Installing the Solar Panels

The solar panels are finally installed waiting only to be wired up and tied to the electrical panel.  Forty panels arrived about three weeks ago coiled up in two large boxes.  The panels are 15 ½” wide by 18’ long, each providing 144 watts of power for a total power generating capacity of 5,760 watts, or 5.67 kW of output.  Each panel has two wires leading from the top end which fasten to the adjacent panel.  We can wire up to four panels together for a total of ten 576 watt series to be wired back to the main panel.

The main panel (cleverly called the converter) converts the solar energy which produces Direct Current (DC power) into Alternating Current (AC power) which is what almost every home and business uses.  Once the power has been converted, it will feed the house electrical panel for use in the home.  If the solar panels produce more power than the home requires, the excess power effectively runs the meter backwards, selling the power back to the power company.  When the generated solar power is insufficient (nighttime), we purchase power back from the power company.

We had the good fortune to be the recipients of an EARP grant from our regional power company Consumers Energy.  State law mandates that the utilities will produce 15% of their grid power with alternative energy sources by 2015.  One of the methods of attaining the goal is to allow people like me to contribute to the grid.  The grant process will pay me a higher than market rate for the power I contribute to the electrical grid, and in return I only have to pay the normal retail rate for the power I consume.  This helps pay for the installation of the alternative energy infrastructure I install.  

The installation of the panels requires a good deal of preparation.  We installed a standing seam metal roof in anticipation of using the UniSolar thin film solar panel.  UniSolar is unfortunately one of the casualties of the economy, but we did obtain the panels prior to their dissolution.  The metal roof had to be power washed, then rubbed down twice with isopropyl alcohol to remove all of the dirt, bugs, and bird doo.  It was amazing how much dirt accumulated in only nine months.  My shoulders complained for several days after each cleaning. The solar panel has a self adhesive backing with a plastic film release sheet which is peeled away before it is adhered to the metal roofing. 

The adhesive is extremely sticky, and would have required a supreme effort to remove had it been installed incorrectly.  The installation temperature required that the ambient temperature of the roof material be between 50 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit.  Below 50 degrees, the adhesive would not stick evenly, and above 80 degrees, it was impossible to remove the release sheet.  We typically had either frost or dew on the roof until about 9:00 am when the sun got high enough.  After 10:00 am, the sun would warm up the black solar panels beyond the 80 degree mark stopping the installation until after 4:00 pm.  This allowed us to install four to six panels per day depending on the weather. 

Remaining to be completed is the final wiring, installing the converter panel, and replacing the electrical meter.  I expect the wiring to be done this week, and hopefully we will be operational in the next two weeks.  I do not have any monitoring equipment installed, and have not figured out what I will do yet.  If there is anyone out there with experience in monitoring equipment let me know. 

After nearly 40 years working in construction, I finally broke down and purchased a fall protection harness.  The roof is extremely steep and slippery.  Though I never felt the need for it once I got the scaffold set up, it was reassuring to have it on just in case.  I know my wife felt better about it. 

Water treatment has been an ongoing issue.  We finally took the least cost alternative and put in a water softener.  This goes went everything I had wanted to do for water treatment, but is within our budget.  Perhaps some time in the future we can upgrade.  We do have a slightly salty taste to our water now which we are working on, but we have noticed less mineral accretion on the faucets, and the sulfurous smell is gone. 

So far we have not had the heat on though temperatures have been down to the 30's at night for several weeks.  Now that the sun is low in the southern sky, the solar gains have warmed the home up enough to last all night with only a couple of degrees lost.  One sunny day it got up to 80 degrees inside dropping down to 78 by the next morning.  The outside temperature was in the mid 30’s during the night.  I had to open the windows the next day to keep the house from overheating.

 

Our turtles never did hatch, so we can only surmise that the critters found the eggs and dug them up.  Bow hunting deer season has started, and the hunters have been stirring up the deer.  One nice size 8 point buck which had been visiting our yard all summer has been declared off limits by our neighbors who hunt.  They want to let him grow up another year.  Judy had taken to calling him Bucky, but I started calling him Dumby, a bit more reflective of his intellectual capabilities.  He was either very arrogant, or had no clue about self preservation.  He was often seen grazing in the ditch at the side of the road, oblivious to passing cars. 

