How It Works: Solar Hot Water

System Purpose.  Maximize sun as heat source for hot water.

How It Works Summary.  Like a fancy solar camp shower, solar hot water panels convert sunlight into heat which is stored in hot water tank until used.  Gas-powered tankless backup.

System Cost.  $9,000 including installation.  Also received large tax credit.    Long system life reduces major future replacement cost.    LP gas for backup estimated at $20 annually. 

System Components

Pump circulates a few liters of glycol through solar hot water panels and---when the glycol is warm enough---through a heat exchange coil in the hot water tank, thereby heating the tank’s water without contaminating it with glycol.  Glycol prevents freeze-up during our long winter.    An in-line expansion tank prevents explosion from boiling glycol, a frequent occurrence on sunny, hot days.  

3 Solar Hot Water  Panels, interconnected by tubes filled with circulating glycol, warm the glycol with sunlight, much like a sun-penetrated windshield warms the inside of a vehicle.   Amount of heat generated depends upon amount of sunlight which is a function of solar veiling (trees, structures, clouds, fog, snow, rain, ice..) and solar angle.  No trees and structures veil our panels.  Angle impact changes throughout the day, peaking at noon and falling to zero  between sunrise and sunset.   Angle impact changes throughout the year,  maximized on summer solstice and minimized on winter solstice.   Unlike solar electric, the actual heat delivered to the hot water tank is significantly less than the amount generated due to thermal losses (conduction, convection, radiation).  Though the circulating pipes are well-insulated, the heat loss is substantial on cold days and (sadly) becomes larger as the panels produce more heat.   Unlike the “instant-on” of solar electric, the pump will not turn on---and thereby heat the tank--- until the glycol in the solar hot water panels is significantly warmer than the water in the tank.    

Hot Water Tank capable of storing 80 gallons of water.  The well-insulated tank is fed by cold water (from our rainwater harvest cistern).  This cold water is then heated, via a heat exchange coil, by the circulating hot glycol.  Sunny days heat the tank well over 130F, as high as 160F or more.  The programmable maximum temperature is kept at 170F in winter and 130F in summer.    The lower summer temperature prevents the tank from heating the basement via thermal loss.  Tank temperature drops after each usage (shower, dish-washing…), since incoming water is cold.

Backup gas water heater provides a boost  if the water temperature in tank drops below 100F, else the backup remains off, allowing a “solar-only” hot water experience.   Our backup, the in-famous Bosch LP tankless, is one the few on the market which accept pre-heated water, essential for our solar hot water application.  In reality, all hot water passes through the backup.  What varies is whether the backup heats the water and by how much.  The lower the incoming water temperature the greater the boost required.  

System Maintenance.  Change maximum hot water tank temperature (when both summer and winter begin).    Replace glycol in loop (every 5 years).  Scrape snow off solar panels (as needed). 

Report Card.   Warm Season = A.   Cold Season =  B-.    (See blog post for details).

 Biggest Challenge.  The inability of the Bosch tankless heater to preheat water above 100F causes cold-shower when tank temperature is between 100F and 105F.  (See blog post for details).

Biggest success factor.  Right-sizing of hot water tank versus number of solar panels.  Tank too big will not achieve desired heat.  Tank too small will achieve maximum temperature too quickly.   Either way, backup is used too much.  For 3 solar panels, our 80 gallon tank seems just right.  A bigger system requires both a bigger tank and more solar panels.

The Connection.    Behaving like our ponds, solar panels make transparent the amazing power of the sun.  Like the Land, off-grid  solar hot water follows the seasonal cycle of scarcity and abundance, requiring extra sources of heat in winter and avoiding the excess heat in summer. 

The Garden of Eden AND Eating

“Are you going to plant a garden?” Toni asked.

“In 2004, the very year we acquired the Land, we seeded our ½ acre test-plot prairie,” I replied.  “Then in 2007 we seeded our 40 acre high-diversity prairie, which is now coming into its own.  You should have seen it burn this year.”

 

Toni looked at me dumbfounded.  Yet I played on, refusing to submit to the intent of his question.  “Last week we planted 39 native trees and shrubs in a permaculture-inspired terrace I grubbed out of an eroded hillside.   Such a miracle that Linda’s new bionic hips could endure that grueling day on hands and knees.”  

 

I knew I wasn’t answering the question, but I couldn’t help myself.  “And today I dug in a sand-bed to plant a dry prairie garden.” 

