By Paul, on December 21st, 2009 Constructing the mounting frame. I had my one “oops” moment in the project already, hopefully there will not be another one. It seems that when I laid out the position of the mounting frame, I was a little too close to the property line. In the end of October, the town that I live in changed its zoning code, making side line set backs 40 feet. The previous code stated it was 10 feet for “unenclosed” uses, e.g. swimming pools, fences, etc. Since the mounting frame is not enclosed, I figured I would be good at 30 feet. No good, the whole thing had to be moved back 10 feet.
Equally unfortunate is the fact that I jumped the gun on the construction and poured the footings before I had the building permit. So, once again I rented the Kabota backhoe from the Taylor rental place down the road. I am on a first name basis with the owner, which is nice, sort of. Anyway, quick work with a chain and I pulled all six of the eight inch footings out of the ground, dug new holes and place the pre-poured footing in a new whole. I dumped about 6-8 inches of crushed stone in each hole an compacted it. All in all, I am only out the one day’s rental on the back hoe, which was not too bad.
 Timber Frame for 4.1 KW Photovoltaic system On to the construction of the frame. I decided to use 4 x 4 posts and beams, except for the main support beam, which is 4 x 6 inch. The entire structure is braced with 4 x 4s at all ninety degree meetings.
 Corner bracing Of course, the weather has closed in and I am working outside in the snow and wind. On Saturday, it was 15 degrees out with a 20 MPH wind. I don’t know what the wind chill was, I can however verify, it was unpleasant working outside. That being said, progress has been made.
The frame is mostly up, I need to put the final support beam across the top. Then I need to put in the “rafters” which will be 2 x 8 x 12 treated lumber. The rafter spacing will be a little odd, since they are space to support the solar panels according to the panel manufactures specifications.
 Hand dug conduit trench Also completed (before the ground froze solid) is the trench between the house and the support frame. We dug this by hand, 42 feet long by 18 inches deep, as the current NEC specifies for PVC conduit.
Everything is frozen solid right now, which actually has it’s advantages. Come springtime, this will be a soupy mud mess. Once the ground drys out a little bit, I’ll rake it out and plant some grass seed.
By Paul, on November 21st, 2009 Laying out the support frame. As mentioned before, the south facing roof on our house is taken up with the solar hot water system. The only mounting option for the photovoltaic system was to build a sun shade type support frame in the yard.
The first thing that was needed was the size of the array. For this system, we will be installing 20 Sanyo HIP-205N modules. These measure 62.2″ x 31.4″. I would like these to be installed landscape style, four deep by 5 wide. The total array size is 311″ or 25.9′ X 125.6″ or 10.4′ I am leaving a little room around the edges for a safety factor, so my support frame will be 27 x 12 feet.
I also want to tilt the array to latitude, which around here is 42 degrees. There have been studies that show that the tilt angle is not a critical as once thought, however, since I can do it, I might as well. Therefore, I will install a total of six support posts, making the structure 26 feet x 7 feet. The front of the structure will be about 6 feet above ground level, the back will be about 12 feet above ground level.
 PV system location marked with stakes I staked out the frame and aligned it to true south. It is only a few degrees off from the property line, so it works out well. Since we have had a lot of rain this year, I decided to dig a test pit to see where the water table is in relation to the bottom of the footings. Local code requires 48 inch deep footings, my test pit reached 46 inches deep before I saw some seepage. I left it over night and the next morning there was about 2 to 3 inches of water in the bottom. Over all, not too bad, I put some crushed stone in the bottom of each footing before I put the form in.
 Test pit to see where the ground water table is It rained most of the day on Saturday, however, I still managed to dig four of the six holes. On Sunday, I dug the last two. Then, by this post, I knew that it takes about 2 2/3 80 pound bags of ready mix to fill an 8 by 48 inch sonotube. I picked up 16 bags of 4000 PSI ready mix. This time, I borrowed a cement mixer, which made things much easier. I also used one #4 (1/2 inch) rebar down the middle of each footing, tied to the J bolt on top. I used 1 gallon of water per 80 pound bag, as the directions on the bag stated. This made a good stiff mix.
