Mill Creek NetZero Home, December 15, 2009, 14:00.
As we approach the winter solstice and the three-month anniversary of our moving in, we continue to learn about our new house. These observations are mostly qualitative, because we don’t have the rest of our solar modules up, and we haven’t set up monitoring equipment yet. We are tentatively planning to remove the door of our wood stove on July 1st, 2010 and then monitor the house’s energy use for a year. read more... »
The solar collectors on my house will not be parallel to the roof but will stand up at an angle of approximately 40 degrees. With some of the recent wind storms around Edmonton and other places in Alberta I've been quite concerned about my house if one of those storms hits again after the collectors are up. read more... »
I have to make connections in my attic for the 3/4" copper pipes that do the supply and return runs for my solar thermal collectors. I'm NOT looking forward to soldering amoung the blown-in insulation. Someone recommended SharkBite non-soldering connectors (http://www.sharkbite.com). The appear to have a high enough ratings (certified to 200 PSI and 93 degrees C) but I'm concerned about how they will stand up given the extreme temperature changes in the attic. Has anyone used these connectors? Does anyone have any experience with SharkBite fittings and solar thermal systems?
Ken
The lessons that I learned from the computer model of our solar hot water system are as follows:
We bought the collectors, drainback tank, pipe insulation and other knickknacks from Trimline Design Centre just down the road from the Mill Creek NetZero Home. My builder Peter was very impressed with the clever, simple design of the flat plat collectors that Trimline manufactures. Yes, that’s right, they manufacture solar hot water collectors right here in Edmonton!
Overview
(schematic of the MCNZH solar hot water system) read more... »
