Monday, February 25, 2008

Winter Diversion

One of the reasons why progress hasn't been all that fast is because the skiing has been great. Here's a photo of our Tahoe Donner house on February 25th.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Reset Solar Stand-offs

Several solar experts recommended tilting up the solar hot water panels in order to get more hot water in the winter. One of the experts, Gary of Builditsolar.com, ran a program to show the effect of tilting the panels, see below (need only look at the month in the first column and total BTU in the last column)

18 deg tilt:
Month by Month Summary of Sun on Collector
(100% sunny weather)

Collector Area: 1.0 (sqft)
Collector Azimuth: 0.0 (deg) measured from South
Collector Tilt: 18.0 (deg) measured from horiz
Latitude: 39.0 (deg)
Altitude above SL: 0.0 (ft) Above Sea Level

Date ---- Sun ------------

---- Collector -----------------------
Month Day Direct Di- Total Direct Difuse Total
Normal fuse
1 21 2234 130 2364 1349 127 1475 <---
2 21 2635 158 2793 1710 154 1864
3 21 2931 208 3139 2013 203 2216
4 21 3095 302 3396 2147 294 2441
5 21 3155 383 3538 2188 374 2561
6 21 3164 423 3587 2174 413 2587
7 21 3055 415 3470 2125 405 2530
8 21 2914 354 3268 2040 345 2386
9 21 2727 253 2981 1891 247 2138
10 21 2464 179 2642 1610 174 1784
11 21 2164 136 2300 1306 133 1438
12 21 2032 117 2149 1175 114 1289
Sum 32570 3057 35627 21726 2983 24708

Radiation in BTU/day


54 deg tilt:
Month by Month Summary of Sun on Collector (100% sunny weather)
Collector Area: 1.0 (sqft)
Collector Azimuth: 0.0 (deg) measured from South Collector Tilt: 54.0 (deg)
measured from horiz Latitude: 39.0 (deg)
Altitude above SL: 0.0 (ft) Above Sea Level

Date ---- Sun ---------------- Collector -----------------------
Month Day Direct Di- Total Direct Difuse Total
Normal fuse
1 21 2234 130 2364 1871 103 1974
2 21 2635 158 2793 2078 125 2203
3 21 2931 208 3139 2082 165 2248
4 21 3095 302 3396 1833 239 2072
5 21 3155 383 3538 1604 304 1907
6 21 3164 423 3587 1496 336 1832
7 21 3055 415 3470 1548 330 1877
8 21 2914 354 3268 1734 281 2015
9 21 2727 253 2981 1944 201 2146
10 21 2464 179 2642 1964 142 2106
11 21 2164 136 2300 1816 108 1924
12 21 2032 117 2149 1724 93 1817
Sum 32570 3057 35627 21692 2427 24119

Radiation in BTU/day


/Gary

-------------------------

Problem was that if I raised the panels in the originally planned location, in the middle of two rows of solar PV panels, I would end up shading the PV panels in the morning and late afternoon. So I re-arranged the standoffs with the solar hot water panels to be mounted horizontally above the PV panels.

I had great help from Don Hiatt, of Hiatt roofing and his assistant Rick (?)

Also shown here are the tilt legs for the panels

A lovely fire sprinkler control valve is placed on the side of the house

Wiring panel

Electrical Wiring


Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Big Update - New Camera

I got my Canon camera wet and ended up buying a new one - hence the big gap in time

Roof shingled, windows and doors in, papered and lathed

Drain vent plumbing

Patio Doors

Washer/Dryer hook up

Electrical boxes rough placement



Bath vanity plumbing

Rough placement of in-ceiling light fixtures

Solar stand-offs placed prior to roofing


What's embarrassing is how little has been done between when these pictures were taken and now, March 11.

Monday, December 17, 2007

Window woes

I spent a lot of time trying to get the right windows for the cottage. The first priority and problem was trying to find a window/glass that would allow heat in. Most windows today are designed to keep heat in the house and use the title E2 ('E-squared') to indicate the efficiency. The problem with E2 windows is that in addition to keeping heat in they keep heat out while I'm counting on the sun to warm up the concrete floors.

So I called lots of companies; retailers, window manufacturers, and glass manufacturers to try and get the right window characteristics - one with good solar heat gain (SHGC or solar heat gain coefficient) and good efficiency (as measured by u-value or the rate at which heat transfers through the material).

I thought I had reached a reasonable solution with Milgard's Hardcoat Low-e product but I was disappointed when, after already ordering the product, I found the SHGC numbers to be moderate at best. But, what's done is done and we'll see how they perform.

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Roof sheathing on before first rains

Still had to cover with plastic to avoid getting the sheathing too wet.

Monday, December 3, 2007

Roof on!

Mike Wright's crew moves very quickly







Framing

Well, a lot has happened since my last post. Most significantly, in the week after Thanksgiving Mike Wright and his crew framed the house from floor to roof in one week!