Heliocol Solar Install

[AlanE]

Company showed up today and OF COURSE.... it was raining. :grrrr: (see my build thread - rained all the time) Luckily it had just stopped. They had to wait an hour for the roof to dry up. They must have worked an hour. Took 5 cigarette breaks and a couple of texting breaks then told me they have to go back to the shop to get the 1/4 panels to fit around one of my vents. Oh - after they take a lunch break.

Here is what they accomplished so far.

They arrive and sit waiting for the roof to dry. This is also a common picture for their many breaks.

Connections to equipment

Pipe running up house. Not in the best place but once I paint it, it will look a little better.

Panels on the roof

rain cloud leaves the area

They left an hour and a half ago for lunch. I'm hoping they are picking up the panels they need while they're out.

Post more when they are done. (which may be tomorrow)

Alan

 

[zea3]

Hopefully you are not paying them by the hour!

 

[AlanE]

Yeah really. So they didn't finish today because they didn't have enough time to go back to their shop for 1/4 panels. Gee wonder why. So I'm looking at what they did do and I'm either not understanding the concept or they did the install wrong. I know they messed up in some places. so here are more shots. Let me know if this is wrong.

So here are the pipes

Cold water on the left. Hot return on the right.

Here is just lazy install. Three 90 degree elbows on each run when they could have lengthened one of the black pipes and shortened another to eliminate two 90s

There is one panel on the other side of the lanai roof and you can see the pipes going up and over the peak here:

The hot return is on the bottom in the above shot.

Now the part I'm thinking was (also) done wrong. The vacuum break is on the cold side. The panel on the other side of the lanai will never drain. I hope we never get a freeze. It happens rarely in this part of Florida but it does happen. Most of the water draining out of the 6 panels will be from the cold side. Assuming they can. Very little will actually come out of the hot side because of the pipes going over the peak. Seems to me the vacuum break is pointless in this configuration. It will never open or at least maybe briefly after the system is turned off. What do you think?

 

[Isaac-1]

I agree about all those wasted 90's, the Vacuum breaker may be ok there, there is nothing wrong with it being o the cold side, but I would prefer to see it mounted higher to minimize negative pressure at the panels, it is a fairly low roof, so may be ok. It is hard to say how well the panels on the other side will drain, you may want to add a separate drain line for them for freeze protection reasons. On a side point are you going to install a solar controller?

Ike

p.s. I also don't like that there is not a drain or pressure relief valve above those red cut off valves, if those were to be close while water is in the panels pressure could build up until something pops (you never know who might turn those both off without knowing what they were doing)

 

[AlanE]

Good points I will bring up with the guy tomorrow. As for the controller, I have 45 days to decide if I want to add one and they will install it for the same price they would have charged me to install it now. Alas I don't have the funds for it now. So I may call him up next month to add one.

 

[Isaac-1]

They are easy to install yourself, you already have the valve installed, after that it is just a few wires and a couple of screws

 

[AlanE]

The valve just needs the actuator? Since I have a pentair pump maybe I'll look into one of their controllers.

 

[jblizzle]

Does not matter what brand controller, but the Pentair SunTouch does have some nice features. Plus you would need an actuator (Intermatic is a good bit cheaper than the others).

 

[mas985]

The VRV is in a good location for a VS pump. It will allow you to run at lower RPM if you want to.

 

[AlanE]

Thanks that relieves some of the worry. I'm here all week folks. Tip your waitress.

I probably won't need to use the heat after this month. Pool should be warm enough until end of October. After Nov 1st, I can run the pump between 10am to 6pm which is off-peak hours for us.

 

[Isaac-1]

If your weather is anything like ours, the real advantage of having a solar controller is to avoid the panels running when we get hit with a spring time thermal thunderstorm as that ice cold rain can really cool things down quick. In the middle of summer it is not so bad and they can actually help keep the pool from getting too hot, of course then there is the other benefit of a solar heater, that is running it to radiate heat and cool the pool in the middle of the night.

 

[AlanE]

Mark - thanks for putting that link to the Pump Run Time Study. Very interesting read. Making good use of that to reduce my electricity usage.

Isaac - How much does it reduce the temperature over night? With a controller you can set the desired temp of the pool but can it be programmed to come on at night to reduce the temp if it is too hot?

 

[Isaac-1]

A lot depends on your night time temperatures and desired pool temperature, I can tell you that I like my pool around 84 - 85 degrees depending on my mood, and I was able to maintain that range almost all summer last year by letting my solar controller manage things and run in cooling mode at night. In previous years (before the solar heat upgrade and addition of a solar controller) the water would sometimes hit over 90 in the peak of the summer, but since I have a new roof with new insulation over my indoor pool as of 2 years ago there are multiple factors at work here and I can't say for sure that it is all about the solar cooling.

 

[AlanE]

I guess I'll try that out and see how it works. 90 wouldn't make for a pleasant pool experience. I imagine it gets hot where you are unless you benefit from the Gulf breezes like we do.

The solar company apparently isn't showing up today. I haven't heard from them yet.

 

[Isaac-1]

It can get fairly hot, but not as bad as parts of Texas, we are about 100 miles inland, which also means those big breezes that come from the gulf every few years weaken a bit before they get here. Most summers we tend to have a few weeks with highs at or a bit over 100, and lows around 90, so when it is 91 degrees at 2 am and 95% humidity there is not much chance for the solar panels to radiate heat.

 

[AlanE]

We're 3 miles from the Gulf. We see highs in the low 90's. Our humidity is like yours. Normal temp is around mid 70's at night. Which would be great for opening the windows and running a whole house fan if it wasn't for humidity. Sounds like I might have some success with cooling the pool at night.

They didn't bother showing up again today. I was told maybe tomorrow if it doesn't rain again. I guess if they wake up and see rain it must be raining everywhere in Florida and all day long so they stay in bed.

 

[AlanE]

Week later and they finally finished. We'll see how well it works. It isn't raining today.

 

[Isaac-1]

Do keep us updated

 

[AlanE]

This morning the temp was 80 at 9:30 when I turned the system on. Now it is 89-90. I say it works.

 

[AlanE]

Update - Solar heat is doing okay but it rarely gets above outside air temp now. Air temp is mid to low 80's and over night lows in the 60's. Last night it hit 59 and pool temp was 79. Turned on the solar today (sunny, no clouds, very light winds) and it's up to 83 which is what the current air temp is. I would have figured the pool to be a little warmer than that. Is this normal for this time of year?