Day 4… Let There be Light

Photo Voltaic Solar Panels are how we will get most of our electricity. There are three for now and another three when we develop the top floor next year… hopefully. It may be difficult to comprehend that in 100 square feet of collector we can get much of the power needed to power all of the electrical lights, equipment and appliances for most of the year.

Our lot is close to 30,000 square feet (almost an acre), therefore our collector area represents approximately 1/3 of 1% of the potential sun energy hitting our property. Thanks for the help that day ‘bro’! That’s my little / big brother in the photo.

 

Wow… free help, free power and a solar panel rack that will double as a kayak shelter. Don’t things work out grand sometimes!

The Sharp Solar Panel Poly-Crystalline Solar Module with 224Watt Maximum Power This poly-crystalline 224 watt solar panel / module features 13.74% module efficiency for an outstanding balance of size and weight to power and performance. The reengineered frame includes a contoured edge to improve water management, reducing surface moisture and debris. The new back support bars allow better performance under mechanical load. Using breakthrough technology, perfected by nearly 50 years of Sharp’s research and development, the ND-224U2 modules incorporate an advanced surface texturing process to increase light absorption and improve efficiency.

Common applications include commercial and residential grid-tied roof systems as well as ground-mounted arrays. Designed to withstand rigorous operating conditions, Sharp’s ND-224U1F modules offer high power output per square foot of solar array and feature:

• High-power module (224W) using 156mm square polycrystalline silicon solar cells with 13.74% module conversion efficiency.

•Sharp’s advanced surface texturing process increases light absorption and efficiency while providing a more subdued, “natural” look.

• Bypass diodes minimize the power drop caused by shade.

• Water white tempered glass, EVA resin, and a weatherproof film, plus aluminum frame for extended outdoor use.

• Sharp modules are manufactured in ISO 9001 facilities in the USA and come with a 25-year limited warranty on power output.

Cottage stays Cooler! Sun Angles Re-Visited… It’s Working!

As I mentioned it was extremely hot outside however the cottage stayed significantly cooler. I spent the afternoon inside the house installing the same (different size) Nomalock insulation on my Domestic Hot Water lines and the recirculation on the Navien water heater.

I took this photo at just after 5 PM. The sun is just starting to make contact with the West side windows… add in the other well designed over hangs, the extremely high insulation levels, the reflective metal roof and the high performance windows and what a surprise… you have a much cooler house!

Installing the Geothermal Piping

The weather has been extremely hot lately and on this day the temperature was expected to get close to 40 degrees Celsius so we planned to start working earlier in the morning while it was still cooler. The trench had been dug the day before; we were going to install 4 items in this trench. The 1st item is the geothermal water lines to the lake, 2nd was the irrigation water line to the beach plateau, 3rd was the electrical tech cable to the PV solar rack on the beach and the 4th was the “Big O” drain pipe from the house surface water.

My job was to install the insulation around the pipe. I used a pipe insulating foam product called Nomalock, it is cheap, excellent quality, very easy and quick to install. The entire installation went like clock work, we started at 7AM and all 4 lines were buried by 12:30 and the water line was working on the beach….we were finished! Now when I say finished….I mean almost dead….in fact my neighbour who was helping ended up throwing up and in bed with sun / heat stroke.

The trail to the beach is very narrow so we could only excavate 2 feet deep…6 feet deep is required you are wanting to extract heat from the ground in this region therefore we needed to insulate these geo lines. These buried larger lines will be the supply and return header system because our geothermal system will take all the heating and cooling out of the smaller pipe loop field in the lake. At this point I am hoping to install the loop in the lake sometime next year.

Drain Water Heat Recovery

Randy (my plumber) installed my “drain water heat recovery” unit today.

The purpose of a “drain water heat recovery unit” is simply to recover the thermal energy we normally throw away down our drain, particularly during a shower. The Watercycle model DX 4048 (the brand I chose) is a water to water heat exchanger designed for use with drain water.

Water is the most expensive natural element to heat and carries a significant amount of energy. Any hot water that goes down the drain carries away energy with it. That’s typically 80–90% of the energy used to heat water in a home. Drain water heat recovery systems capture this energy to preheat cold water entering the water heater. This drain water heat recovery technology works well with all types of water heaters, but especially with my demand (instantaneous Navien water heater) and my future solar pre-heater.

Water will enter our home between 5C– 12C and is heated to 50C in my water heater. Showerhead temperature is approximately 41C and this warm water is going down the drain.

This energy will be brought back into my home to substantially reduce hot water heating costs. The Watercycle is a drain waste heat exchanger which will heat water coming into our home by 12C (43.5% effective) using energy from the water going down the drain.

It’s very simple, there are no moving parts and it consumes no energy; it just saves energy and money since I will now require less energy to heat my water.