My mom has been very active in the green movement for years, and she has changed nearly every aspect of her life to be more environmentally friendly. She stopped using her dishwasher and cleans all her dishes by hand, she line dries many of her clothes, and she started a garden to grown lots of her own organic fruits and vegetables. She even makes her own bread every week! So it’s only natural that she installed solar lights in her backyard.

My mom mounted outdoor solar lights on her deck a few years back, and she loves that they light her deck using only natural energy from the sun. Now she can enjoys time on her deck relaxing, having meals and observing her garden even after the sun sets. The great thing is that they require almost no maintenance, and the installation was simple. She’s currently looking into installing more solar lights in the front of the house to light the driveway for the benefit of visitors.

As technology becomes more sophisticated and the prices of solar components plunge over time, it’s ever easier to set up a solar-powered home. Configuring a home solar system can take considerable time and effort, but the environmental and cost-saving benefits make the process more than worthwhile. You might already be familiar with the concept of solar panels, but they only make up the most visible part of the enterprise.

A solar charge controller is equally essential as it prevents the batteries from taking in too much energy at once. The controller is the first stop for solar energy after it’s been captured with the panels. Controllers keep tabs on the condition of the batteries and whether or not they are receiving a flow of energy. Without the protective barrier created by the charge controller, solar batteries would be overcharged and rendered useless in no time flat.

Roof run-off cisterns are an excellent source of toilet flushing water

Please note that even if you don’t have to obtain a building permit for your greywater system now, it doesn’t mean a future owner won’t be required to.   We highly recommend keeping resale value, cost effectiveness, and future health code enforcement firmly in mind when considering graywater irrigation.   Roof run-off cist erns are an excellent source of toilet flushing water should you wish to conserve, but recycling greywater to flush your toilet is simply not cost-effective and is potentially unhealthy.   It is much easier, less expensive, and worlds safer to directly dispose of greywater in a leaching pit or reuse in an irrigation field (planterbed).  Systems are not sold to reuse greywater for flushing toilets and I do not recommend you even consider this expensive, ‘high-tech’ answer to a much simpler question. From an environmental standpoint, the main reason for greywater reuse is to actually reuse the soaps, skin particles, shampoo, and hair conditioner as plant fertilizer, keeping them out of the waterways.   Phosphate rich soaps and mild cleaning chemicals in your wastewater are considered pollutants because they accelerate algae growth in the waterways, which in turn leads to oxygen depletion for fish and other marine life.   To buy an expensive system, have it installed, dedicate the floor space, and maintain the filters and UV treatment bulbs simply to sterilize greywater and flush your toilet with it is not cost effective nor environmentally conscious.   What little greywater is produced by the average family is better directly reused for plant growth or simply disposed of back into the aquifer.   At the very least, it makes absolutely no sense to flush the phosphate and bacteria killing soap laden filtered greywater down the toilet and into your septic tank where it disrupts digestive function.   The extreme risk of legal liability is always a consideration for the savvy contractor, homeowner, and your local building officials.   What happens when the system fails to sterilize the greywater properly and someone gets sick as a result?   Here in the United States, a toilet full of “sterilized” graywater is a lawsuit just waiting to happen; that’s why toilet water reuse systems have never caught on.   It does not require a vivid imagination to picture a neighbor’s three year old child imitating the family dog and taking a drink out of your toilet, getting infected, and finding you and your contractor in court.   Stick to a simple direct reuse, non-electric, greywater recycling or disposal system … avoid high tech storage and toilet flushing greywater schemes.
Finding ways to improve your homes GREEN   appeal can be challenging financially. I hope to offer tips and ideas along this line to help keep costs down for the do it your self individual home owner. There are lots of ways to improve  your homes efficiency if your prepared  to spend a little elbow grease.  One such idea is building your own home solar system or wind power generator. By doing it your self , not only will you be a great example to your neighbors but also to your kids teaching them as you go about sustainable living and how important it is in today’s environment. You aslo get to save a lot of energy costs and fewer if any utility bills at the end of the month. You can learn to build your own solar panels and install your renewable energy system for your home solar power consumption. It’s easier than you think and a lot of fun.

Gray water disposal systems and recycling for gray water reuse, and also irrigation waste water recycling

In this next series, we’ll discuss ways in which you can dispose of and re use your waste water with just a little investment.

Phosphate rich soaps and mild cleaning chemicals in your waste water (gray water and reuse of washing machine water) are considered pollutants because they accelerate algae growth in the waterways, which in turn leads to oxygen depletion for fish and other marine lifeforms.   The beauty of this “problem” is that these same phosphorous, nitrogen, potassium and protein “pollutants” are excellent sources of nutrition when you reuse gray water for irrigation of fruit trees, landscaping, and gardens (planter beds).