 

At wits end now, Toni blurts out, “Aren’t you planting tomatoes or anything?”  Of course, I knew all along what Toni wanted to know:  Will we grow our own food?  Understandably, it's the official question you ask someone who moves to the country.   I must confess there is no Toni.  Or better put, I’ve met dozens of Toni’s who want to know if we’re planting a garden.   The answer I finally give goes something like this.

We might plant some tomatoes.  But our neighbors, Lonny and Sandy Dietz, operate an organic vegetable farm.  We get almost everything we need from them.   They grow better veggies, and far more varieties, than we could ever dream of growing.  AND we believe more in community-reliance than self-reliance.  It’s fun and engaging to go over to Lonny and Sandy’s.    And why not support my neighbor?  We look forward to planting apples, cherries, plums, hazelnuts and a number of edibles they don’t sell.  

So that’s the answer Toni finally gets out of me.  But, I’m embarrassed to admit, it’s not the “real” answer.  And today I want to apologize for holding out on you, for not confessing the deeper reason I’m not focusing on growing food.  And I need to say “I” here and not “we”.  While Linda may agree with me, she probably wouldn’t explain things as I do.    It was so challenging---and compelling---for me to understand, that I devoted 9 years of novel-writing discovery .    So rather than explain it, I offer this set of highly connected thoughts. I use “we” if I’m pretty sure Linda would say it this way.

We heal ourselves by healing the Land

I believe that the 10,000 year effort to feed humanity destroys humanity by destroying the earth we need.

I believe that as humanity moves from “humanity-focused” to “humanity AND earth-focused” it will feel like moving from adolescence to adulthood.

We plant our “garden” not just for us, but for us AND the Land.

If we feed us AND the Land, the Land will feed itself AND us.

I believe a MUCH better world is coming SOON.

The better world will be a revolution in Community-reliance, relying---for the first time in history---on both human communities AND earth communities.

Humanity can never return to its childhood, to the Garden of Eden.  I believe it is time to leave our adolescence, the Garden of Eating, and move into our adulthood, the Garden of Eden AND Eating.

By now, both you and Toni are probably wishing I’d stayed with the half-truth.  Can’t blame you.  This may be my craziest blog yet.  Or at least the blog where I shout out my craziness.  But I figured I better start coming out of the closet.  After all my novel, The Corridor, releases in 3 weeks on Amazon.  

Then you’ll discover how truly crazy Mike is!  Can I blame it on that stinging nettles frittata?

 

How It Works: Rainwater Harvest

How it Works:  Rainwater Harvest

System Purpose.  Provide all water with no well or tie to water grid.

How It Works Summary.  Roof and gutter collects and directs rainwater to cistern where water is available on demand via a pump.  Several filters assure safety.   1” of rain = 1000 gallons for us.

System Cost.  $10,000 including installation.  Compare to $30,000 for well system.   Does not include cost of roof.   No water bill.  Minimal replacement costs (pump / filters).

 

System Components

Steel Roof collects up to 1000 gallons per inch of rain.  Steel roof minimizes particulate / organic build up and washes clean. 

Gutter and downspout directs water to first flush diverters.  Any standard gutter will suffice. 

First flush diverter “washes roof” by directing first 50 gallons into yard, then allows rainwater to pass on into cistern via buried PVC pipe.   This is the most important filter since the roof and gutter are always “dirty” (smoke, pigeon pooh, dust, leaves…).      Not effective on snowmelt, so we do not harvest during the long Minnesota winter. 

Cistern.   Stores and protects water.   Our 5400 gallon buried concrete cistern contains two manholes for maintenance and for adding emergency water.   Overflow pipe directs water downhill when cistern fills. Spring through fall, overflow is the “normal” state. 

Pump.  Provides high pressure water to house (faucets, shower) on demand.   

Filters.  All water is filtered 3 times.  A screen on the first flush diverter filters very large objects (leaves, bugs, seeds…).   First flush diverter “washes away” worst of “dirt”.  Cistern pump draws water through a floating 5 micron filter.  By floating 1 foot below surface, we get the cleanest water (sludge sinks, pollen floats).   Water for drinking is poured into Big Berkeyfilter and stored in Red Wing crock.   Big Berkey removes 100% of “bugs” and many others impurities, including Atrazine. 