 

 

We did have a nice flock of turkeys amble through the back yard.  They were slowly pecking their way through the grass as I maneuvered from window to window taking pictures as they wandered around the yard.  All was fine until the cat jumped up on the window ledge and spooked them all.  They certainly are pre-historic looking creatures.

 

The woodchucks have started hibernating, and the hummingbirds are gone for the season.  We got a lot of enjoyment from them as they chased each other around the house.  The garden was spectacular.  We just put everything to bed, building a large compost pile, and picking any remaining fruit.  We made a large batch of green tomato salsa which turned out pretty good, and had some that night on baked chicken.  A few runty ears of corn remained, which appeared to have been enjoyed by the local racoons after Judy threw the ears over the garden fence.  We think we have a better garden plan for next year which includes greater diversity of plant material, canning, freezing, and donations to the local food bank.

The yard furniture has been packed away, and the video camera has been taken down, restoring the view out the front window.  The only major project remaining is painting the basement stairwell.  The basement is done, but there are still a lot of little miscellaneous items to clean up that we should be able to get done over the winter.  Paint touch up, a few drawers need adjustment, some hardware on the large pocket doors, and a little more sanding on the kitchen countertop are among the remaining projects.

Over the next year, I will periodically update you on how the home is performing, a project that would be facilitated if I had come to grips with the design of any monitoring equipment. 

All in all it is beginning to feel like home. 

Siding progress

It has been a while since my last posting as there has not been much to report.  I have been slowly installing the cedar shakes one by one.  Three sides of the house are complete now with just a gable end remaining.  The trim is painted with two coats of paint before it is installed, then one more after it is up and the nail holes are filled and joints caulked. 

The seed we planted for the yard did not do very well with the drought conditions.  Hopefully it will come back in the spring.  I have mowed a 10 – 15’ wide area around the house to keep the weeds down so that they don’t compete with what grass seed is growing.  In February I will plant some white clover in the frost.  The clover will fill in the blank spots in the grass where crabgrass likes to grow, is a nice forage crop for deer, and is attractive to bees.  

 

 

The warm weather gave us a chance to try out the radiant cooling system, and we were very pleased with the effect, though not with the electric bill.  With all of the sunshine we have had this summer, the solar panels would have been nice to have.  We are still waiting for the revised pricing to arrive for the solar panels since UniSolar went out of business.

 

The critters seem to have made peace with us.  There is a small herd of four does that occasionally browse their way through the yard, and this nice little 8 point buck that has been spurned by the herd.   

We have a number of hummingbirds that chase each other around the house with the buzzing of their wings making a Doppler effect as they zip by. You feel certain to be impaled by an errant bird shaped missile.

The garden just took over.  The tomatoes if stretched to full height would be about 8’ tall.  They have toppled their cages over, and have made passage through the garden impossible.  We harvested the largest zucchini I have ever seen at about 16” long.   

The pumpkin vine is over 30’ long with two pumpkins.  One is about 18” long and beginning to turn orange, and the other is hanging through the fence at nibbling height for the deer and is about the size of a cantaloupe.  The deer graze the pumpkin foliage down flush with the fence nearly every morning.   

Cedar shaking it

We have been experiencing a six week drought and the irrigation cistern has run dry.  Though we have the well water available, we are definitely rethinking the irrigation strategy to include drip irrigation for the garden.   

The Summer Solstice has come and gone, but we wanted to demonstrate the intent of the shading design in these photos.  We have some small amount of daylight that streams in the northern windows in the early morning in a couple of areas, but is blocked by trees in the late afternoon.  We have two west facing windows that we shade with shutters in the late afternoon as needed much to the dismay of the cat.  As you can see, the eaves block the sunshine right at the window sill at the peak of summer at solar noon on the south side.  Click this link to see the You Tube 3D animation we did in the design phase.

 

We started installing the siding last week which involved adding a layer of 5/8” plywood sheathing over the foam insulation.  I asked JA Schmitt Construction to give me a hand with the gable ends as they are the largest expanses, over 20’ high, and at least a two person job to install the plywood.  We have completed the plywood around most of the home, and have completed the shingles on the west elevation.  The remaining shingles are all straight runs at ground level which I should be able to manage on my own.  




We opted to install the shingles around the corner using a method called the "Boston Weave" rather than install corner posts.  The method is a little more labor intensive, but is more in keeping with the craftsman period.  Rae selected the perfect paint color to tie the roof and shingles together, and Judy has taken the week off to paint the trim.  The colors and materials reside comfortably on the landscape. 



