Check out my new battery!

[C4Ranch]

Fantastic work! I'm impressed! Did you consider an electric tankless water heater? Seems it would be more efficient than a heat pump heating a tank of water but I don't know anything about the unit you have admittedly.

 

[greenmojo]

Fantastic work! I'm impressed! Did you consider an electric tankless water heater? Seems it would be more efficient than a heat pump heating a tank of water but I don't know anything about the unit you have admittedly.

Thanks!

I did. I researched smaller units at each end-point, mid-sized units at staged locations in the water system and single centralized instant hot units. In the end, for an off-grid system, in order to heat water on-demand it would have to be LP/NG or not at all.

During daylight hours, we'd have plenty of juice to handle it, its the hours of darkness and winter where we'd pay the price by abusing the battery system.

This new water heater equipped with a heat pump works very similar to new refrigerators. Old refrigerators, turned on to cool the inside, turned off and awaited the inside to reach the programmed high temperature setting before turning on again, etc. One of the problems with this system is that the items in the refrigerator have stored energy and allowing these items to dissipate their energy, only to kick the compressor back on, and cool everything down again, isn't as efficient as it could be.

The idea, is that the heat pump turns on more frequently but doesn't have to run as hard each time to keep the contents of the water heater at the proper temperature. Once the initial heating of water is completed, subsequent heating is much more efficient, and an off-grid system takes less of a pounding. Think of it like a shallow wave length for new systems rather than the previous appliances larger waves.

Additionally, with tank storage, we will be adding a solar heating panel to the roof where it will feed the intake of the hot water heater with its output. With this configuration, the intake on the hot water heater will be receiving water that is already at temperature when there is sunlight.

 

[SirReal63]

Awesome setup. I designed my own with a little help from Norther Arizona Wind and Sun after being told there was no way I could do it by myself by the "professionals". They were wrong, all of it is basically plug and play once you figure out the basics. My little system pales in comparison, just 3.3kW but is enough for the small cabin it is in, it even powers the 48 volt mini split heat pump.

 

[greenmojo]

Awesome setup. I designed my own with a little help from Norther Arizona Wind and Sun after being told there was no way I could do it by myself by the "professionals". They were wrong, all of it is basically plug and play once you figure out the basics. My little system pales in comparison, just 3.3kW but is enough for the small cabin it is in, it even powers the 48 volt mini split heat pump.

Exactly!

I contaced a company in Seattle first and when I said I was interested in doing it myself with help from them, they told me it wasn't possible and stopped returning my calls.

Those mini-splits are awesome aren't they!?

~Moses

 

[SirReal63]

Yes they are, the company is great to deal with too, if you are talking about Hotdpot Energy. I only had one installer offer to help, he sent me the entire solar certification course in .pdf because he was too busy to even come give a quote.

One member here was a huge help with fine tuning and protecting the system, TnAndy.

NAWS is also great, they checked over my plan, suggested a better solar panel and j bought it all from them except the batteries, which I got locally. I am only running 16-305ah 6 volt batteries but it has been more than enough. Off grid Outback system with grid backup. We have electricity but the cabin/guest house was designed to be self sufficient. On demand hot water and LP stove with led lighting. I wanted to do the main house as well but won't because our electricity is cheap and reliable. That and the construction is killing the budget. We went from 2000 sq ft to over 3500 with no regrets.

 

[greenmojo]

Yes they are, the company is great to deal with too, if you are talking about Hotdpot Energy. I only had one installer offer to help, he sent me the entire solar certification course in .pdf because he was too busy to even come give a quote.

One member here was a huge help with fine tuning and protecting the system, TnAndy.

NAWS is also great, they checked over my plan, suggested a better solar panel and j bought it all from them except the batteries, which I got locally. I am only running 16-305ah 6 volt batteries but it has been more than enough. Off grid Outback system with grid backup. We have electricity but the cabin/guest house was designed to be self sufficient. On demand hot water and LP stove with led lighting. I wanted to do the main house as well but won't because our electricity is cheap and reliable. That and the construction is killing the budget. We went from 2000 sq ft to over 3500 with no regrets.

That's awesome. And yes, when electricity is cheap and there, use it.

How long have you been running your system? And where is it located at? We have a neighbor up here with an off-grid vacation cabin, its fun to see how others are setup and see what works.

~Moses

 

[SirReal63]

Running a little over a year in Bertram Tx, roof mounted and we are living in this little 24x24 place with 14' walls and a 12x24 loft while I build the main house, mostly by myself. How soon do you hope to have the rest of the system finished?

I am jealous because you are doing what we had originally wanted but if we ever do it, it will be a retrofit but the house is set up so it can be added easily.

 

[greenmojo]

Running a little over a year in Bertram Tx, roof mounted and we are living in this little 24x24 place with 14' walls and a 12x24 loft while I build the main house, mostly by myself. How soon do you hope to have the rest of the system finished?

I am jealous because you are doing what we had originally wanted but if we ever do it, it will be a retrofit but the house is set up so it can be added easily.

When building this all myself, the most difficult part is managing time between working outside on the land, finishing the inside of the house or working on the power and water systems.

I'll have the majority of the power system done this year, with inevitable upgrades (why I went with a modular system).

The finishing on the house is happening quickly (as quickly as I can), I am focusing on mud and tape, priming and painting this next week and then flooring. Matter of fact, the house got its first fully functional shower this afternoon.

A lot of people misunderstand. It takes a lot to mold raw land into a water and power bearing monster and construct a home on it by yourself. Most people ask "is your house done?" ... I don't even know how to answer, because it isn't something that I can say is 'finished'.

~Moses

~Moses

 

[SirReal63]

When building this all myself, the most difficult part is managing time between working outside on the land, finishing the inside of the house or working on the power and water systems.

I'll have the majority of the power system done this year, with inevitable upgrades (why I went with a modular system).

The finishing on the house is happening quickly (as quickly as I can), I am focusing on mud and tape, priming and painting this next week and then flooring. Matter of fact, the house got its first fully functional shower this afternoon.

A lot of people misunderstand. It takes a lot to mold raw land into a water and power bearing monster and construct a home on it by yourself. Most people ask "is your house done?" ... I don't even know how to answer, because it isn't something that I can say is 'finished'.

~Moses

~Moses

This is my exact world! The best part for me is when people realize that I am basically doing everything by myself, and we started its unimproved land. It opens their eyes and so far the response has been amazing. I am at walls and in a few weeks there will be A/C then I can work past noon each day. I am too old to work in 100 degree heat so I work like a maniac until it gets too hot.

One nice thing about this forum, there are many who do it and understand completely.

 

[greenmojo]

This is my exact world! The best part for me is when people realize that I am basically doing everything by myself, and we started its unimproved land. It opens their eyes and so far the response has been amazing. I am at walls and in a few weeks there will be A/C then I can work past noon each day. I am too old to work in 100 degree heat so I work like a maniac until it gets too hot.

One nice thing about this forum, there are many who do it and understand completely.

Why I love this forum!

It can be strange to know for sure that nobody else has done it, then jump on here and find out that its all been done before and a group of guys knows a better way to do it.

What type of A/C are you installing? We are going with Mitsubishi ductless systems for the house.

~Moses