 

System Maintenance.  Supply Red Wing crock drinking water with filtered water from Big Berkey.  Turn on / off first flush diverter (as needed).   Clean gutters and diverter screens.   Clean cistern every few years.  Fill cistern with water from milk truck in emergency.  Note:  it would be cheaper to get all our water from the milk truck than to drill a well.  Crazy huh???

Report Card.   Warm Season = A-.  Cold Season =  B+   (See blog post for details).

Biggest Challenge.  Not knowing how much water remains in cistern.  (See blog post for details).

Biggest success factor.  Composting toilet minimizes water usage.  Even low flow toilets leak.  (See blog post for details).    Irrigation water harvested off shed roof and stored in above ground tank.

The Connection.    Rain is a delight, especially the first rains after the long drought of winter, or any drought for that matter.    Like the plants on The Land, we thrive in the abundance of water, yet harvest no more water than is available by rain. 

 

To Touch A Dream

How many times had I seen that movie scene?  Letter arrives.  Guy afraid to open it.  And I’m like “C’mon, suck it up buddy!” 

Until yesterday when it was my turn.  

I’m standing in the driveway, fixing the hand-drawn cart, when over the hill comes the big, brown UPS truck.  “Not the bare root trees,” I think out loud.  “We’re not ready.”  But beneath that uttered fear was a silent one far greater, a fear I really didn’t even allow myself to fully indulge, so fierce was my denial.

But then the driver handed me the small package.  I read the ‘from’ label.  CreateSpace.

Denial evaporated.   My novel, The Corridor---the adventures of a totally off-grid, razor-wire fenced world within our world---had arrived.

Though it was not the actual novel, but the five proof copies I’d ordered didn’t matter.  After nine years, I was about to actually see , hold, and even smell the results of my seemingly endless mornings of writing.    Not quite yet.  After all, Linda was off at the dentist.  I couldn’t open it without she who’d supported me, endured me,  all these years.  At least that was my excuse for behaving like ‘afraid-to-open-letter-man’.

As I nervously settled the unopened box onto the front porch table,  I thought about how The Corridor and The Land are practically twins.  We purchased The Land in April 2004 and I began The Corridor in June 2004.  Perhaps it’s what happens to twins: The Land informed The Corridor and The Corridor informed The Land, so much so that sometimes they are indeed hard to tell apart.  Though my bones felt  the truth of this, I’d still never actually touched The Corridor.  I’d never actually touched my nine year long dream.

To put that in perspective, Home the Land Built, so long in the making, arrived a year ago.   The Corridor outlasted it.  All I’d seen of The Corridor was digital representations.  Glowing rectangles.   DOCs.  PSDs.  PDFs.  For nine years I’d violated my own Right to Look principle.  And now that I finally could, what if…what if…what if…???

What exactly was I afraid of?  That I wouldn’t like it?  That CreateSpace, the self-publishing publisher, bungled the printing?  That might have been what I was telling myself, but that wasn’t really the tugging core of my fear.   My fear, perhaps like ‘afraid-to-open-letter-man’, was more fundamental. 

Fear of finality.  No more imagining.  No more changes, except typos.   This was it.  I was about to awaken.  The longest dream of my life was about to end.    Right-to-Look man is humbled.

 

And so it goes with fear.  Linda arrived.  She lunched.  We opened the box.  We shouted for joy.   I wept.   We clinked glasses of bubbly pear juice.    To feel---to touch my dream---was beautiful, more beautiful “in person” than I’d ever imagined. 

 

And yet, after all that, am I fully awake?  Is the dream over?  Not nearly.  Though I’ve already read the first 110 pages, it still doesn’t seem real.  Long held dreams, it seems, can feel as solid as the cream pages of a novel.  I wonder when it ends?  Perhaps in June when The Corridor appears for sale on Amazon.

Perhaps.

Feelin' Rich 2

“Come quick!” I hollered to Linda from the front entry.  “And bring your umbrella.”  I was so excited I thought I’d wet myself.  Not that I’d notice.  I was already soggy from standing in the rain, the just barely warmer than snow rain.

Out the door, we stepped over the gravel driveway rivulets to the shed lean-to.  Now that I had led Linda here I felt like delaying the surprise, savoring the moment.  As we listened to the overhead tapping of water on steel, we watched junco peck at the feeder hanging in the hedgerow, just beyond the Humanure Hacienda.   Behind us, the driveway rivulets converged to form a large puddle.  Its outflow, the driveway stream, coursed down the hillside, flooding the mowed path.    I couldn’t stand it anymore.  The time had come.