 Holes completed, string crosses mark footing locations To make all of the forms the same level, I used a 14′ 2 x 8 and a level. Going from hole to hole, slowly putting more packed crushed stone in each hole, I think I got pretty close. Also, the crushed stone will aid with drainage around the bottom of the footing. Any differences in level can be made up by trimming the posts.
 Footing hole, somewhat deeper than 48 inches This was a miserable job. It was wet and muddy all day long. One of the hole had a lot of water in it, which needed to be pumped out before I could put the form in. Our soil is thick clay, which caked on everything, shovels, boots, rocks, etc. The weather forecast was for sun on Sunday, which turned out to be false. Still, it is done.
 Footings completed and backfilled I was going to use the excavator to dig the trench for the conduit, however, I decided that a ditch witch would be a better idea, less back fill, less mess, etc. For conduit, I think I will go with two inch. This system has microverters, which means the feed from the solar array will be 240 VAC. I could use #12AWG with this and come in at just under 2% voltage drop. Since I have spools of #8 AWG already on the truck, I will used that cable instead. That makes the voltage drop 0.6%. Since there are two 240 VAC branch circuits, plus two neutrals and one ground wire, that makes the total number of conductors 7. According to the latest version of the NEC (2008), table C.10, 1 1/4 inch schedule 40 PVC conduit is acceptable for this installation.
Once the concrete hardens for a couple of days, we’ll put up the frame.
By Paul, on November 11th, 2009 I have had a pretty good year with the solar business thus far. Therefore, I decided to roll some of this year’s profits into our own Photovoltaic (PV) system. This idea has been batted about before, including as a battery back up for the sump pumps, however, a few things have developed since then.
First of all, as technology often does, newer things are available these days that make a solar system in the North East a better proposition. Secondly, the solar business has done better than I expected. As a result, I don’t often have much time to work on household projects. That means that this years “capital improvement” budget has gone unspent for the most part. Finally, I would like to offset some of the extra income tax from the profits. What better way than to invest in the technology myself. The Federal Government offers a 30% income tax incentive and the NY State government offers a 25% tax income incentive up to $5,000.00. This will cut the overall cost of the installed system by almost 50%.
There are a number of considerations:
- How large of a system should be installed. I decided that I wanted to offset 70-80% of my annual electrical use. In this climate and environment, that equates to about 4.1 KW DC PV system. This leaves a little downward room in case I decide to replace the electric stove with a gas unit.
- Where can it be installed. Since the south facing roof has the solar hot water system, the PV system needs to be mounted on a sun shade type structure in the yard.
- What type of technology. I was initially looking at a grid tied with battery back up, however, after I looked into the newest type of inverter, the Enphase microverter, I decided that this was the way to go. A battery backup can be added at a later date.
The Enphase microverters are really cool. The way this system works is every solar panel has its own small inverter instead of one large inverter for many panels. The advantages of this type of system are thus: In conventional system, shading of one panel can cause the entire solar array to turn off, making it ineffective. With the microverters, the shaded panel may turn off, but the rest of the unshaded panels still put out full power. In the Northeast, trees grow everywhere, it is nearly impossible to have a completely shade free site, nor should home owner’s be expected to clear cut their lots to accommodate a PV system. The Enphase microverters mitigate some of those concerns.
Also, multiple inverters create redundancy. Any one inverter can fail, leaving the other nineteen still operational. There is automatic web monitoring for a small annual fee, or the modules can be monitored manually. I may write a small web based program to monitor and post my energy output here. The inverters themselves carry a 15 year warranty, whereas most other inverters carry a 5 year warranty.
Finally, there are no DC voltage losses to account for, making the entire system operate much more efficiently.
In anycase, the order has been signed, checks have been written and the excavator has been reserved for this weekend. The first step is to dig and poor the footings for the sun shade.
More to follow.
By Paul, on October 29th, 2009 I think Congressmen should wear uniforms like NASCAR drivers so we could identify their corporate sponsors.
Or have term limits.
