Ran out of free hot water

[peakbagger]

A minor rant.

I normally have switched over to 100% solar hot water this time of year but this extended stretch of early March weather in April is really screwing up my system. In the winter I heat my hot water through my wood boiler via a "hotwater maker" with solar for preheat. I haven't used the wood boiler for a month as I have been able to use my minisplit to cover heating which is free heat as I am burning up surplus power I generated last year. Thus I am dependent on the SHW and three or 4 days or cloudy weather with days in the 30s have led to 80 gallons of tepid water. I grudgingly really needed a hot shower the other morning and cranked on the oil boiler from cold to warm up my hot water maker. This is the first time in years I have used oil to heat my water. I guess my coil of 10-2 romex needs to get run to my main panel so I can activate the backup coil in the SHW tank. which I never hooked up for 12 years. Of course its supposed to warm up today and into next week so it may be a moot point.

I installed it all and understand what needs to be done but I sure wouldn't want to train anyone else to swap things over. That's definitely a trade off with using a multiple variable sources of heat, its sure isn't set it and forget it!

The alternative to break down and install an overall PLC to control the system but I have avoided it as someday someone else will need to be able to operate the PLC and diagnose it. Not many heating techs in northern NH with those skills.

 

[woodgeek]

We've all got problems....I've got an unheated attached garage, with a HUGE amount of thermal mass because the concrete slab and walls tie into the bedrock that underlies my entire property. Like seasonal storage of heat HUGE. It takes like a real week of real cold to budge the temp in my garage, which typically runs 50°F in the winter, and 75° in the summer. With the cold weather, my garage this year really wants to be 40-45°F, and the dew point outside can be well above that. The other day, 65°F and foggy, I drove my car out of the garage, and the whole vehicle dewed up solid, windows, exterior mirrors, etc. I can run the front and rear wipers, and see out the front and back only. Like an idiot, I thought, I'll just roll all the windows down, BUT then the front and back windows and the rearview mirror all dewed up on the inside of the car...now I could see out the sides, but not the front or back. Ended up pulling over for 5 minutes.

Normally, I open up the garage doors for several warm days in the spring the 'charge' the thermal battery (with free heat) to get to 'summer mode'. This year, no dice. I've got it up to about 50°F so far. Hopefully this week will do the job.

 

[Doug MacIVER]

We've all got problems....I've got an unheated attached garage, with a HUGE amount of thermal mass because the concrete slab and walls tie into the bedrock that underlies my entire property. Like seasonal storage of heat HUGE. It takes like a real week of real cold to budge the temp in my garage, which typically runs 50°F in the winter, and 75° in the summer. With the cold weather, my garage this year really wants to be 40-45°F, and the dew point outside can be well above that. The other day, 65°F and foggy, I drove my car out of the garage, and the whole vehicle dewed up solid, windows, exterior mirrors, etc. I can run the front and rear wipers, and see out the front and back only. Like an idiot, I thought, I'll just roll all the windows down, BUT then the front and back windows and the rearview mirror all dewed up on the inside of the car...now I could see out the sides, but not the front or back. Ended up pulling over for 5 minutes.

Normally, I open up the garage doors for several warm days in the spring the 'charge' the thermal battery (with free heat) to get to 'summer mode'. This year, no dice. I've got it up to about 50°F so far. Hopefully this week will do the job.

your just wrote the lyrics for a 50's "Dew awep, awep" song. My factory building is 12.5 sq.ft of cider block, takes forever for the cold to leave then the heat to leave.