The heat in the upper 90’s has been oppressive, and we have had to knock off early to recover.  We have been able to experiment a bit with the geothermal radiant floor cooling.  The first day we turned it on, we had very high humidity, and we could see the outline of the radiant tubing on the floor from the dew that condensed on the concrete slab.  That was quickly remedied by turning on the dehumidifier, which has been running nearly nonstop for the last week.  We had purchased two dehumidifiers, but one of them is in the repair shop.  We have been struggling to keep the humidity in the low to mid 50% range. 

The Heat Recovery Ventilator (HRV) has been bringing in fresh air, but it has brought in the very humid hot air for exchange with the exhaust air.  The continuous addition of the humid air from outside in addition to any moisture we generate from our activities indoors does affect our comfort level.   

The current energy and water use in the house will not be reflective of typical use.  We knew that we would be doing a protracted period of dehumidification to extract the water content of the concrete and the insulation.  This is a very energy intensive proposition.  Our May and June energy bills averaged about 500 Kwh (about $80).  Our design energy budget was 439 Kwh/month.   Both months should have been below the energy budget particularly as we had unseasonably warm weather this spring.  We would anticipate higher energy use than the budget in the winter months as we heat the place.   

Establishing the lawn has required extensive watering, and we have had no assistance from mother nature.  In May we had not yet seeded and our average daily water use per person was 40 gallons.  In June we applied over 10,000 gallons to the yard to make it viable raising our average daily use per person to 197 gallons.  Fortunately, next year irrigating the lawn will not be necessary.  The only cost to us for this added irrigation is in the electricity to run the pump.  We have not yet decided on a water treatment system, though we know we need to do something soon.   

The garden has grown explosively after only having been planted for three weeks.  The tomato plants are waist high, the corn is knee high, the squash is taking over the garden.  We harvested our first zucchini and baked it into zucchini bread, and we have a lot of tomatoes starting.   

 











 



We have two woodchucks which have been named Sylvia and Jack.  It is apparently common knowledge among our Iowa kinfolk that woodchucks climb trees.  We have seen both Sylvia and Jack in these 20’ tall shrubs happily grazing on the leaves.  This is Jack distinguished by his more scraggly tail.  Of course we are guessing at their gender.  We will be as surprised as you if Jack should have a litter of woodchips one day.

Harvesting rainwater

 

We have the pumping system installed for the irrigation system.  The solar panel is mounted on the roof of the greenhouse.  It charges a 12 volt battery which powers a small 1/12 hp direct current pump.  I have installed a hose bib (technical term for a garden faucet) on the outside of the greenhouse, and a pipe for a future underground supply system. 

 

In my last post, I glibly suggested that we would install broadcast irrigation heads without regard to water conservation measures, but it has not rained for over two weeks.  Even though we have readily available well water, I may rethink that strategy.  It is not an urgent priority, but I hope to have the underground sprinkler system in before the end of the summer.

I ran the pump with the sprinkler on full blast for one hour and the tank went down 6”.  That is enough to provide us with nine hours of irrigation.  It takes 1/2” of rain to fill the tank, which we normally get on a regular basis. 

The hose leading from the tank (suction header) has a stainless steel grille on the end to keep it from reaching the bottom of the tank when the water level is low.  It would also keep out large debris, but the design of the system should not let any large debris into it.  I have attached a milk bottle as a float so that the end of the suction header is submerged just below the surface of the water.  This will provide the cleanest source of water to the system. 

 

 

We installed a fence around the perimeter of the garden, and promptly captured a turtle.  It left turtle-belly tracks all around the inside of the fence before it found its way out under the gate.  Now we need to plug that little gap, and we should be relatively critter proof.  That still leaves it open to the deer and raccoons, but at least we are narrowing down the field. 

Our lawn appears to be the perfect spot for turtles to nest.  We area about 500 yards from the river, and the soil conditions seem to be exactly what any good mama turtle wants to lay her eggs in.  We have observed two Painted turtles deposit their clutch within 40 feet of the house.  A couple of days later we woke to piles of dirt all over the yard as some scavenger tried digging them up.  We only saw a little evidence that they had found any, so there is hope for a crop of turtles yet.  Judy has marked the gestation period on the calendar, and I will reposition the construction camera to become a turtlecam.

 
Next week a couple of carpenters will be helping me get started on the cedar shingle installation.  There won’t be anything posted next week, but should have plenty the following.