By Paul, on August 21st, 2009 This is what I did on vacation:
I made a new dock for the cottage in Canada. The old dock was built about 20 or more years ago, nobody is really sure. It had a useful life but last winter the ice caused the dock part to become detached from the crib and fall in the water. Since Parks Canada no longer allows crib docks in this part of the lake, I had to construct a combination pole/floating dock.
This is the old dock when it was being taken apart:
 Old crib dock being disassembled Here I am working on one of the sections of the new dock:
 New dock sections They are made from 2×10 fir with heavy duty galvanized corner brackets and gusset plates. I used 3/8 galvanized bolts to secure everything. The decking is 5″ by 1 1/4″ ACQ deck lumber. Treated lumber is only allowed on parts that do not have contact with water. I used 24 inches on center for the decking support, it seems to be very sturdy.
 Assembling an eight foot dock section There are three sections, on 16′ by 4′ section that is attached to the boat house and supported by concrete filled poles.
The next section is an 8′ by 4′ floating section, and at the end is another 4′ by 8′ section forming a T.
This will allow the dock level to change with the water level, which can vary as much as 30 inches over the course of a season.
Since the cottage is on an island, it was easier to build the dock on the main land and tow it into place with the run about:
 16 foot dock section underway Once the dock was secured to the boat house, the poles were driven into the lake bed as far as they will go. This worked out to be about 24 inches before they struck solid rock. Still, these are 10 foot 2 inch schedule 40 poles:
 Sixteen foot dock section secured to boat house The main section is secure, the inspector is here and approves:
 Code enforcement officers are a rough bunch
T section underway in the channel:
 Towing T section into place Pumping out the poles and filling them with concrete. This should make them more rigid and better able to resist the ice movements. The floating sections will come out during the winter.
 dewatering support poles  filling support poles with concrete to make them more rigid Construction is completed, now it is time for the test:
 Dock under test  Test is successful
By Paul, on July 15th, 2009 We have spent some amount of time fixing up the yard. I think the worst of it was removing all the asphalt around the back of the house. What a terrible way to make a patio.
As a part of our long term goals for the house, landscaping is somewhere in the middle of the list. The parts that we can work on now, such as removing over grown shrubs, trimming back trees, and general clean up items have been nearly completed.
One of my goals is to make things as low maintenance as possible. The other is to make things producing. Planting fruit trees is the easiest way to create an edible landscape. Most fruit trees bloom in the spring and thus make attractive ornamental tree. In the fall, those flowers turn to fruit which can be picked and eaten right off the tree.
Only problem I have run into is bees. In the fall, many bees, hornets, yellow jackets, and wasps like to eat the fallen fruit. The good thing is the deer and the bears (and an occasional coyote) clean up the fruit almost every night.
When we moved here we had two pear trees and a peach tree. The first pear tree was growing up under an oak tree. It also had heart rot, so we had to take it down. The peach tree was also suffering from some sort of blight and was planted in the wrong spot, so I took that one down as well. Finally, I have been trying to rehabilitate the second pear tree, with some success. However, this tree may be getting old and it may also be in the way of our solar system.
 two year old peach tree, about 8 feet tall To replace the trees I cut down, I planted a new peach tree in the front yard. This is a much better spot as it gets full sun almost all day long. It has grown remarkably this year and I expect to get some fruit next year.
I also planted an apple tree, but the deer have nearly killed it. It is still struggling but the issue is in doubt. I will plant another apple tree in the front yard and fence it.
 bunches of white table grapes on trellis I also planted four grape vines. I ordered these on line and they were relatively inexpensive. This is their third year and three of the four vines are thriving. The forth is not too happy and I don’t know why. Two of the vines are Concorde grapes. There is a variety of white table grapes too, but I cannot remember the name.
The other parts of the edible landscaping are the vegetable garden and herb garden, both are well documented elsewhere.
Some other local edibles include a whole forest of blueberries. Last Sunday the family went blue berry picking and came back with several containers full (not to mention our stomachs). These are the small to medium sized wild blue berries that are so good on cereal, ice cream and in yogurt.
We also have many many nut trees on our property. Pin oak and white oak produce many acorns. Shag bark hickory nuts litter the ground in the fall and across the street there is a large stand of black walnuts. The black walnuts do not taste like their English Walnut cousins, they are a little more bitter but very good to eat. Husking the nuts turns your hands black for several weeks, however.
By Paul, on July 1st, 2009 No really. I found this precipitation overlay on the National Weather Service web site this morning. This is the June 2009 rainfall amounts:
 June 2009 rainfall, National Weather Service We quite near those pink zones in the middle of the graphic, which is 10+ inches of rain. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if it were more than that. I know there has been some local flooding and a few roads washed out around here.
That puts quite a damper on the outside work, as one might imagine. Last spring I tried to dig the footings for the solar photovoltaic system out by the garden. I went down about 2 1/2 feet and hit water. And that was after a dry spring. I can’t imagine what it would be like now.
I can say that the raised beds in the vegetable garden are really proving their worth now.
Update: Local newspaper reports June rainfall totals breaks 140 year record.
By Paul, on June 19th, 2009 It is hard to take a picture of what is not there.
Since June 10th, we have received 5.38 inches of rain. That is quite a bit for a 9 day period. Our old basement would have looked like this:
 flooded basement floor That is a picture from two years ago before we had the basement french drains installed.
Today the basement looks like this:
 basement after installation of interior french drain system Which is to say, much better indeed. I also noticed that there are no wet spots on the walls, no active mold colonies, or any other features of wet basements.
I have also noted that the dehumidifier is used a lot less than it used to be. Last year, I only used it during July and August to keep the cold water pipes from sweating. This is saving use some significant money (my estimate is $580.00 per year, based on the Kill A Watt meter results) on our electric bill. That is all good.
In all fairness to American Dry Basement Systems (ADBS), the system that they installed works as advertised and it was worth the expense.
By Paul, on June 14th, 2009 We’ve been getting about one of these per day:
 fresh picked strawberries from the garden I’d estimate that to be 3-4 pints of berries. We also loose about 2-3% to chipmunks, slugs, mold, etc. I throw those over the fence into the grass so the birds can eat them. We’ll be making some strawberry preserves and likely giving some away. I’d say the transplanting project last year has worked well.
By Paul, on June 13th, 2009 I was reading something this morning about how the City of Philadelphia is considering baning plastic bags completely. It seems that those thin plastic bags you get from the grocery store are public enemy number 1 when it comes to the battle over the protection of the environment. It is truly fascinating to see the things that people focus on, anybody up for re-arranging some deck chairs?
So why not, there is little else going on these days. I mentioned the above to my lovely and talented wife, who stated that she got a “degradable” plastic bag from the local organic grocery store. So I examined said bag and found the statement “This bag will degrade into many small pieces when exposed to sunlight.”
 explanation on plastic bag about why this bag is "green" I don’t know if you can read that or not.
Many people might call these bags “biodegradable” which they are not. “Bio” would indicate that some living thing could act on the structure of the plastic, breaking apart into different compounds and base elements. I would call these bags oxi-degradable, which means that sunlight will oxidize the carbon chains into CO2 thus breaking apart the structure of the plastic. It also mean in an non-oxygen environment, such as being buried in a land fill, or under water somewhere, these bags will be every bit as resilient as their non-degradable counterparts.
The other question is time period. Anything will degrade over time, the question is how long? One day, one week, a year, a decade… To answer this question, I staked the degradable plastic bag out in full sun light.
 degradable plastic bag in full sunlight I’ll post a follow up when it dissolves into many small pieces.
Update: July 1, 2009. No noticeable degradation.
Update 2: July 13, 2009. No noticeable degradation.
Update 3: July 31, 2009. Bag is falling apart:
 degradeable plactic back after 6 weeks in the sun After 48 days, the bag is disintegrating rapidly. I will also admit that we have had a wet rainy summer and the sunlight has not been as intense as it normally is. That being said, I stand by my assertion that if these bags are buried in a land fill or in an anoxic environment, they will not degrade at all.
Still, it did do what the manufacture said it would, so I’d say they are an improvement in plastic bag technology.
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