hotter seasons will this work? Since the Harden residents did not move in until January, at the moment we do not have a answer to this question. Another questions to consider is; will we still be wasting a large amount of water using this hybrid system during the warmer months? And, just how much will the flash heater be contributing and driving up electrical usage?
I guess we will just have to wait and see what the data has to report. Nevertheless, the Harden house will have easier access to hot water than before.
Peace-
THE LESSON (Detailed in the previous post and summarized here)
Based on our data collection-that indicates high water usage (waste) at the Harden residence- and personal stories of lack of hot water (SNAP and Harden residents), Blackland has decided to install a gas powered hot water tank in the Harden house. This will allow the Harden tenants to readily get hot water without drawing it from our thermal hot water system. In addition, Adam and I will have one less meter to record and one less bill to reconfigure every month.
Even though the new tank will solve the current problem, we all agreed that during the summer, the original design of the solar thermal hot water system just might work. Therefore, we are going to create a hybrid system. I mean, do we really want to waste all that free solar energy? Especially since the SNAP house current solar thermal system is completely over sized for Adam and I; especially in the summer time.
THE HOT-WATER HYBRID SYSTEM
The new hybrid system will consist of all the existing components: Solar thermal evacuated tubes, the hot water tank, pump, and flash heater. Except now we will be adding the 30 gallon water storage tank at the Harden House that has two supply lines. The two supply lines allow us to switch from them using the 30 gallon tank or having our solar thermal system from our 108.6 gallon water tank preheat their water. Therefore, during the colder season (Nov-Feb) in Austin the Harden residents will draw hot water from their own tank and during the hotter seasons (Mar-Sept) the Harden residence will draw their hot water from our tank. I think the hybrid system is best explained in the diagram below.
Of course, this poses a new question for us all....During the hotter seasons will this work? Since the Harden residents did not move in until January, at the moment we do not have a answer to this question. Another questions to consider is; will we still be wasting a large amount of water using this hybrid system during the warmer months? And, just how much will the flash heater be contributing and driving up electrical usage?
I guess we will just have to wait and see what the data has to report. Nevertheless, the Harden house will have easier access to hot water than before.
Peace-
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