Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Hot Water Solar Heat

[R.P. Aditya (aditya]

Hi Kathleen,

On Thu, Apr 24, 2008 at 10:52:12PM -0700, Kathleen Nolan wrote:
> Here at Bellingham Cohousing in Washington state we are working on a
> proposal to install a solar hot water heater on the roof of our common house
> to support the hot water use there, mainly clothes washers and a dishwasher.
> Our members were wondering if there were any other communities that had
> researched this type of solar power or had installed one. If so, what was

At Great Oak Cohousing in Ann Arbor, Michigan we have a solar hot water heater
installed on our common house. There is a lot of information about the
installation, including calculations about the payback period etc. at:

http://www.gocoho.org/campus/ch_sdhw

> your experience? Did it perform as expected? Did you see energy costs go

Yes, our natural gas costs went down, dramatically in summer, somewhat in
winter (there is a table with data on the page above)

> down? What are the maintenance costs? Did the installation go as planned?

installation went as planned, and the maintenance costs have been nil, though
that is partly because the installer has a vested interest in making it work
well as a showcase -- the main problem has been that the flow meter "melted"
during to some very bright days in February! We've removed the flow meter now
and the system is working well, but we can't get as granular statistics
without it...

> What would you do different? Has it presented any problems that you had not
> anticipated? Was the installation cost as expected?Thanks for any
> information you would be willing to share.

The only thing I'd suggest is that new communities provide space for the
buffer tank and a chase from the roof down to that space during construction,
potentially saving you some unsightly, exposed plumbing!

If there are any questions not answered on the above webpage, I'm happy to
provide them.

Hope that helps,
Adi
Great Oak Cohousing
Ann Arbor, MI, USA
http://www.gocoho.org