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2 KW Unistrut based Pole Mount. It was originally sized for smaller array. I rebuilt it to hold a slightly larger array. The Poles are rectangular tubing poured in large block of concrete. The array pivots on 3/4" stainless rod. I manually set the angle once a quarter. I built it solo. Putting...

Been there for 20 years (4 Sharp 160 watts panels). I figured out the angles I wanted, laid the frames on the garage floor and drilled the holes in the strut to get the angles in place. The strut up against the cedar is spaced out with spacers so most of the strut does not touch the cedar. Its...

I think I have posted this before. It is my snow country mod for the DC solar Trailer. The lower row of panels are stock. I welded up a bolt in set of taller rear mounts and made sure that when I swung the rear panels up that the bottom lined up with the front row. I also tied the two sets of...

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...

Start with voting for people who admit that global warming is real versus people who do not believe in it or are profiting in the short term in opposing it.

I have an early grid tie system about 20 years old. Panels were the first of the amorphous panels (Sharps) at the "bargain price of $6.60 a watt. The 1 Kw grid tie inverter was around 1.7K. The array was a whopping 660 Watts. Federal tax credit was 10% of installed cost with my state chipping in...

https://www.sunjournal.com/2023/11/22/off-the-grid-for-50-years/ I think I know where the place is and drive by it frequently. Its way up on a hill, I really wonder how it gets plowed as its in area that gets a lot of snow. My guess is fossil horsepower. Its dark road to drive on at night. I...

Uncool but it does look like you could slide your panels up the roof and minimize the shading. Always worth checking with the local municipality if an electrical permit was pulled and approved.

I have had solar thermal over 20 years. Its pretty simple, a DC circulator pump, a used Siemens 60 watt PV panel, a simple controller two hot water panels and a Rheem Solaraide storage tank. It works but fundamentally it produces too much heat in the summer and marginal in the winter. Standard...

I live over in northern NH and lived in VT for while up near the Kingdom. Lots of folks who tried and failed to go off grid year round. They had to really mold their lifestyle during the winter when they were out of power after several days of clouds. Think wood heat and hand pumps. If you are...

Unless you go with a heat pump type heater, any electric resistance heater is basically 100% efficient. A heat pump doesn't create heat it just moves it around so it can be more efficient, a "cold climate" heat pump can get up to 300% efficient. The smallest I have seen is a 7,500 BTU unit. They...

Unistrut works well. BTW, it this is permitted installation the AHJ may require an engineered system.

A quick reminder, you are far better off moving cold air around rather than warm air. Cold air is denser so more volume through a duct. Move the cold air back to the return of the mini split and the hot air will displace it from the area it was ducted from. One thing to keep in mind is fire is...

I hit that point 10 years ago. I picked up a DC solar trailer to play with which may get used for a new house. These days I help other folks with deciding to go solar. The solar salesman are good at spouting BS and some folks appreciate getting someone to explain what is true and what is BS.

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.

If you really want to have your mind blown, the old papermill I worked at still had some 2 phase electrical equipment and generation. The phases are 90 degrees apart. Another old mill I worked in still had a 40 cycle power system in parts of the plant.

Here are a few when I was doing some firewood. The flat bed is 1300 Unimog (ex German military).

To really confuse things, at one point there were two phase power systems and a few are still running. I used to have to mess with them on rare occasions at the papermill I worked at. I also ran into 40 cycle AC systems at a very old papermill, I have a couple of solenoid valves that are rated...

I have a DC solar trailer and for someone south of the snow line with high year round sun angles, the panel mounting arrangement may have been fine but they were not a good fit for my use up north. One of the postings was about buying the DC Solar "engineering" I am unsure how much engineering...

TIm is right on. The one thing I would add is that a sizing tool makes assumptions that a PE should not. One big assumption is that the panel is cantilevered over a flat plane like a standard roof at a standard distance up off the roof. Where it "blows" up if the panels are cantilevered over or...

The other option is a Toyostove Vented "kerosene" heater (it also burns ultra low sulfur diesel. They vent through the wall and have far higher output than the chinese diesels. The only other option is to beef up solar enough to go with a cold climate mini split, they are between two to three...

Not supported by my POCO (Eversource NH) Some of the Coops in VT accept them (Washington Electric is one of them)

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...

My pole mount and wall mount have three settings based on my being a bit south of the Northeast Kingdom of VT (I am 44.38 degrees north latitude. Part of the kingdom can be over 45degrees. I rounded mine to 45 degrees. I set my mounts at plus of minus 15 degrees from 45 degrees. So 30 degrees...

Keep in mind, PV Watts does not factor in snow reflectance. If there is snow on ground, a vertical panel is going to put out more power than the PV software will underestimate it. The one big caveat is overhangs on the building. A wall mounted panel is going to potential get shaded from a...

I love a bedrock base. Just drill down in the rock with an electric jackhammer, blow out the hole and buy drop in epoxy anchors that contain a threaded rod. The key is to drill the hole deep enough to put the anchor in with a couple of inches of free space before the top of the hole and the...

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...

FWIW, centrifugal pumps are notoriously inefficient. Far better to do with positive displacement style pump which is far more efficient. Ideally have a storage tank on the ground that fills up slowly from a DC pump over a period of hours and then drain the tank to feed the livestock. Put a float...

I mentioned 5, the 4 between then panels and the #4 in the trench between the grounds, unless code has changed the #4 did not need to be in a conduit.

I did not say checking connections which as you assume if probably not a long task but lugging and bolting panels in place on a flat roof on sunny day takes a lot longer. Many folks doing it are apprentices and day laborers and they are not paid for quality only quantity. I know numerous...