 

Down the hillside, we sloshed across the flooded path.  I pointed.  And there, parallel to the driveway stream, flowed yet another stream.   Much to our wondrous eyes, this stream gushed right out of the hillside like a newly emerged spring.    Yet its sound---like the echo of a subterranean waterfall---was like no earthly spring.   It could only be, it had to be, the cistern overflow pipe.  And that could only mean one thing:  the 5400 gallon cistern was full of harvested rainwater!  We’re rich!!!  Just like our solar electric, we’re rich again!!!

And yet, as the rain continued to fall, we both stood there in denial.  How could it be full already?  We’d just endured the spring-less April.    Snow, sleet, ice and yes rain, occasionally it fell as cold, cold rain.   And each time, I’d dash out with my raincoat and throw the switch, directing the downspout water through the first flush diverter and into the cistern.    When the rain stopped, or began turning the downspout into a giant snow-cone maker, I’d turn the switch off, directing the water back out into the yard.   

 

But since we lack transparency---no good system for seeing how much water is in our cistern---we never knew how much water we’d collected.  Until now!  Now, like our off-grid solar electric, we’re in the season of abundance.   Spring!  Is that why we call it that?  Because water gushes forth with bounty? 

“Waste away!” I tell Linda.  “Let it gush out the faucet, just for the joy of it, if you like.”   Why not?  That’s the way the world works.  Isn’t it?  Not only our cistern, but both our ponds overfloweth.  No creature of the Land is wanting for water now.  Why should we?   The season of scarcity, the winter-long drought of rainwater harvest, is over.   No more thought to water conservation.  No more short showers.   No more worrying about a wasted drop.  It’s time to wash ourselves in the abundance.

My old grid-tied life---measured and metered---deprived me of this wild ride.  I’d even begun to believe that the world provided constant availability.  Of water.  Of energy.  Of food.  But now, thankfully now---  as the cistern overflow pipe gushes---I’m living like the world really works:  the ever-cycling seasons of scarcity and abundance.   And ALL my real joys (and hence sorrows) live in that cycle:  the feeding flocks of juncos, my precious friendships,  my darling Linda.  The grid, in its well-intentioned drive to subdue the sorrow of scarcity, stripped me of the joy of abundance.  No more!   

I’m a lucky man. 
Rah-dur!

How It Works: Off-Grid Solar Electric

 

Purpose.  Provide all electrical power with no tie to grid.

How It Works Summary.  Photovoltaic panels convert sunlight to DC electricity which is stored in battery bank and converted to 110V AC for usage.  Gas-powered generator backup.

Cost.  $30,000 including installation.  Also received large tax credit.    Battery replacement in 7 to 10 years biggest anticipated future cost.    We have no electric bill and never will.

 

System Components

12 Photovoltaic (PV)  Solar Panels each capable of producing 250 watts DC max for a total of 3000 watts DC max.  Actual wattage depends upon amount of sunlight which is a function of solar veiling (trees, structures, clouds, fog, snow, rain, ice..) and solar angle.  No trees and structures veil our panels.  Angle impact changes throughout the day, peaking at noon and falling to zero  between sunrise and sunset.   Angle impact changes throughout the year,  maximized on summer solstice and minimized on winter solstice. 

16 Deep Cycle Batteries each capable of storing 2500 watt hours for a total of 40,000 watt hours.   Batteries must be kept above 50% capacity (20,000 watt hours).    Battery depletion rate is roughly proportional to amount of electricity used.  Since our home typically draws only 100 watts at given time of day, the batteries store 4 days of electricity.  Upon hitting the end of useful life, our lead-acid batteries will be 90% recycled.

Tractor-powered PTO Generator capable of producing 6000 AC watts to recharge batteries before they fall below 50% capacity.   With generator plugged into 60amp AC service outlet and attached to PTO, diesel-fueled tractor is manually started and run 4 hours to recharge depleted battery bank. 

110V AC Electric Panel.   Like any home is USA, provides 110V AC power to outlets and fixtures. 

Multi-function Invertor.  Outback FlexpowerOne intelligently charges batteries from either the DC solar panels or the AC generator.  Draws DC power from batteries, converts to AC and routes through electric panel to provide home power.    Monitors and displays amount of solar-generated power, battery capacity and amount of power house is drawing. 

 

Maintenance.  Monitor battery capacity and recharge with generator (when approaching 50%).  Replenish water in battery cells (every 3 months).    Start battery equalization program (every 3 months).  Scrape snow off solar panels (as needed). 

Report Card.   Warm Season = A.   Cold Season =  A-.    (See blog post for details).

Biggest Challenge.  Can we get away from the house for a week?  Yes from February through October.  November through January remains uncertain.  (See blog post fordetails).

Biggest Success Factor.  Low power house (100 watts typical).  No AC, dishwasher, clothes dryer, or microwave.  100% LED lighting.  Ultra-efficient fridge and freezer.   Water pump is shallow not deep-well.    No toilet flushing power.   LP gas stove. 

Enabling The Connection.    Behaving like any plant, solar panels make transparent the amazing power of the sun.  Like the Land, off-grid  solar electric follows the seasonal cycle of scarcity and abundance, conserving energy in winter and joyfully “wasting” power in the summer. 

Insanity's Teacher

 

“Why would you ever want to ____?”

I get this question all the time, so feel free.   Fill in the blank.  How about “..drink water spilt off your roof?”  Or “…run low on electricity?”  Or the hands-down favorite, “….empty sloshing buckets of pooh?”

Some, including myself at times, probably wonder if I’m insane.  Maybe so.  But this wintry spring, I’m learning one thing.  I’m not nearly as insane as I’m going to be.  Or could be, if I learned from my teacher:  Home the Land Built.

I mean, here it comes, yet another mega-snowstorm in the coldest, cruelest “spring” I can recall---and that’s saying a lot for a lifelong Minnesotan---and what’s going on about Home the Land Built:  a celebration of life and light.   Never mind the frozen pond, I see ducks splashing in the frigid inrushing melt-waters.  Never mind the ice-crusted prairie, I see little kestrel hawk flap, flap, flapping his wing as he hovers in search of what? 

 

And then, yesterday, while a stiff northerly slapped our cheeks, flock upon migrating flock of juncos--but a thumb with wings---flushed out of the prairie and across the driveway for ten solid minutes.  I couldn’t help but imagine the warmer, sunnier climbs they’d vacated to arrive here, now, in this endless April Fool of a spring.  And junco isn’t stopping here.  He’s going all the way to the arctic.  

Then there’s robin.  Dozens of them bob, bob, bobbing along in the punky yard, pecking morosely, for what?  What are they finding to eat?  Worms don’t wiggle well in ice.  But it’s not just the birds.

Even Home the Land Built itself is going insane.  Since the cold snap began in February, I haven’t started the backup generator once.  Not even close to needing it.  We’re toasty inside.  A sunny day, no matter how cold, warms us to a shirt-sleeve 75F.  And most of that extra heat is coming not from the passive solar windows---the 2.5 foot overhang already blocks most of the high-angled sun---but from excess solar hot water pumped through the concrete floor.   

And today’s storm, raw as it was, managed to squeeze out rain rather snow, rain which we joyously harvested.  Hurrah!  The long, rain-harvest drought of winter is ended.  And yes, when I emptied the toilet buckets into the Humanure Hacienda, the hay-covered compost actually raked away.  Thawed, if you believe it.   No Celtic priestess ever danced so at the arrival of light!  This, all of this, as an April mega-snowstorm bears down.

If insanity means “Follow the light to whatever end”, then I couldn’t have found a more insane teacher than Home the Land Built.  So, just to honor my teacher, I donned a heavy jacket, strode out into the raw, spring-lit elements and flung handfuls of prairie seed onto mucky, ice-crusted gopher mounds.  Why?    Because it felt great!  It felt great to join the splashing ducks, the hovering kestrel, and the arctic-bound juncos.  It felt great to join the energized solar panels, the guzzling cistern, even the sighing compost heap.  The celebration of the insane.  In spite of all evidence to the contrary, we say ”spring is here!”

On May 4, 2011, as I puzzled over my first Rah-dur blog entry, I realized I wanted a purpose-driven subtitle.  “Leave old job.  Leave old home.  Enter new home.  Engage new life.  Maintain what matters.”  Looking back, I had no idea what “engage new life” might come to mean.  I’m beginning to feel like the crew, or perhaps Starship Enterprise herself, when Captain Picard points his challenging finger toward the stars and utters, “Engage!”  Or maybe I’m like Captain Picard himself when confronted by the omnipotent being Que.  “It’s not about charting nebula,” Que shrugs.   “It’s about exploring the unfathomable reaches of existence.”  Hail to Que and Home the Land Built: Insanity’s Teachers.

Rah-dur!