Hmmm yeah solar works in Oregon

Today we put four systems at bagley downs in to service. At the end of the day, one of the systems ( the first one put into service ) had reached a water temperature of 106 degrees in the storage tanks. For those of you not in Eugene the weather was cloudy with rain showers, about thirty minutes of blueskies and a high temp of 62 degrees.

After nine years in the industry these systems still suprise me.

Rainwater Collection

Rainwater collection system. Notice the filter box. We painted the pipe to match the house.
This is a 3/4 hp pump and the tank foundation.
The tanks are connected at the bottom so they will fill and drain at the same time.

I wanted to share some pics from a rainwater collection system we did in portland the week before last. The are two 620 gallon tanks, oh and the holes are for structural integrity.

Bagley downs update ( Panels )

The sheds are ready for the solar tanks. The pipes are coming up from the crawl space. One is the cold water supply for the tanks and the other carries preheated water to water heaters in each unit. The valve configuration is a by-pass for the solar takes in the event they need to be replaced of serviced. The straps hold the tanks in place in the event of an earth quake. The pads on the floor prevent heat transfer from the tanks to the concrete slab.

The sheds will look nice when they get painted. Notice the pipes running to the roof carrying the heat exchange fluid to the collectors. Can you see the collectors on the roof?

4 SunEarth solar collectors plumbed in parallel.
6,000 lb. reach fork lift delievers collectors to the roof. THANKS Pape' rentals
Is that me sitting down on the job? No of course not. Hahaa
You can't always depend on the 6,000 lb reach fork lift. This is a 1930 scissor lift, it can be operated from the ground.
This pic is taken from the east side of the canal and you can almost see all eight buildings we putting solar on.

What's happening at Bagley Downs Apts.

Please do not "reply" to this email. Responses can be sent directly to l.rabun@pacificsolarandrain.com thanks.

Bagley Downs Apartments consist of eight buildings total, four on the east side of the canal and four on the west side of the canal. The buildings contain four apartments except for the buildings with laundry rooms which only have three apartments. Each building will get four solar collectors and two 120 gallon solar storage tanks. In every unit or laundry room is a water heater that will receive preheated water from the solar tanks.

Because there was no room in the buildings to put the solar tanks, we are building sheds on the exterior of each building to house the tanks. We have had unexpected delays due to underground piping, attic access and structurally supporting the roof, but now we're back on track.

As of today:

The sheds are built for the most part waiting a sheathing inspection after which siding can be installed, the asphalt shingles can be laid and the inside can be insulated and sheathed.

Attic access if complete.

Re-supporting the roofs so we can start setting collectors will happen over the next two days.

Piping from the sheds to the individual units have been run and insulated. A cold water supply line has been run to the sheds.

Stand-offs have been installed and are ready for the collectors to be mounted on the roof.

Mary Skinner apts. are Finished

If you don't receive pictures with this email they can be viewed at www.solarandrain.blogspot.com 

Here are the finish pictures for Mary Skinner apartments.  Everything got insulated and labeled.  EWEB came and inspected the system for completion and all city permits have passed inspection.  We are very happy with the way this project went from start to finnish.  Now that the systems have been leak tested and filled with the heat exchanger fluid they are producing preheated water temperatures up to 120 degrees.  Even in cloudy ol' Eugene!

Pacific Solar and Rain would like to give special thanks to:

St. Vincent depaul

HACSA

Sunearth Solar

Ferguson plumbing supply

Keller plumbing supply

Brigham Construction

EWEB

Started plumbing building 4 today.

Most of the potable water plumbing got finished in the utility room today, but we haven't received the balancing set yet. We should have them tomorrow, until then we'll be insulating more, wiring controllers and plumbing T&P relief valve.

The electrician will be there tomorrow to start wiring the water heaters for the switch over from old WH's to the new WH's

Today we started in building #4. We got the solar loop started and almost done, then started on the potable water plumbing. You can see the solar tree ( pump, flowmeter, fill set and expansion tank ) in the back ground. The water heater is on the left and the two 120 gallon solar tanks ( that are plumbed in parallel) are one the right. We got some insulating done too.

Tomorrow we will have all of the potable water loop done and insulated..

The mechanical room @ Mary Skinner Apts

Solar collecets on top of Mary skinner Apts. sixteen 4' x 10' collectors.

These are the mixing valves for building #3 and the laundry room. The valves mix down the hot water going to the fixture when the water is hotter than 120 degrees. Plumbed in 1" copper

Solar pipes are getting insulated. While the hot water lines from the water heaters to the mixing valves are plumbed. 02/26/2010
The explosion of tools and parts are cleaned up and ready for work on monday.

The mechanical room @ Mary Skinner Apts

The dark gray tank on the right is the expansion tank.
Starting to plumb the heat exchangers on the 120 gallon solar tanks.

The mechanical room @ Mary Skinner

Building 2 tanks.

Laundry and building 3 tanks.
The gray tanks are 80 gallon water heaters ( 3 phase, 18kw, 50 amp ) and the white tanks are 120 gallon solar storage tanks. The system to the left serves building 2 and the tanks in front serve the laundry room and building 3. The tanks are in drain pans and strapped to the wall.

Collector lift @ Mary Skinner

How do you get sixteen 150 lb solar thermal collectors on a two (+) story building? With a 10,000 lb reach fork; No Problem!

4 collectors at a time

4 different buildings

6 hours