The waste water your home produces is called effluent and consists of gray water (kitchen, shower, sink, reuse of washing machine water and laundry waste) and black water (toilet and garbage disposal waste).   The key to a workable, code-compliant, gray water irrigation system is separate plumbing for your black water (composting toilet, vault, or septic tank system).  Compared to black water, gray water has a very small amount of organic and pathogenic pollutants, so there truly is no need for treatment of gray water in a conventional septic tank. In fact, your septic tank and leach field are being overworked by mixing gray water and black water – the last thing your septic tank needs is bacteria killing soaps and more water from the washing machine. The longer your septic tank (black water) has time to settle, the better.   The less germ killing soaps and detergents in your septic tank, the better.   At the very least, your washing machine should be diverted away from the septic tank. Adding a gray water kit to a new or existing septic system is an excellent way to reduce septic tank pumping frequency. Please read the beginning of our septic chapter for detailed information on how a conventional settling tank and leach field works.   Gray water settling tanks (“filter basins”) work exactly the same as septic tanks – they are just smaller since little or no solids are going into the system.

This will be about a 7 day series, but uyou can find articles like this and a lot more Do It Yourself type ideas such as home solar systems, wind power generators, books on sustainable living, or other renewable energy systems. There are kits you can purchase on line here  that will teach how to build your own solar panels to create and use your own home solar power for your home or office building.  Please review the site.

More on waste water re-use tomorrow.

My husband and I first planned to sell our house back in September 2008, but, as most people are well aware, that’s the very same month when Wall Street imploded and the U.S. economy took a major hit. Since then we’ve recognized that the housing market isn’t what it used to be. With so many sellers competing for the attention of a few potential buyers, any little advantage helps.

We’ve taken the chance to undertake a few small home improvement projects, including a landscaping job that encompassed the rear lawn and garden. Noticing that browsers were stopping by to admire the house from a distance each evening, I put out some solar powered garden lights that would illuminate the space and make the landscaping work look even more attractive. In the last month or so we received a few serious offers, and it’s only a matter of time before we finally sell the place.

Documentation

I have documented the increased performance of the new external Heat Exchanger.

Below are 2 graphs, one from October 25, 2006 right after I had gotten the system dialed in, and the other from September 11, 2008.  The biggest difference is the heat gain as measured at the top of the tank:
2006 went from 82 to 105 = 23F temp rise
2008 went from 68 to 112 = 44F temp rise. A 21F improvement!

The difference is that I have gone from 2sq.ft. of heat exchanger surface area to more than 8 sq.ft.  Clearly this improves heat transfer efficiency

OK, this is my last post on this topic, it was fun to do and more fun to share with ya all.  Remember, this is all fairly easy stuff do do, with the right tools, but even more importantly the right directions and guides. This article helps. There are many other projects one can have fun with that even easier, such as learning to build your own solar panels for your for your own complete renewable energy system that would provide the home solar energy required to displace your Utility company and save on those monthly bills. Learning to have and make a sustainable living lifestyle is not only fun but practical as well. Adding a wind power generator to your house is a choice for those in less sunny climates. Either way you choose to do it, you become that much more independent from the larger companies, and that a good thing.

End of show

Wand now operates from the remaining heat.

My plumbing strategy was to disconnect the tube coming from the collectors as it enters the Wand and move it over to the input of the new heat exchanger.  Then come out of the new unit and back into the Wand.   This makes the flat plate HX the primary unit and the Wand now operates from the remaining heat.

I installed a “T” in the cold water line that feeds down into the bottom of the tank from the outside and put the new (red body) pump there so that it can pull water from the bottom of the tank and pump it through a flexible hose to the heat exchanger.   I used a flex hose because the whole addition is really tight and I wanted the option of flexibility.  I then plumbed the output from the heat exchanger right into the top of the tank.  This particular tank has 2 ports on the sides and 2 on the top.  So I had an unused cold inlet at the top that I could use.  Strangely this port does not have a dip tube inside, which is actually ideal for my retrofit as I want the hot water to remain at the top.

I also added a second solar powered differential temperature controller that reads the temperature of the tube just before it enters the new heat exchanger and compares that to a sensor about 14″ from the top of the tank.

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I am very pleased with the performance of this upgrade.  Now I am seeing temperatures over 110F at the end of a good sunny day, often over 116F.  This is an average of 20 more degrees.  Since our well water is about 65F at this time of year that is a 45-50F improvement for the water entering our propane water heater which is set at 115F.  It is running much less often now for sure.

I have one more piece to add to this tomorrow, then it’s finished, the longest series yet, so thanks for your patience. If yupu havn’t already, please check out my web site at SHIFTING SOLUTIONS LLC to view this entire article as well as other projects I have post there. Once can easily create a life of sustainable living by implementing just a few of the suggestions listed here. From Home solar systems and other renewable energy systems such as building your own wind power generator, teaching your self how to build your own solar panels for home solar power or just reading  books from the How tos to general information on green construction, much of it is there for you to browse.

