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Yes I have a spare Evergreen for my pole mount array. Its more exposed than up on my roof.

Good old fashioned solar hot water system for hot water. I see used panels up for sale on Craigslist all the time. Pick up a used Amtrol boiler mate which is normally used to supply residential hot water. Then all you need is DC pump and a small solar panel to run the pump. You also need an...

The panel leads are always energized if in the sun. Ideally cover them with cardboard or a tarp before disconnecting and reconnecting. If they are bifacials if more difficult. Alternatively do it at night.

Yup you are right I will edit it

Not worth swapping out good double panes for new triple panes. The big efficiency increase is get rid of double panes, even the best double panes are inferior to a casement type windowss be it US or the Euro style. Double hungs inherently have far more linear feet of gaps that need to be sealed...

Heated area is about 1500 square feet in Northern NH (if gets down to -20 F on occasion). 2x6 walls, double pane windows with double cellular blinds with side tracks on windows (an extra R 5). The tank usually gives me 24 hours, so I fire it once a day, but in cold conditions its twice a day...

I have ancient Burham wood boiler with 500 gallons of thermal storage. I had it running 10 days ago when I got 18 " of snow. I may run it again if there is cold snap but the minisplit is carrying the house so might as well burn up my surplus power. BTW with respect the most efficient...

Keep in mind the much more lucrative IRA rebates (for some folks) are not retroactive and depends on individual states setting up rebate program that meet and are approved by the DOE. https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/about/priorities/inflation-reduction-act/inflation-reduction-act-investments-by-state...

Back in the early days of grid tied PV, most utilities were encouraged/forced to create "short form" or expedited interconnect rules for grid tied PV. as their rules were written for industrial power and were quite complex and expensive to obtain. Normal interconnected generation needed approved...

I needed some 50 foot long 50 Amp California twist lock cords to connect my DC solar trailer to my house. I priced it at several places and for the same brand and model number Walmart.com was the cheapest. About 30% less than Home Depot. Not the first time I have bought from Walmart for stuff I...

I think its simpler, firemen want something that might survive an ax blow. PVC gives off toxic smoke and cuts pretty easy with an ax.

It all comes down to how much extra is someone willing to pay and potentially impact efficiency and lifetime?. Its a cost benefit analysis, over the long term is the extra cost worth it or is it cheaper to buy insurance from a company that have actuaries that have access to long term loss data...

Generally electrical Co-ops are not owned by corporations, many were created to fill in the rural gaps that profit making firms decided it was not worth filling. Many go back to the REA days. In most cases they have elected boards elected by the rate payers. Few folks really care about how the...

There is a local scrapper that is the only one nearby that will handle all the metal for cheap but the only way he will do it is if there is no dump picking (he has his crews do that later on). The town selectmen and public works guy likes it as its easy, having a dump "store" can cause a lot of...

My system is very similar except I built a pivot into it rather than the pipe clamps. The weight is quite well balanced. When I change my angle I use one hand to push the panel up or down and use the other hand to change the location of support strut. It takes a 7/16" and a 3/4" wrench and...

My system is very similar except I built a pivot into it rather than the pipe clamps. The weight is quite well balanced. When I change my angle I use one hand to push the panel up or down and use the other hand to change the location of support strut. It takes a 7/16" and a 3/4" wrench and...

Sad to say our town has a transfer station for waste and recycling with strict no picking rule that is enforced. I see a lot of old cast iron (mostly very old craftsman) cast iron power tools in the metals pile. There is local "antique"/junk shop that has a basement section full of old hand...

Those are great rigs, unfortunately the demand is limited for old wood and metal working tools. The rockwell/delta tools were well built and surprisingly there are parts available. I have an 8" Rockwell jointer of similar vintage.

I have been keeping an eye on energy conserving building techniques and vapor and air barriers. Personal experience is 24" on center with conventional sheathing is a non starter for me as the walls will telegraph the 24" span both inside and out. Using 1" T&G pine boards will solve that issue on...

Vapor barriers are climate specific, what works down south in a cooling predominate area is the opposite of what works up north in a heating predominate area.

Works fine but client wanted in place meetings. It was a 5 MW combined heat and power plant construction project so boots on the ground are not optional to get something built. Luckily for me Covid reared its ugly head so I avoided having to extend 4 months of weekly meetings to about 2.5 years...

There are warehouses full of panels all over the world right now. China needs cash and is dumping as many as they can. Even with tariffs the can undersell panel made in Europe.

The wind loading calculations appear to change significantly once the panel sticks past the ridgeline. Wind uplift starts to become dominant.

Years ago, I worked for a small regional public utility (water) and we had lots of easements obtained over the 100 years of operation. A lot of them were on rural land originally that in the intervening years have become potentially quite valuable due to the location. It was located in the State...

I spent 4 months driving from the Northern Whites in NH to Worcester Mass (near Marlborough) once a week for a weekly meeting, 405 miles round trip. 3.5 hours down, 2 hours on site 3.5 hours home.

Just think of it as going to a Patriots game (same town as Alt E) ;)

I think the Lucas mill has a 20 HP onan on it.

No idea, its the biggest model the local logging supply store normally stocks for New England logging. They make them bigger for west coast logging. If the compression release is not pushed when trying to start it I swear the piston is scored as it turns over real hard. Its got an extra long bar...

In my area exposed conduit where it comes out the ground needs to be metal of sch 80 extra heavy conduit. It also needs to be equipped with the capability of vertical movement as soil elevation will vary slightly over the course of a year. I believe they are called conduit expansion fittings.

Microinverters are sort of like the musicians in a marching band, they do their part but there still needs to be conductor setting the beat. Some master controller has to set the overall system voltage and frequency plus perform various system safety aspects. Once that is done the microinverters...

These flexible panels popped up while looking for something else. Seems to check off the right boxes. https://merlinsolar.com/ Of course the devil is in the details ;)

Converting a big white pine into firewood. About 48" at the base, it was around 120 feet high. I hired a tree climber to climb it, He dropped the top 50 feet while up in the tree and then dropped the lower 70' in one piece. It cracked in two spots, but I did get two nice base logs and a couple...

Trusting a supplier to size a solar panel for my solar hot water system criculator pump. They sent me a 40 watt panel and it needed 60. I had hard piped the original panel with glued PVC conduit. I had to cut it off and put in 60 Watt Siemens panel I had kicking around temporarily. Its been like...

I needed a bit more pump head on my setup. My pump is set about 15 feet (4.5 meters) below ground. The tank is a plastic IBC tank that sits on top of a stack of firewood. The top inlet is about 10 feet (3 meters) from ground level. The static water level in the well is a big variable that will...

FWIW I have about 100 watts of "antique" Siemens panels hooked directly to a submersible pump that pumps up to an elevated tank with a upside down bilge switch mounted in the top of the tank to shut the power off to the pump. I water my garden manually but could expect I could automate that...