Sometimes it takes more prep work in order to get anything done. Even though we keep telling ourselves each thing we do gets us closer to getting something finished. We poured 6 foot tall footing pads to place the solar hot water heater on. With about 4 feet buried in the ground. Instead of buying expensive forms Allen made his own using scrape lumber that we had laying around. We used exterior paint with borox mixed in to help with moisture and bugs from eating the wood. Mary will be papercreteing the exterior to help protect the exterior from the elements. Allen has the cold water copper pipe going to the solar heater and the pipe for the hot water to come out. We will be covering the copper pipe with pipe insulation and then sealing it with papercrete all so. This will keep the water from freezing so it can be used year round. Since this is not hooked up to water yet we will not be installing the glass vacuum tubes until it is. The tubes collect the heat from the sun and travels up the tube into the 40 gallon, insulated, stainless steel storage tank above. We will have an on demand hot water heater that will run on propane inside the house as well. This is mainly for those cloudy winter days when we have no sun and for when we want to take a late night shower. Since the storage tank is insulated it would take several hours for it to cool down. The on demand heater will read the temperature of the water coming into it and adjust how long it would need to run for based on those temperatures. The cups on the bottom will hold the vacuum tubes in place. We have the port for the tubes to fasten in to in the tank sealed with cork screws. So bugs like mud wasps don't build homes in it. The copper pipe the comes from the top of the tank to the back is for the pressure release valve. Since this solar hot water heater is a pressurized system in the event there is too much pressure there is a way to release it.
We would like to thank our many followers that we have for your interest in our project. This blog was orginally set up so our friends and family from Wisconsin could follow our adventure. We did not realize how many people we don't know would be following our progress as well. Through our journey we have made many new friends in this new land that we are now in. You all have made us feel very welcomed here. And the support from those out of our area has been great. Not everyone understands why we are doing what we are doing. The support helps us in moving forward no matter how long it is taking to complete. Thank You. We are now sending out emails to let our faithful followers know when a new update is posted to the websight. If you have not done so you can click on the link on the top of our page that says to be notified of updates and we will add you to our email list. Down the road when you don't want us sending you emails any longer just let us know by email and we will take your name off of our list. |
AuthorMary Severin writes about her families embarkment on a learning adventure to build an Upcycled Home using Earthship Principals. To find out what these Principals are click on the Earthship Principals link above. CategoriesArchives
March 2018
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