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Monday, Oct. 8, 2007

Today was a big day for the Aggie team. First, the water arrived from the sponsors, which was used to fill the water supply tank, solar thermal storage tank and the ponds that surround the north side of the house. Unfortunately, there are a few pinhole leaks in the supply tank that require some attention.

The solar thermal loop was put into service in the late afternoon, and is now up and running. In a few hours it raised the temperature of the solar thermal tank from 68 to 80 F. Tomorrow we should see some real heating out of the collector array.

The kitchen sink and dishwasher have been plumbed. The mirror for the bathroom sink is to be shipped overnight from a College Station supplier and will be installed Tuesday. After the mirror arrives, the sink can be installed and plumbed, which completes all the plumbing on the house
(whew!).

Almost all of the decking is in place, and the ponds have been filled with water. The entry and exit ramps are now being constructed and put into place.

Other than the power for the hand tools, all other electricity in the house is now coming from the batteries/PV. The final connections from the PV panels into the batteries need to be completed tonight or early tomorrow. Once this is done the "big" electrical loads can be fired up and tested, including the electric water heaters (just in case there's
no sun), the clothes dryer, heat pump, stove, electric car and dishwasher.

Special software will be used to record and display minute-by-minute power flows so the team can better understand how electricity is being generated by the sun, or used by the appliances, etc.

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