Welcome to the Maine Solar House
Waking up! PDF Print E-mail
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Written by Administrator   
Friday, 08 March 2024 11:12

And now it's March of 2024 and this site will soon be replaced with a properly funcioning template. Lots of events have occured at the Maine Solar House in the intervening years. They are:

  • The solar thermal panels sprung a leak and had to be turned off. They were replaced by a heat pump circulating freon in the floors.
  • My original archect convinced me it was time to go all solar, in part because by monthly electric bill was hovering around $400/month. That included the recharging of my Tesla 3 Long Range!
  • As a result, a new south-facing roof had to be modified and the full roof was reshingled.
  • Then the 13.5 kW array was installed.
  • It was brought on line in two stages - half producing power through my 1995 agreement with the power company as they awaited the arrival of a higher capacity transformer that could handle my total output. Once the old pole transformer was replaced, the full output fed the grid starting in February of 2023.
  • And my monthly electricity charge is now $37.71!!!!!

Today,  the sun is pouring in as it has done since 1995 and more and more houses have full roof arrays to shoulder the electricy bill burden. What's not to like?

Last Updated on Friday, 08 March 2024 11:42
 
2020 Report from Maine PDF Print E-mail
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Saturday, 02 January 2021 12:09

2020 was unfortunately a year to remember! What with the Covid-19 virus which spread worldwide from Wuhan, China, to the economic and personal disruption the pandemic created...yes, it is best to move on to 2021.

pv2019decOur solar house was challenged in several ways this year. We're still operating with a 10% reduction in electrical output due to two panels that have given up the ghost. Still, the roof-mounted PV panels are still making a significant contribution to our electrical needs with 3,916 kWhrs of free power in 2020 (the system paid for itself a decade ago). The designer of our home/solar roof will be upgrading our active solar elements this year - more on that soon.

The biggest challenge this year was to determine why our radiant floor heat was misbehaving. The tubing that carries the solar-heated water from our basement storage tanks was taking on air, thus bringing the circulation to a halt. Was there a leak in the tubing embedded in the concrete subfloor? Workmen from the company that built our home some 26 years ago took on the challenge. I noted some stain spots on the oak flooring that might indicate the location of the leak.

So it was necessary to rip the flooring up and chip through the concrete to expose the tubing to find the leak. Alas, there was no leak in the floor. One of the workmen discovered stained ceiling tiles in the basement and the source was discovered to be a first floor manifold that distributes heat to several sections of the house. All that was needed was to tighten the retaining clip on one of the connections and it was fixed, some $6,000 later! Twenty-six years and still the house outperforms any conventional structure.

Last Updated on Saturday, 02 January 2021 20:18
 
2020 Solar Report from Maine PDF Print E-mail
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Written by Administrator   
Tuesday, 31 December 2019 17:14

2020 was unfortunately a year to remember! What with the Covid-19 virus which spread worldwide from Wuhan, China, to the economic and personal disruption the pandemic created...yes, it is best to move on to 2021.

pv2019decOur solar house was challenged in several ways this year. We're still operating with a 10% reduction in electrical output due to two panels that have given up the ghost. Still, the roof-mounted PV panels (the remaining 14) are still making a significant contribution to our electrical needs with 3,916 kWhrs of free power in 2020 (the system paid for itself a decade ago). The designer of our home/solar roof will be upgrading our active solar elements this year - more on that soon.

The biggest challenge this year was to determine why our radiant floor heat was misbehaving. The tubing that carries the solar-heated water from our basement storage tanks was taking on air, thus bringing the circulation to a halt. Was there a leak in the tubing embedded in the concrete subfloor? Workmen from the company that built our home some 26 years ago took on the challenge. I noted some stain spots on the oak flooring that might indicate the location of the leak.

flooring

So it was necessary to rip the flooring up and chip through the concrete to expose the tubing to find the leak. Alas, there was no leak in the floor. One of the workmen discovered stained ceiling tiles in the basement and the source was discovered to be a first floor manifold that distributes heat to several sections of the house. All that was needed was to tighten the retaining clip on one of the connections and it was fixed, some $6,000 later! Twenty-six years and still the house outperforms any conventional structure - that's a marvel!

Last Updated on Saturday, 02 January 2021 20:28
 
2021 - The Year of the Tesla! PDF Print E-mail
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Written by Administrator   
Wednesday, 12 January 2022 10:25

A Tesla Model 3 Long Range was purchased in the first week of June 2021.
I took Amtrak to Newark, NJ., then an Uber to Paramus, NJ where the car
was ready to drive. Why NJ? If I picked it up in MA, which is the closest
delivery center, I would have had to pay two state sales taxes - one for
MA and then one in ME. NJ does not put a sales tax on cars that are
being registered out-of-state.

It now resides in our garage. 

Last Updated on Wednesday, 12 January 2022 10:41
 
2018 Report from Maine PDF Print E-mail
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Written by Administrator   
Monday, 31 December 2018 16:01

December 31, 2018 - Another year comes to an end at the Maine Solar House. We've been a solar landmark since 1995.

pv2018decPV Output - 2018's annual PV output was 3,785 kWhrs. We have regularly hit 4,000 kWhrs or more annually except for last year when it was 3,995 kWhs. So the question is: Was this an excessively cloudy year or an output trend? Output in 2016 was 4,315 kWhrs...so at this point, I'm undecided but watchful. Next check will be at the end of 2019.

Solar Comfort - The house continues to work on our behalf. Passive solar gain on a sunny day in December can cause the south-facing rooms to heat up to 78 degrees. The Florida-like interior slowly dissipates its warmth during the night leaving our home's interior at around 68 degrees at sunrise. Nothing to complain about here.

Location - As I've mentioned multiple time (and will continue to repeat), our property is adjacent to a section of the Rachel Carson Wildlife Refuge. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has multiple parcels along the Southern Maine coast protecting valuable salt marshes and estuaries for migratory birds. Our section has a tidal river bisecting the land and our daily views are priceless. We have a resident red-tailed hawk family, an eagle or two annually and various great blue & white herons, egrets, Canada geese and other coastal birds. The enclosed video was shot by our drone on Christmas Day of this year. It ends with Three Lords a Leaping - grandson, grandfather and son. The White Mountains of New Hampshire are visible on the horizon.

Conclusion - Our solar home continues its unending effort to reduce our carbon footprint without sacrificing comfort. In fact, our comfort continues to be significantly enhanced thanks to a decision we made in the 1990s to "go solar!"

Last Updated on Tuesday, 31 December 2019 19:37
 
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