Boy am I stupid sometimes...

[Captmikestarrett]

This Sunday I had my plumber show up for a final setup of my hot water solar loop. In order to get to the tanks and pump you need to remove the dryer from atop of the washer. No easy task for a well rounded person like me. But my plumber buddy is about half my size and makes quick work of it.
The plan was to charge the loop with anti-freeze and check for leaks. Hook up the pump relay and last sensor for the roof top panel. All was going well and the loop charged up and we fixed the leaks. The air bled out of the loop and we had pressure in the system.
Prior to this final setup I purchased a 110 relay for use with the loop pump. I searched and searched for the pin out schema online but could not find it. I was this close to a working solar loop. Today I was going to call Granger for the pin out and saw a wee bit of writing on the side of the relay. I removed the mount cover and there in the smallest of writting was the pin out schema.. About the size 1/4 inch by 1/4 inch..
Dang..
Capt Mike

[3dkicker]

yeah that happens to me all the time.........

[bamabassman]

i am jsut astounded that the capt can read, BWAHAAHAHAHHAHAA!!!! kidding capt. don't make me walk the plank ok? i never would have seen it. gotten to where i can't see even WITH my glasses on. need some thicker glasses i think. lol.

[MallenManson]

Bama's pullin out some real zingers today ain't he?

[XIntel007]

I am guessing you are going to heat the house with this??? I had not heard of that kind of a solar system. All the ones we ever installed were for hot water to your shower.

[bamabassman]

if it didn't cost so much, i would have had solar installed in my new house. but it is still not cost effective as of right now. might do it a little at a time over the next few years.

[Captmikestarrett]

PROJECT UPDATE:

Last night I installed the relay and the sucker worked. Yea.. but the pump assembly has a very slow leak now. Upon inspection it is a connection in the pump assembly. Can not tighten it up. Will need to drain the loop and remove / disasemble and seal the pump assembly.. then recharge the loop.

Never trust the factory to put it together right. IN FRIGGIN CHINA..

Should take two more hours and then I am done for 5 years.

So frigin close..

Capt Mike

[Captmikestarrett]

Originally Posted by XIntel007

I am guessing you are going to heat the house with this??? I had not heard of that kind of a solar system. All the ones we ever installed were for hot water to your shower.

No just hot water. The solar preheats the 40 gallon storage tank before it gets to the propane tankless heater. The tankless has a temp valve on the incoming water side that adjusts the flame to heat the water. If it comes in at 80 degrees it wil barely use any propane.

I already have a 2.8kv PV system as well. My yearly electric bill is around 135.00 or less.

My goal is to reduce my propane bill by 2/3 a year. Already reduced by 1/3 with the tankless.

In the end I hope to spend about 1100 total for electric/ propane /oil per year..

Capt Mike

[Bubba_Bruiser]

I will bite, you lost me at hot water solar loop hahahahaha. But then again, I am in the oil and gas industry, you can't drill for sunlight and make much doing it.

[Captmikestarrett]

This is what it does..

Capt Mike

[bamabassman]

I LIKE THAT CAPT!!!! how much for the unit? sorry, lazy and all that ya know. and how quickly does it heat up water?

[Captmikestarrett]

Heats the entire tank in about 30 minutes of good sun.

Cost can be as low as 1900.00 to 6000.00 depending on needs.

Capt Mike

[bamabassman]

ok, thank you capt. i showed this to lisa. and she is interested in it as well. we may faze into soler over time. this is a good start.

[Captmikestarrett]

It seems I AM NOT STUPID AFTER ALL. or maybe I am. The pump would not kick in from the relay controller. This confounded me and vexed me to no end. So two weeks after thinking I was done I was not.. No pump is bad.

So I got stupid and checked my wiring by flexing the relay connection and bang the controller blows up. Certain words where used and I hung my head low. So I ordered up a new controller with a few more features but made by the same china company. This one had some better directions but still the relay did not kick in. So I emailed Hung-Sao as to why I was not getting the 5 volts DC to trip the relay.. After six emails back and forth from China rep for the company it was clear the instructions where not correct. The old chineese to engwish had failed.

It read "not to exceed 5 DC on P1 pump connection"
It meant "not to exceed 5 AMPS on P1 pump connection"

So I just connected the pump right to the controller and it worked.

DANG...

Bleed some air out of the system loop and I am set.

Darn engwish...

Capt Mike

[MississippiBoy]

Engrish...

[nofearengineer]

Originally Posted by Captmikestarrett

Heats the entire tank in about 30 minutes of good sun.

Cost can be as low as 1900.00 to 6000.00 depending on needs.

Capt Mike

Uhhhhhh....and you went PV why?

I'm guessing this is where you tell us you got a nice govt. tax rebate.

[Captmikestarrett]

No fear I went PV about 5 years ago when MD was writing big checks for home solar sytems. I recoup my 18k investment this year 8 years ahead of schedule.

How ever the hot water solar is a different ROI.. maybe 7 years total..

Resale of the house is an important factor as well.

Capt Mike

[nofearengineer]

I figured as much.

No offense, I don't blame you for taking advantage of the rebate. I guess I would have too.

But I do so laugh when I hear that these things are cost effective. If you hadn't gotten the rebate, I doubt it would have ever paid for itself, when the cost of money is factored in.

Hopefully, in 10-20 years, PV technology will have advanced past the break-even point. then I will wholeheartedly embrace it. Frankly, the more electrical our society becomes, the better off my job security will be.

[M_A_C_K]

actually if you want to go solar for your home you can buy the solar plates for 1.25 each you just have to solder them together into panels which is really cheap actually... cover your roof with a few thousands dollars and you can have more than enough energy which intern you can sell back to the powerplant for what you dont use... we already have good solar energy its just not that demanded yet. I think its the only future we have to saving the planet. besides the point lol