Harry Thomason - Solar Energy
(Page 5 of 13)
November/December 1979
By Richard Freudenberger
THOMASON: Our system simply uses a fairly inexpensive 24,000-Btu air conditioner that's tied into the airflow duct to keep things cool. We only run the unit during the economical off-peak hours . . . in the cool of the night, when it doesn't have to work so hard. This tempered "breeze" dehumidifies the air and cools the stones and the tank of water in the bin. Then-during the day-we circulate house air through the bin to be cooled and dried.
RELATED CONTENT
A Plowboy Interview with an outspoken opponent of strip mining and a staunch supporter of Appalachi...
John Shuttleworth discusses his experiences living the self-reliant life that Mother Earth News is ...
A Plowboy Interview with Shuttleworth, who discusses everything from the business of the magazine i...
The Plowboy Interview with Amory Lovins, author of the 1976 essay, "Energy Strategy: The Road Not T...
PLOWBOY: But doesn't the solar heating compete with the air conditioning?
THOMASON: No, because we have the two storage tanks. In the summertime, we only route the hot water from the roof collectors through the smaller, 275-gallon, container . . . which is insulated and separately located from the main tank and rock storage bin. This way, the air conditioning circuit is kept separate from the heating system. By using the dual-tank method, we gain two big advantages: First, we're getting cooling at an absolute minimum of cost . . . since we're carefully scheduling the operation of our air conditioner to coincide with the power company's "slack" hours, and the firm rewards us for that timing with lower rates. Second, we still get domestic hot water virtually free in the summertime, since the sun can provide enough heat to satisfy our needs with very little help from the oil-fired system. So, all factors considered, we have a very favorable economic balance.
PLOWBOY: Then cost is a prime consideration in your solar home equipment?
THOMASON: Absolutely . . . right along with simplicity. The two naturally go hand in hand.
PLOWBOY: So would you say that many of the improvements you've made to your solar designs over two decades were economically oriented?
THOMASON: Most of them were, yes. You see, a Solaris system is so uncomplicated that there's hardly any room for error . . . hence, we didn't make many design blunders. Any technical problems that did show up-and such difficulties were almost all limited to the collectors themselves-have been corrected in our new units, patented in 1976. But even the latest models weren't redesigned purely for durability's sake: We improved their efficiency, too, and-equally important-made it possible to guarantee them against failure, since the new collectors are now factory built . . . whereas the old units were made right on the con, struction site.
In some cases, though, we made design changes-or design decisions-at the expense of short-term economy . . . just to give the units a longer life span. Our aluminum absorbers, for example, are covered with a special preparatory coating . . . which adds to their initial cost. They're also 4-1/2 thousandths of an inch thicker than are "standard" sheets of the same pattern, which tacks an additional 10¢ per square foot onto the cost of the collector. But we feel the added expense is justified, since that extra thickness increases the life expectancy of a panel by 100%. And the coating, we found out later, provides a benefit in addition to the durability we'd bargained for: As the black absorber panel ages, its paint begins to wear off . . . but the shiny aluminum underneath does not appear. What appears is aluminum oxide-formed by the action of the preparatory coating with the water and metal-which is gray in color . . . and which turns black as soon as water hits it. So aging does not necessarily mean a loss of efficiency.
Page:
<< Previous 1 |
2 |
3 |
4 | 5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
Next >>