System upgrade: adding a heat exchanger and pump

August 21, 2008.  Time Invested today: 1:45 Add an external heat exchanger and pump

After 2 years of watching my dashboard display in the kitchen I have decided that the system could be improved.  The maximum temperatures I would see at the top of the storage tank on a clear sunny day would be 90F and often in the low 80’s.  I decided that the weakest link in the system is the Solar Wand itself since it only has about 2 sq. ft. of surface area to transfer heat.

I decided to add an external heat exchanger with nearly 3 times the surface area.  I researched heat exchangers and found a really good deal on eBay ($89.00) for a 20 plate, flat plate heat exchanger.

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This unit has stacked plates that allow the 2 fluids to interleave within.  I built an insulating box for it out of 2 inch blue foam board wrapped in aluminum tape.  I figured the foam might melt if it got too hot, so the tape should reflect the heat back.  Also it just looks kinda NASA tech cool!

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I also found a good price on a 3 Watt El-Sid pump.  This low wattage pump would not require that I add another solar panel to power it as I already have a 20 Watt panel running the original 10 Watt pump. The extra 10 Watts in the original design accounts for my northern latitude and gives a bit of headroom.  Theoretically I should add another 5 Watt panel, but adding a mere 3 Watt load to the 20 Watt panel has not compromised performance as far as I can tell.  In fact performance of the system is way up!

Isn’t this fun! Learning the skills necessary  to build , install and maintain a home solar water heater can be fun to do and yet very economical.  Taking it a step further, learning to build your own solar panels helps in creating independence  for your self as well as saving the money on retail purchases. Doing the work yourself, saves on labor cost and increases your skills to maintain the functionality of your renewable energy system, rather than having to depend on outside sources for those things, further saving you money. Creating your own home solar system and doing the work necessary to make a sustainable living opens up many possibilities  for finding work , if that a need,or just satisfying your own sense of purpose.  Having your own home solar power or wind power generator creates freedom from every increasing utility bills, leaving that much more financial resources for the next fishing trip or vacation.  Look into all the possibilities at the Shifting Solutions web site.

tomorrow we continue – 3 days left

It is common in most solar heating applications to use a check valve

While it is common in most solar heating applications to use a check valve to prevent this, there is no standard part made for 3/8″ copper pipe.  So Barry, being the brilliant inventor that he is, designed his own low flow check valve.  He sent me one to beta test and I installed it — see below.

I drained the collector fluid into a bucket at around 8:00pm and cut the tube that exits the Solar Wand and inserted the new check valve.   Using a pump, I then re-filled the system, and as you can see in the plot above, once the temperatures equalized the reverse flow was blocked.  I am sure that this will prevent significant heat loss in the very cold months to come here in Maine.

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An interesting footnote.  The next morning I saw that the red light was showing on my control panel (and on my custom dashboard in the kitchen) that indicates that the fluid in the reservoir above the collectors was low.  I am able to access this from the bedroom window and verified it was dry — and it was 3/4 full the night before. On thinking about this I realized that I had filled the collectors with 68F fluid and over night it had cooled to 30F causing the system to draw fluid from the tank as it reduced in volume.  So I topped up the reservoir with more 50% glycol mixture and the level remained normal afterwards.

With what is going on in todays economy many have little to  no discretionary  funds to speak of, at best perhaps some unused credit available  on the credit cards. We are all watching our spending for sure. However, now is also the time when things can be purchased rather cheaply compared to when there is a stronger consume5r demand in a year or two. spending some of your hard earned and saved finances now might just well pay off in the longer run, when you consider that monthly power bills  continue to increase.

One of those investments that you might consider at this time, would be a do-it-yourself home energy kit that shows you how to build your own solar panels and /or wind power generator for a personal renewable energy system in your home. Sustainable living is just becoming popular and setting up your own home solar systems to create your own home solar power is just the thing  to turn an investment today into security for tomorrow.

Tomorrow part 27 of 29

Installing a check valve

October 21, 2006.  Time Invested today:
0:45 Drain system, install valve, re-fill system.

I noticed that as the weather started to drop down around freezing at night that the reverse thermosiphon issue became more of a problem.  The fluid in the collectors cools so much that it causes a reverse flow that removes heat from the tank.  See the plot below for an example where the night low was 30F.  By 8:00pm there is over 8 degrees difference between the 2 pipes above the solar wand.  The temperature loss is most visible in the lower part of the tank (red line).

Finding the right solutions to your power needs can be intimidating when you brows through the many articles availalble now on the web sites, the articles above is just one example. Certainly there are many good ones out there. One that I like very much is the #1 Green Living Kit with 12 DIY Guides on various home energy projects. Home solar power projects or wind power generator ideas are all included along with solar water heating and many more to make your home an example of sustainable living. Leaning to build your own solar panels to install  for your own home solar systems is a fun and easy way to convert your home to renewable energy systems and start saving the money flow out each month on every increasing home energy  bills.

Article continues tomorrow.