On Mar 31, 1:55 pm, "Morris Dovey" wrote:
GROVER wrote:

| Thank you for posting such interesting pictures of your solar
| installation. It looks like an excellent piece of work and I'm sure
| your customer will be a beneficiary of future lower utility bills.
| Its one small step on the path to make our country less dependent on
| imported fossil fuel.

I'm fairly proud of this installation. Iowa farmers (like farmers
everywhere, I suspect) are very careful about any move away from what
they /know/ works. This customer installed a geothermal heating unit
in his ~3K sqft home and claims that his highest monthly heating cost
over the past two years was $29 (a year ago January) - and he was
courageous enough to be the "guinea pig" for a new panel design. It
knocked my socks off that he was willing to tell me that he was
well-satisfied within a half-hour of a March installation.

Solar heating isn't free (a friendly nod to JClarke here), but the
energy used /is/. I'm not much of an eco-freak, although it might seem
otherwise - but I'm all for anything that harmlessly and inexpensively
improves the quality of life for everyone.

It's not about "big steps" - it's all about small steps - and it's not
so much about where petroleum comes from as the fact that there's only
a finite supply of the stuff and the that supply is being consumed at
a globally accelerating rate. The geopolitics is a result of the
supply situation - not vice versa.

The performance of these two panels is the result of some 35 years of
small steps - small steps like using highly reflective aluminum ribbon
in the heat absorber and /using/ that reflectivity to trap energy,
like bending and spacing that ribbon to trap _all_ wavelengths from RF
to IR, and choosing ribbon dimensions that provide a "black body"
behavior aimed at imparting the absorbed energy to air molecules in an
optimized fashion...with all the limitations of a wood shop with
low-precision tooling and low-cost materials. (I never claimed I don't
enjoy challenges. g)

Lower utility bills? Not a chance! What I've done is provide the
warmth he wanted so he can walk in, turn on the lights, fire up the
dust collection system, and run his multi-horsepower tools when it
might otherwise be too uncomfortable to work in the shop. :-)

--
Morris Dovey
DeSoto Solar
DeSoto, Iowa USAhttp://www.iedu.com/DeSoto/solar.html

The portion of utility bills I refer to are dedicated only to comfort
heating. Any electical usage for ww tools, lighting etc. would be
independent of that amount. The total electrical energy measured at
the meter should be somewhat less than it would have been if the user
had electrical or gas fired comfort heat. The saving per billing
cycle can be layed off against the capital investment of the solar
equipment to determine a payout period. I am not an accountant but I
believe there are some tax advantages for the purchaser of such
equipment.
Unfortunately it does matter where the petroleum comes from since we
import so much foreign oil we must endure the vagaries of the
countries of origen and the economic problems that come from the
balance of payments.
This sounds like a heavy load to put on the back of your solar
devices. But as I originally said you have taken a small step in the
right direction. You said you were proud of your work, as well you
should be. From the photos it appears to be well made with a very
professional look about it.
Joe G