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SOLAR HEATING SYSTEM CONSTRUCTION LOG
PROGRESS
REPORT:
November
21: system tweaks
Well, I've learned
a lot by watching my solar system gauges and pumps.
It turns out
that my solar collectors will need to be replaced due to
a manufacturing
defect. These units are
Empire
series made by SunEarth
in California.
Once they realized that I and some other users weren't
getting the temperatures
they were supposed to, they immediately
began working
on a solution. The highest temperature I got so far
from the collectors
was 155F, I should be seeing closer to 190F.
In the colder
weather I am now getting 145-150F. So sometime
in the near future
I'll get new collectors. In the mean time I am heating
largely with
propane.
I have also added
another
Solarex
20
Watt Photovoltaic panel.
I learned
from Dan Feldman of Ivan Labs, maker of the
El-Sid
DC
circulation
pumps that I needed 20 Watts per pump when operating
north of Jacksonville
Florida! I'm definitely north of Florida here!
The new solar
panel is right below my satellite modem dish:
I added the panel
yesterday and the pumps are running earlier in
the day and later
into the afternoon, and more vigorously in full sun!
My system heated
the water in my 80 gallon tank to 118F today.
Ideally I should
be seeing at least 140F to eliminate the propane
heater.
|
June 2005 |
I have also added
a few gauges and valves in order to make
maintenance easier.
And I replaced the floor circulation
pumps with model
006 units provided by Taco . These ones are
best suited to
my application according to Taco engineers.
Furthermore they
have 3/4" fittings -- the previous 003 series
pumps that I
had used 1/2" fittings so I had to reduce down
to the pumps
causing unnecessary flow restriction. The
new (brown) pumps
are visible to the lower left below:
