Twinsprings Research Institute

Next Steps

Posted on October 11, 2022 by ellen

This summer was the culmination of ten years of work on the house. We had to push to finish the major LEED features of the remodel because we had an end of June deadline for evaluation under LEED 2009 version 3. But we switched to LEED version 4.1 anyway because it was a free upgrade and obviously easier for Energy Logic, the company that evaluated us. Their expertise had kept up with the times.

Our formal award of LEED Platinum happened at the end of June but our project is still underway. Looking back it was a summer of repairs. The spa controls burned out and when I replaced them a pipe junction broke and the blower leak never did stop despite various fixes. We got the new spa cover but never received the cover lifter. Of course the cover is not functioning with no water in the spa.
We took a few trips in the RV and had some issues. In March we ran into a concrete pole and scraped the side. We waited for the repair shop from shortly after we returned home until after our RV trip to Indiana. That was mid-August.

The RV air conditioner also stopped working and I have warranty insurance with a $500 deductible. It cost $600 to find out that it was a wiring issue in the thermostat and the shop replaced it with a lower quality version without bluetooth. We left for a three week trip to Indiana and I didnt realize at first that it was the wrong thermostat. I complained when we returned home but they couldn’t connect me to the account person I used. I called with messages but didn’t hear back. Apparently they never sent the paperwork to the insurance either but I realized $160 of the charge was for a ”courtesy inspection” which probably was not covered by the policy. So the work didn’t meet the deductible after all.

I finally realized it would be easier to just replace the thermostat with the upgrade myself. In the meantime I learned about the air conditioner capacitors and a slow start capacitor I may install in the future. It takes the drag off the air conditioner startup that requires more watts than the running motor so that the inverter could run the air while driving. But the inverter stopped working on our way home from Indiana. I removed it while we took the RV to the body shop and realized that the power cord lug was so loose it blew the fuse. I bought a new tool to fix that.

We visited our daughter and family in Germany and got to see their new home in Wurselen in late August.
I left the off set toilet in the master bath mostly installed after the seal broke and sewer gas was leaking into the house. I still need to apply the base caulk.

Most of September I spent working on small trim and paint jobs and I fixed the Old Hickory couch support in the house and re-covered some kitchen chairs getting ready for the solar home tour.

Now the summer is over and the tour is over and there are a few weeks of lovely weather ahead of another trip to Indiana for a wedding. So I have a list of things to get done!

The edging of the patio blocks was left undone because every block has to be cut and fitted.
The back door siding was never finished and the weather has stripped the area of its air barrier membrane. There is a small piece of siding left for it.
The garage will remain cedar but it was only partially painted. I ordered Vermont Natural coatings paint but the wood has to be power washed first.
The patio door trim is peeling and needs to be scraped, the wood filled and repainted.
The reused baseboard needs to be washed and painted and installed.
Some areas of the house still need wood and log trim.
The workshop in the garage needs to be cleared to park a car for the winter.
The spa piping needs to be fixed and piping for thermal solar installed at the same time.
I’d like to set up the solar water heater collectors.

There are more projects left from the summer list but I’m relegating the indoor tasks to the winter list. These outdoor projects are the next steps. They should keep me busy for awhile.

Posted in Construction, Finishes, Maintenance and Repair, Patio, Planning, Solar, Spa | Comments Off

Metro Denver Green Homes Tour

Posted on October 11, 2022 by ellen

This is a big deal at least for the committee that puts it together. We work from January through November to offer the tour to the public on the National Solar Tour day, the first Saturday in October. The tour is sponsored by the American Solar Energy Society and the New Energy Colorado orgaization.

Organizing the tour involves finding green home owners willing to have their houses open to the public on tour day; having sponsors and vendors who support the tour with ads and vendor tables; advertising the tour in newspapers, the radio and community bulletins; working with social media accounts to spread the word; designing flyers and logos; setting up ticket sales and attendance; recruiting and organizing volunteers to be docents at the homes and registration; interviewing owners and taking photos of the homes; writing and publishing a full color booklet with the featured homes, green home information and sponsor ads and creating a large paper map of the home locations.

There is a volunteer organizational meeting the Thursday evening before the tour to hand out materials and assign tasks for the day of the tour. We serve pizza and snacks and drinks. After the tour there is a two hour expo in the registration hall with food and music and vendors and the radio broadcasters from the local ”Fixit” show. And there is a lecture series in weeks leading up to the tour day.

All registrants also receive a monthly newsletter from Solar Citisuns, a user group sponsored by New Energy Colorado.

The 27th annual tour was a success with over 250 participants. It’s an honor to serve on the committee with an amazing group of energy efficiency experts. Next month we get busy reviewing this tour and improving the tour for next year.

Posted in Energy Efficiency, Outreach | Comments Off

A Boiler/Fireplace Boiler/Hot Water Question

Posted on October 7, 2022 by ellen

Another good question, this one from our volunteer guide, was about the specifics of our radiant hot water and domestic hot water piping. Could I provide a diagram about how it all worked together? I had never put both systems on the same diagram. I started with the diagrams I had of the fireplace/gas boiler interaction. This is the logic of how the fireplace boiler operates to send warmed water to the heat exchanger to transfer heat to the gas boiler water.

Fireplace Boiler Logic Diagram wo Storage — Fireplace Boiler Logic Diagram

The fireplace boiler water forms a closed loop separate from the gas boiler water in the radiant system. The fireplace water has some steel pipes while the rest is all pex, copper, or stainless steel. The steel pipes degrade the water so the stainless steel heat exchanger keeps the water systems apart and both boilers are piped to transfer the heat from the fireplace water to the gas heated water.

Brazed plate heat exchanger with plates expanded to show water flow

The gas boiler water is always routed through the heat exchanger even when there is not a fire. The return water should be at least 20 degrees cooler than the water that is sent to the flooring so the extra trip through the exchanger helps cool that water and improve the boiler’s condensing efficiency.

When there is a fire, the return water picks up heat from the fireplace boiler water and is warm enough to circulate through the boiler and on to the radiant pipes. I noticed that the previous fireplace boiler diagrams all had the storage tank which I removed some time ago. This is the diagram with the piping going directly to the heat exchanger.

Dibble Boiler Piping without storage tank

There is an unfortunate error in this diagram. The expansion tanks are shown on the cold side of the pipes when of course they are on the hot side as they are meant to expand as the water in the pipes expands with heat.

I noticed that and fixed it when I was adding the domestic hot water loop to the old diagram. I made a few other changes to show the household hot water path and explained that when the boiler functions as an instant hot water heater the radiant heat is off while the water is being heated for household use. If needed, it automatically turns back on when water is no longer flowing through the separate pipes inside the boiler that heat our hot water.

This diagram also shows that the return radiant pipe water is connected to the primary loop and not to the secondary loop as in the old diagram. In the primary loop on the gas water boiler the water just circulates into and out of the boiler. It is the required primary loop size for the dual loop system to function. The secondary loop pump pulls the heated water from the primary loop and circulates it to the valves that are controlled by the thermostats and the valve controller electronics. In this diagram I include the hot water entering the distribution valves and returning to the boiler to pick up more heat. When the room is warm enough the boiler and the pumps will shut down. So one thermostat must always call for heat when the fireplace boiler is on. That is not difficult as the radiator fed bedrooms over the crawlspace of the house are usually colder than the slab area. So we send the heat there by turning up that thermostat over 70°.

Cold water that is heated for use in the house is piped to a separate loop in the gas boiler. This is an open system not a closed loop like the radiant piping. Water flows freely from the well pressure tank into the boiler. There is a hot water recirculation pump that pulls water from the pressure tank through the loop in the floor that is the “trunk” of our hot water system before we open a faucet. The water then flows through the gas boiler’s instant hot water piping and back to the hot water pipes.

The recirculation pump runs for 15 minutes after being signaled on by a remote control. But it also has a built in thermostat (thermo sensor) that shuts it off at 120°. If within the 15 minutes the temperature drops below 120° then the pump turns on again. So from the first signal to turn on the entire trunk is heated within in a couple of minutes and it won’t begin to lose heat for 15 minutes when the circulating pump turns off because of the 15 minute timer. The “twigs” in the diagram below are the shorter lengths of pipe that feed the faucets from the nearby trunk flow. Only the cold water in these short pipes needs to be replaced by hot when the faucets turn on. This wastes as little water as possible before the warm water leaves the faucets. The boiler keeps heating household water until the faucet or appliance is turned off. The dishwasher has its own hot water heat function that boosts the heat from the boiler and we usually wash clothes in cold water.

The Triangle Tube Challenger Combi boiler that we installed in 2012 is a very efficient use of gas to run our household heat and hot water. Right now the push is to eliminate gas use at the home level and electrify homes including electric induction stoves and cold weather heat pumps. It is something we will think about when our boiler stops being repairable. But we use much less gas for heat, cooking and hot water than an average Colorado home uses just for heat (Electric heat converted to therms). The figures were from a Colorado Extension report.

I spoke with a vendor at the Metro Denver Green Homes Tour Expo who used to sell the Challenger boilers but said his customers had reliability issues. I was hopeful that would only be true if the boilers were not maintained or fed the specific water ph and mineral content that was specified as we do. We have not had the problems but we do flush the boiler and the pipes every couple of years and we make sure the pipes have no air in them before the boiler is turned on for the year. The water is within the recommended ph and is treated for mineral content and carbon filtered. The calcium is suspended in the water with an electronic magnetic filter that keeps the molecules from clinging tightly together so less likely to be deposited in the boiler or pipes. So far that has kept the boiler reliable for us. I’ve read that the lifetime expectation for these boilers is 15-25 years so maybe in 5-10 more years it will have to be replaced. By then I hope there will be a much more energy efficient alternative.

Posted in Condensing Modulating Gas Boiler, Fireplace Boiler, Outreach, Radiant Heat | Comments Off

A Metro Denver Green Homes Tour You Tube Interview

Posted on October 5, 2022 by ellen

We had a wonderful offer to help spread the word about the tour this year from Joan Gregerson, a local real estate agent who is savvy about energy efficiency in buildings. She recruited a few volunteers as home tour guides and developed some graphics for ads.
Joan also produces The Denver Green Living Channel, a video blog about homes and energy efficiency that features efforts by leaders, businesses and organizations in our area of Colorado.

She provided an opportunity to help advertise the upcoming Denver Metro Green Homes tour. She interviewed me about the tour and aired a video tour of my home that I narrated. Posted at:

Denver Green Living Channel 9/19/22

Thanks to Joan and several other media and press outlets contacted by our public relations committee members, we had over 250 participants in this year’s tour.

Posted in Energy Efficiency, LEED Project, Outreach | Comments Off

Is the Tesla Roof Worth It?

Posted on October 4, 2022 by ellen

We were on the Metro Denver Green Homes Tour last Saturday. It occurs each year on the first Saturday of October which is the National Solar tour day. We were a site to see the Tesla Solar roof and our Powerwalls as well as other energy saving ideas that helped us earn LEED Platinum certification.
Visitors asked us if the roof was worth the money it cost. I explained yes by asking what else is this expensive? Typically a higher end new car costs in the vicinity of our roof but our roof pays us back for the next 25 years at least while the new car just costs more money.

My second consideration was that our roof was 17 years old and had been through several hailstorms. It was time to replace the roof. A typical shingle roof would have cost say $8 a square foot, some are cheaper some more expensive. But a class 4 hailproof dimensional shingle would cost about $15 a square foot and solar panels cost about $10 a square foot, although panels are typically rated by watts not size. The Tesla roof is made of tempered glass tiles and designed to look like slate. An even higher end slate roof would cost $20-$25 per square foot and up. The cost for both a new high quality roof and 16 kw of panels would add up quickly.

Higher wattage panels are larger than lower wattage panels but take better advantage of space available. They require a long lasting roof installed under them or you risk having to remove the panels, install a new roof, and have the panels re-installed on the new roof. Tesla tiles each cost more for the solar than their plain roof tiles, but the average cost per square foot was estimated at $20 to install them. Installation on a complex roof might cost more.

Tesla solar roof tiles are rated as 72.67 watts. The tiles are fewer watts per square foot than the 400 watt panels but not by much. I can’t install solar panels to the extent that they can be integrated on our roof. They can’t be mounted all the way to the peak or around protrusions. Plus estimates of the actual cost per solar watt installed is about $1.80 for the Tesla roof tiles and the typical installed panel cost per watt is currently about $3 in Colorado. So it makes good sense to install as many of the solar tiles as possible. In Colorado that’s up to two times the yearly amount consumed by the customer for grid-tied systems. The solar tiles unlike the filler tiles, are not only an excellent roof but produce power so are much more valuable. A large area of our south facing roof is flat or nearly flat shown as light gray in the diagram. The garage roof points south and a small area points east but the rest of the roof faces north.

Our roof is slightly over 16,000 watts. it includes all the wiring and inverters to run our system. It would take 40 400 watt panels costing about $48,000 without the extra equipment to get that much power! So the articles that I read that say you can get cheaper solar and a new roof do not seem to make financial sense. Certainly you cannot get a slate quality roof and a full solar grid-tied system any cheaper.

I may have been one of the lucky ones who actually had a Tesla solar roof installed. During my research for this article I read that installation has been halted. No official reason but the guess is a shortage of the solar glass tiles and a booming business in panel installs. Our roof is version 3 and an updated version 3.5 is being developed.

My conclusion is that there is resistance to new ideas. Only when early adopters, and like the Tesla cars they are consumers with more money, start to spend on a new idea does it become mainstream. When we first bought a Honda hybrid in 2002 the articles about the cars discouraged purchasing the new technology. No shops can repair them, never save in gas enough for the additional cost, technology not sufficiently proven. Yet the same writers thought nothing of recommending the latest expensive bells and whistles on non-hybrid cars. Paying for those fancy technologies were what they knew. Luckily the car buying public ignored them and the cars became popular. I suspect the same will happen with solar roofs.

Rear view solar roof — Rear view of our solar roof

Posted in Energy Efficiency, Green Building Interests, Roofing, Solar | Comments Off

I’m on the Radio!

Posted on September 25, 2022 by ellen

I was advertising the Metro Denver Green Homes Tour. Our house is on the tour again this year. We had our house on the tour in 2017 when we were about halfway finished installing LEED requirements and attempting to earn points for the Platinum level certificate. This year we are again on the tour having earned enough points for Platinum certification and to achieve Net Zero status.

After our house was on the tour I became involved with the planning committee. I have been working to coordinate volunteers and provide the materials and information they need to be docents for the homes on the tour. They assist the homeowners to direct guests to the energy efficient features of the homes.

I was available for the interview spot on KLVZ radio 810 AM today. I spoke with Adam from Bestway Insulation who hosts the “Fixit” show, letting homeowners know about improving their homes. Adam’s mom, Debbie, alternates hosting the show on many Saturdays and is the owner of the Bestway Insulation company.

I downloaded the station app and recorded the show when it repeated today. Then it was not straightforward how to export the recording to a music file. I finally found the share button on the file and saved it as a wav file because I read it preserves the best qualuty audio. I imported the file into iTunes and had iTunes create the mpg for export to other players.

Now I just have to be ready for the volunteer orientation on Thursday and the tour next Saturday.

Posted in Energy Efficiency, Green Building Interests | Comments Off

Chaffee County Green Homes Tour

Posted on September 20, 2022 by ellen

The woman who heads up the Metro Denver Green Homes Tour also works with organizations in Chaffee County to organize a green homes tour near Salida and Buena Vista. She recruits members of the Denver team to spend a beautiful weekend in the mountains helping with the tour and this is the second year Dave and I have taken the opportunity.

We have a lot of storage space in the RV and John Avenson puts together a fascinating display of various energy saving ideas for homeowners. We carried the supplies in the RV storage areas and inside. We were pretty full of stuff!

This display was set up at the Farmer’s Market in Salida this year and the individuals who attended the house tour stopped by to pick up the information about the tour addresses. This year we also had an online registration to sign up and get the addresses through tickets. It was a bit more difficult to get the information out using the program than we thought. But it helped to try it at the smaller tour before our big tour October 1st.

Booth at the farmer's market — Booth at the farmer’s market

There were five homes to tour this year. The brochure gave a little information about each home.

This was one of the homes that was featured this year.

About 85 people registered for the free tour. It was a beautiful day with several other events happening at the same time in the area. The team felt the tour was a success.

Posted in Energy Efficiency, Green Building Interests | Comments Off

Colorado Average Home Gas Use vs. Ours

Posted on September 14, 2022 by ellen

We are getting ready for the Metro Denver Green Homes Tour on October 1st. Our home was on the tour in 2017. Since then we have finished the LEED certification as a Platinum Green and Net Zero home. So we are excited to be on the tour again this year.

One of the sustainability issues that has become more prominent in recent years is the greenhouse gas produced by household use of natural gas and propane. Although these fuels are more efficient than electricity for heat they contribute more to the atmospheric pollution than central electric that is produced with renewable energy. So many green homes are phasing out the use of gas.

My neighbor and fellow Green Home Tour committee member, John Avenson, had the gas turned off at his home several years ago when he reinsulated his home with layers of polyiso. He no longer needed gas and uses mini split heat pumps when his solar does not produce enough during inclement weather.

Of course I was not aware of this issue when I planned for heating our home and hot water. We also found a used gas range top for cooking although the oven is electric convection. We use a combination instant hot water heater and boiler and radiant system to supplement the solar heat in our house. But how much gas do we use compared to the average Colorado home?

I was able to find averages by month on the Colorado State University Extension website. Their figures were just for heating but my figures are for all our household uses including hot water and cooking. The data was published in 2019 so it is probably at least 4 years old but unless lots of homes have become more energy efficient they are probably close to today’s average use.

I keep a record of our monthly energy use downloaded from the xcel website. I get annoyed that they keep changing the data structure so I have to fill in my spreadsheets by hand from more than one source on the site. I suppose they think they are making it easier. Well, not for me!

I graphed the data in Excel and I was only mildly surprised to see that for the year we average about 26% of the average Colorado household use. Our house at 2213 square ft may be on the smaller side of average but 74% less use is pretty significant. Red is the Colorado average, blue is our use for 2021.

This is one of the signs I will print and laminate for our solar tour. I have solar roof first year data that I want to post too.

Posted in Appliances, Condensing Modulating Gas Boiler | Comments Off

Inverter Repair

Posted on September 10, 2022 by ellen

On our last trip when we were almost home we tried to turn on the inverter and it was dead. We were dropping it off at the shop for repairs to the body from when we scraped the side on concrete posts at a dump. I just removed it along with lots of other supplies and equipment. I discovered that the fuse on the power cable was blown. When I picked it up the short cord that attached it to the inverter fell apart. No wonder the inverter stopped working.

I had a replacement fuse but I was concerned about the quality of my wire builds. I used a vice to crimp them but I read the best crimps are made with a hydraulic wire press. Since I love tools and I will need to check other crimps I decided to buy one. It is an amazing tool. I wish I had known about it when I made the original wires.

Each set of dies fits a different guage wire. The dies have to be matched to the correct size. I found that the dies also will compact the wires to fit a lug back on after it falls off. The press has a knob that opens the hydraulic piston and the handle is pumped until the lug is firmly clamped. The knob turned the other way releases the piston. The wire was properly crimped and shrink-wrapped.

I reassembled the inverter and installed it and it worked! Then I checked the monitoring equipment that all had to be updated. Thats the problem with electronics they always need attention.

I realized the wifi reporting Cerbo was disconnected. Power to the device was reading 9 volts instead of 12. I didn’t remember where the wire was connected but I followed it to the battery compartment and discovered a broken neutral. That was easily fixed but I used the wrong type of wire (solid not stranded) so I’ll have to replace it eventually.
In the endless procession of RV repairs and maintenance this one was relatively easy.

Posted in Maintenance and Repair, RV Camping | Comments Off

Trombe Wall in September

Posted on September 8, 2022 by ellen

The Trombe wall is too effective in the hot sunny days of September. The sun is lower in the sky so the overhang is not wide enough to shade the front.

Even opening the windows at night and using fans to bring in more cool air only cools this heat sink of a house a few degrees. I’m going to have to find a solution for this problem.

John Avenson a fellow Solar CitiSun in Colorado has installed automated rolling shutters similar to those in Germany. I bet that was an expensive solution but it works! I just needed a temporary solution since there are only a few hot days left. My son was discarding sets of plastic blinds so I used them.

First I took all the narrow blinds and cut off the mechanisms. I used these short vanes to cover the 2’ overhang just to see if they would work for this. I tried using the nail gun to attach them but the nails went right through so I switched to the staple gun. They seem to be a good cover even though 2 ft is not enough in September.

I hung the largest brown set of blinds from the log trim on the largest area, they are not quite long or wide enough but cover a good portion of the wall.

Then I ordered black patio door window curtains. But when they arrived I thought I would use them outside. Hanging them from the overhang created shade on the front door and Trombe wall. So I hung another blind from the overhang too. I had a broken shade from our old RV that also provided the needed shade. These shades will not work in high winds though!

Next year I may try roll up blinds that can be installed in front of the wall panels. All this is temporary and will be removed when it gets cool.

Posted in Air Intrusion/Thermal Envelope, Reduce Reuse Recycle, Trombe Wall | Comments Off

A Sunday in Wuppertal

Posted on September 7, 2022 by ellen

Dave noticed a site in Germany on Atlas Obscura, a website devoted to unusual places and experiences. Wurppertal features a hanging suspension train that was not too far away from Wurselen by trains. Clare researched the route and we decided to take a lovely Sunday to visit this interesting sight.

We started on a regional train near Wurselen and changed trains in Cologne. We passed the love lock bridge fence over the Rhine River. Another famous and interesting site. I heard it has to be stripped of the heavy locks periodically.

We hopped on another regional train at Cologne and arrived within a short walk of the first suspension station. On the way we could observe the train set up and action. The train is quite old. It was an invention at the turn of the 20th century looking for a place to be built. The cities near Wuppertal decided to volunteer. The area was one of the first industrialized area in Germany. The first part of the train was completed in 1902. The train and track recently underwent refurbishment.

We soon arrived at the station and awaited the next train.

The train arrives on the other side of the station and empties the passengers then makes a loop to the pick up side. Once it arrived we got a close up look at the rail and wheel system.

The track went down the city streets and even through a building, then for quite a long time over the small Wupper River, a tributary of the Rhine. We passed a Bayer plant where aspirin was invented.

We left the train at the historic city center and strolled through town to a lovely outdoor ice cream parlor with large red shady umbrellas over the tables.

After our treats we walked to the main train station and returned to Wurselen. It was a perfect Sunday outing. The sign shows the stops we made on the hanging train.

Posted in Grandkids, Travel | Comments Off

New Home in Germany

Posted on September 6, 2022 by ellen

We were home from Indiana for a week and then off to Wurselen, Germany to visit our daughter and family. They purchased a new home last fall but had a long wait until the sale was completed. It is not unusual in Germany to sell while building a new house and have the buyers wait until completion. The home they found was within walking distance of their old apartment. They wanted to stay in town where the kids were enrolled in the Gymnasium (5th-13th grade). They wanted to be able to walk to transportation and shops. Row houses are very popular in Germany. Most main streets are lined with them. Both the row houses and the long yards remind me of the homes on the South side of Chicago where I was born, the grandchild of German immigrants.

Many of these house are quite old but their house is newer, built in 1996. It has a certification as an energy saving home with solar panels on the roof, and high quality German windows. It even has an underground cistern in the backyard in case of water shortages.

German homes are quite different from those in the USA. There are a lot of brick exteriors and stone and tile interiors with very little hardwood or carpet. There are several floors and the entry floor is often not the main living area. Another desirable German home feature is automated metal outside shutters for the windows. They completely darken the room when desired.

The front entry is on the side of the house beside the driveway. It has a deep earth-bermed garage that could fit two cars front to back. There is an old school house next door and the area will be developed as a park although the fate of the school is not determined.

Old school next door park behind it — Old school next door with park behind it

Across from the school and parking lot there is an independent grocery store that is so convenient that the family often walks over to pick up supplies for dinner.

In this house the entry floor is a one bedroom mother in law apartment with a full bath, living room, kitchen and central dining room. Inside this entry are steps leading to the basement and the main floor.

Basement with three floors above — Steps from entry to main floor

The basement has several useful rooms. One has a small workbench, another is a utility room where my daughter has her office, another is an office for her husband. There is a nice size room for the musical instruments that insulates the sound from the house next door. Another large room is the laundry room.

Laundry room with door to outside steps to ground level

The basement also has a complete bathroom with a shower, sink, toilet and infrared sauna that does not appear to be working.

Both kitchens are complete. Germans often take all their kitchen cabinets and appliances with them when they move. They also usually take the light fixtures. Although the older couple also left several pieces of furniture and a few light fixtures for the family, some pieces were also purchased from them.

Updated kitchen — Updated first floor kitchen

The main floor consists of a living room, dining room with a powder room, and a large eat in kitchen. There are large windows in each room so the shared wall is not noticed. In the corner is a specially built “Russian” fireplace. These are constructed with a labyrinth of chimney and heat sink surround that will fire up with a roaring blaze then bank for a long time behind the corner glass door.

Natural light from large window/door to balcony

On the third floor there are three bedrooms and a large bathroom. The floating vanity does not provide much storage so they found a modern cabinet that fits perfectly next to the shower. All the bathrooms have the same tile and tile trim. Another unusual feature is that all the bedroom doors have windows. This helps bring natural light into the interior hallway.

The largest garden house has cabinets and built in seating inside for entertainment. There is a covered patio outside. There are three other sheds in the yard and several large woodsheds. The owners had prepared for multiple winters before they decided to move so most of the firewood sheds are full. The large brick chimney in the background is attached to an abandoned factory that is due to be torn down and replaced with new homes.

During this visit the family was all working and attending school. So we spent our time enjoying the yard and the neighborhood and accomplishing a few little helpful projects. I installed magnetic screens on a couple of windows and fixed a stained glass light that needed one socket reconnected. I tested another light to be sure it was operating before they tried to hang it. I also laced some vinyl strips into the fence at the rear of the property. They wanted every other row of the wire fence covered for privacy from the park area. The fencing is sturdy wire on a concrete base with bolted uprights. It is a common type of fence there. I completed the whole area of fencing with three rows of vinyl. The building behind the birdbath is one of the garden houses.

We are happy for the family having such a nice place for the kids to finish their schooling and enjoy family times together. Getting such a large house with plenty of guest space was very thoughtful of them. We love visiting and seeing the changes in our growing grandchildren.

Posted in Friends and Family, Grandkids, Travel | Comments Off

The ”Region”

Posted on August 16, 2022 by ellen

I was born in Chicago but grew up in Northern Indiana near the steel mills and oil refineries. The area was known as the Calumet region (near the Little Calumet River) and shortened to the ”Region” in the rest of the state. We were considered tough and worldly wise but our town of Highland was far from that. A couple of my cousins and my brother still live in the general area. So it was a good place to stop for a visit.
We happened to be there during an all class high school reunion and my cousin and I attended. Most of the classmates there had stayed in the area. My class of 1970 missed its 50 year reunion twice due to Covid but not many made it to this one. I was disappointed but the evening was in the high 90’s and 80% humidity and several locals understandably stayed home.

We had a break from camper living and stayed in the air conditioned house. Only had one morning to enjoy the patio when it was a little cooler.

We had a wonderful time visiting my cousin and her husband and getting together with my brother and sister-in-law for cookouts and dinners out.

My cousin took me to the Veteren’s Memorial in Munster to see the brick my sister placed for my dad. She and my other cousin also ordered them.

Memorial brick at the Munster Veterans Park

We had the rest of week three planned for another reunion. I went to high school for two years with a very small group of girls. Our school was so small it closed after our sophomore year. But we had strong ties to those memories and two of us traveled to camp near a few of the others at Cedar Lake. We tried to entice more of our classmates to join us but though that didn’t happen we had five of us. We thoroughly enjoyed a nice dinner at a Cedar Lake restaurant and a cookout at a lovely Crown Point farmstead built by one of the families.

Cedar Lake sunset at The Lighthouse Restaurant

Fortunately the hot and humid weather finally broke and we could sit outside comfortably. For some of us it had been 54 years since we had been together and it felt like yesterday. What an amazing thing time and life changing memories are.

We were gone quite a while and we missed our grandkids so we hurried home. We were on the road 11 hours the first day and 7 the next. I love travel in the RV.

Posted in Friends and Family, RV Camping | Comments Off

Indiana Hot

Posted on August 16, 2022 by ellen

We had a lovely time visiting Indiana for three weeks and timed it perfectly for some very hot and humid weather. We drove the RV and stayed with friends and visited others first in Spencer. We were able to camp at a friends’ pond and picnic shelter site. Prettier and more comfortable than any campground.

We took several days to drive out camping twice in Kansas not far off the highway.

We met friends near Kansas City and stayed in my second cousin’s driveway near St Louis one night enjoying their company.
In Spencer we partied with friends and grown kids and grandkids! The families all doing well and so much fun to see the kids and kids of kids. And the greenhouse and truck farm business of some of these kids is thriving.

Our Spencer campsite came with this gorgeous sunset after a taco birthday party at the shelter. We also got to see a few fireflies.

We stopped by to see the changes made by the new owners of our homestead. They removed the brick wall and cookstove to install a much bigger EPA approved stove to heat the house.

We also visited a dear friend of many years and relaxed at her country estate in Bloomington. Then visited our friends in southern Monroe County who have purchased a home closer to their grandkids and will be selling their 40 years of building their beautiful homestead. They also took us to see the new house with all its renovations and we spent a last night with them at the old place

Our friends homestead about to be sold too

We spent a week in Owen County then were on our way up north to visit relatives.

Posted in Friends and Family, RV Camping, Spencer House | Comments Off

Difficult Offset Toilet Drain Repair

Posted on July 25, 2022 by ellen

When we decided to insulate the knee wall on the east side of the remodel the toilet drain ended up too close to the wall. Unfortunately the type of offset fitting I bought was a ”bowl” type instead of an angled drain.

Slant type offset with stainless steel flange

The problems with this offset were the plastic flange that first cracked and eventually broke off and the huge oval opening that I tried to cover with a new flange.

I had several plastic flanges for some reason and a bigger brass flange that I screwed to the original plastic flange during a previous repair. That one was too large and I couldn’t drill holes in the porcelain tile with my masonry bit. Even after adding mortar at the floor level the gap was still too large to screw down the flange. I did not know how to seal the flange to the pipe below either. The next step had to be removing the old flange fitting.

Old bowl type released more easily than expected

I cut the edge of the flange off completely with the multtool. Then I only had to cut out two sections and the fitting popped out. I cut the sections with both the multitool and the reciprocating saw with fine toothed blades. Then I used a hammer and chisel to split them off the inside pipe.

Once the fitting came out I vacuumed out the debris and prepared for the new fitting. I scrubbed the inside of the pipe with a gray abrasive 3m pad and sanded with wet/dry sand paper. When I placed the new fitting, the gap was still too large to screw into for the new stainless steel ring so I mixed up more mortar.

Not enough to provide underpinning for flange — Not enough surface to provide underpinning for flange

I found that a jar from a medicine I take fit perfectly in the drain hole. I filled in the gap but ran out of mortar before the top level and had to mix more.
It’s tricky to mix just enough mortar. I could have had another scoop to level the top but there is enough here to hold screws.

The trick was to keep the jar loose enough that it will pull out when the mortar is semi-dry. I did this by rotating the jar a little. Eventually I just pulled it out though I had to whack it with a hammer to loosen it from the damp mortar. It was a good decision to remove it because there was not enough space for the slant of the fixture and I had to carve away the front of the filled mortar. It took several fittings to get a close fit and then I leveled the flange and screwed it down. Notice the gold rag sealing out sewer smells while I worked.

I decided not to use a wax seal. They require an accurate placement of the toilet. When the toilet is moved around to contact the bolts the wax squishes unevenly. I ordered a Sani seal foam rubber seal instead. This is the gasket I used on all the toilets but after they are crushed into place over time they also cannot be reused. The last time I fixed this toilet I could not find one so had to use wax. They make such a mess and it was skewed and probably leaking when I removed it.

I had to use shims under the flange because when I glued the fitting it stopped before the flange hit the floor. I must not have carved out enough mortar. It was after 5 when the ring was shimmed and ready for the toilet. The flange was still within a half inch of the floor so I thought the toilet would still sit on the floor.

Even without water in it the toilet is heavy. I half dragged it over to the flange and lifted it on the bolts which were in the right place. I had used a set off washers and nuts to keep them secure while I mounted the toilet.

Unfortunately there was no obvious rag plugging the pipe at this point. I may have pushed it further down the pipe when I vacuumed. The toilet sat higher than I wanted but the floor is really out of level so I leveled the toilet with more shims.

I reconnected the water and flushed and thought, ”Oh no! Did I leave the rag in the pipe?” I looked around and the rag was not in the bathroom.

I notice it’s not a good idea to keep working after 5 when I’m physically and mentally tired. That’s when I cut my thumb on the table saw. It was after 5 with one more task before I wanted to quit. The thumb is healed except for the loss of feeling at the tip. It has a hard area under the scar that should go away in a few months.

I removed the toilet and tried to reach for the rag. Then I unfolded a wire hanger to reach further with no luck. I next tried attaching a fishing pole with a triple hook to hopefully snag the rag. No luck. Then I tried the snake and then the snake with the fishing pole. Still no luck. Should I call the sewer guys back?

Instead I ordered a 50 ft. endoscope. The ones that use wifi to display on the phone are not too expensive. I chose overnight shipping. So the next day I looked down the pipe. I had to tie the camera to the snake to push it far enough into the pipe. It still got hung up at the Y that joins the main pipe. I stopped working on the pipe to take the RV in for an oil change and the air conditioner repair but I realized that I used the same pipe when I took a shower. And Dave had been using main pipe without problems when he used the back bathroom. So if the rag was in there maybe it made its way to the septic tank!

After another day of getting ready for an RV trip I finally got back to the toilet install. I took out the tapcon screws and re-shimmed the flange to get it more even instead of level. Then I dragged the toilet back and lifted it over the bolts with the good as new rubber seal in place and definitely no other rag in the pipe.

After careful shimming to level again front to back and side to side the bolts were tightened. Now there is a reset toilet that is not rocking and leaking sewer gas into the house. And it appears to flush just fine. I still have to caulk it but I ran out of time. The caulk will wait until we get back from our trip.

Posted in Maintenance and Repair, Plumbing, Primary Bedroom | Comments Off

Mending Chair Seats

Posted on July 17, 2022 by ellen

Kids can be inadvertently destructive. My grandson jumped hard on the Old Hickory antique couch and one section of the underlying webbing broke. Some of the other webbing was already damaged. I emailed the Old Hickory factory to ask how to repair the couch and they promptly sent me the instructions to mend the webbing. The material is rawhide that needs to be soaked in water to become pliable and dries to a stiff support system to hold the cushions. When wet it is wrapped around the frame in this order.

In addition to the broken section there were other sections missing just a cross piece or two. I wove small sections to make these repairs.

After the couch was repaired I had lots of leftover rawhide that I’m assuming I can soak again to reuse.

The kitchen chairs were also in various stages of disrepair. The kids like to pick at loose weaving and a couple of the chairs could no longer hold an adult. I tore off the worst seats before I thought to take a photo. The third seat was not as badly damaged but I replaced it anyway. After tearing off the seat which was stuffed with old Denver Posts, I cut 11/32 in plywood for new seat cushions. I tacked it on the wood rails with the trim nail gun.

A few years ago I bought a roll of outdoor material from a Craigslist ad. I used it to sew a new curtain in the old RV. It is light brown, my go-to color for decorating, and it has a nice heavy weight for upholstery.

On top of the plywood I used foam from a bed topper. I found that this high density foam was the same density as chair cushion foam so the bed topper was less expensive and I have most of it left over. On top of the chair foam there is a thick layer of poly batting. I purchased the batting at JoAnne’s. I used spray adhesive to attach the foam to the plywood and the batting to the foam. This is recommended in the instructional videos posted by Sailrite, the manufacturer of my walking foot heavy duty sewing machine. The material is stretched across the bottom and one staple is placed in the middle of each side. Then the corners were cut out to fold over and reach around the corner posts in the chair. After the corners are stretched and in place, the rest of the material is stretched tightly and stapled.

Stretching and stapling the batting and material

Somewhere I read that weed block material is a good substitute for the black material used to finish the underside of upholstery. I had some left from another project. The hard part was ironing out the wrinkles. The material is plastic and needs a cool iron and it holds the moisture from the steam. Most of the wrinkles came out anyway.

There are six Old Hickory chairs in the dining room. Four are this style and two have a different back. One of these had been newly re-woven when I bought them. I could not bring myself to tear off the good seat even though one piece had been picked away. My grandchildren cannot help themselves if there is a loose end. So I only recovered three chairs. The two with different backs have intact seats although old weaving.

I ordered Scotchguard for outdoor furniture and applied it to the seats. The material darkened a little bit but spills should bead up and not stain the new covers. I’m tempted to reupholster the backs too. Or maybe I’ll weave new backs someday.

Posted in Furniture, Maintenance and Repair | Comments Off

Tesla Solar Roof Data September-June

Posted on July 14, 2022 by ellen

The solar roof was installed at the end of last August so its first month of production was September, 2021. The solar performed well in September but after the equinox production dropped dramatically.

Energy sent to the grid dropped to zero and that low performance lasted until the spring equinox.

Part of the low performance in January and February was due to snow cover on the roof. Our north facing roof slopes to the ground so the snow that slides off has no place to go. The Tesla team realized the abnormally low performance was due to snow and ice covering the roof collectors.

The roof performance for the first half of the year will probably mirror the performance for the second half which puts us at zero energy. Most of this year our most expensive electrical use has been broken. Our spa is an energy hog. So if I do get it operational this summer it will be interesting to see how much of the excess it uses.

Although the former 3.9 kw of solar panels helped offset our energy use, only the new solar roof has gained more energy than we have been using.

I called Tesla and asked if the roof was now producing as expected and they said it is. On a good full sun day in summer I should expect about 74 kW of production. Notice peak production at 9.7 kw is about 60% of the installed 16 kW.

The downloaded data from the Tesla app shows the quantity of solar production in Megawatts and the amount of Megawatts returned to the grid.

Another way to look at the data is the percentage of produced energy used from and returned to the grid. Only 12% of power these six months of use including snow covered months came from the grid. The difference in power coming from the grid (2.32 MWh) and going to the grid is the total net zero energy use. Here the difference is 1.06 MWh.

I hope we stay ahead of usage every year. Sometimes I use appliances that are heavy energy users, especially heaters in the RV if it has not been winterized and we get a cold snap. And as mentioned the 11 kW spa water heater is a huge draw. I want to eventually set up thermal water heat for the spa.

Posted in Monitoring, Roofing, Solar | Comments Off

Net Zero Home Energy Rating (HERS)

Posted on July 3, 2022 by ellen

What is a HERS score? An organization of mortgage lenders was formed in the 80’s to study the value of home energy efficiency. Their efforts became RESNET in 1995. They were hoping to add value to homes that would save the owner utility bills. In 2002 the first HERS index was introduced. It developed standards based on a complicated formula to quantify energy efficiency and estimate value in terms of walls and foundations, insulation, air leakage, heating and cooling, installed appliances and lighting. These standards were used to qualify homes for Energy mortgages, a reduced interest rate based on the home’s energy efficiency. The equation used in this process is figured by software after the home information has been entered.

Homes are rated against the 2006 energy building code standards. A house built to that standard would rate 100. Most existing homes were built 30% less efficient than that for a score of 130. Energy Star, a federal program to help homes become more energy efficient developed standards that typically resulted in a score of 70 or 30% more efficient. More particulars about how a HERS index is determined and applied to an Energy Mortgage.

The LEED qualifications require a meeting at the beginning of the project to determine the scope and points that are being pursued. I had hoped for a HERS rating of about 40 which was the low end of LEED for Homes typical scores. My evaluator told me that was unlikely without adding energy production. At the time I did not want to consider solar panels. Most of our roof faces north so it seemed an unlikely plan. The prediction based on early modeling was a score in the 60’s. That would have been good for a LEED home. If we had only met Energy Star requirements our home would have scored about 77.

Some homes are so energy efficient they generate more clean energy than they draw from the grid. A negative rating represents the additional clean energy the home is putting back into the grid, based on the scale of 100 for what a standard new home uses. Each negative point (-1, -2, -3, etc.) represents 1% of what a normal new home would use being returned to the grid. A score of -43 indicates that our home has the capacity to return 43% of that energy back to the grid. Some of that is by not needing it at all.

I was surprised that the Net Zero rating was -43. That is quite a bit lower than zero and the lowest score example I could find online was -58 in 2017. The house is in Florida in Port Charlotte designed and built by Anthony Fiore Construction.

It was rated Net Zero Ready by Energy Star which is a different rating from HERS that calculates the home before energy production is included. There are several different rating and certification programs to prove buildings are energy efficient. LEED is one of the most famous and a large part of the point system depends on the HERS score. Passive House does not use HERS but its own modeling equations. It is a more stringent standard for the home’s thermal envelope but does not include as many healthy living indicators as LEED does. Some other standards are in this graphic.

One of the reasons I was surprised is that an important test for energy efficiency is the amount of air leakage into the house from various small holes and cracks in the building envelope. We worked very hard to seal everything from the studs out. But we still had a large leakage issue from areas of the house that I had not been able to check under blower door pressure. So the Air Changes per Hour at 50 pascals of air pressure (ACH50) were higher than desired for a LEED Platinum home.

I looked for data that would explain the low HERS score with higher air leakage. I found a 2019 report from Ekotrope one of the major vendors for HERS software. They studied the characteristics of HERS rated homes using their software. Our ACH/50 was a little under 5. ACH/50 is the CFM/50 divided by the home’s volume.

HERS score by ACH50 — HERS index by ACH50

The lowest HERS scores had ACH50 ratings below 5. But some homes around the 5 rating were below net zero. Adherence to the other factors such as building core, appliances, and lighting helped make up for the higher ACH50 score. I also wondered how much the solar roof added to our final score.

HERS score by Solar KW — HERS index by Solar KW

Although it is clear solar was helpful, a score of -40 even with over 15KW of solar is an outlier. That means that the solar helped but the other factors were just as important.

Posted in Air Intrusion/Thermal Envelope, Energy Efficiency, LEED Project | Comments Off

RV AC

Posted on July 1, 2022 by ellen

The last time we camped the air conditioner would not start. It moaned a bit but didn’t kick in. A complication to the air conditioner breakdown is that I bought repair insurance for the first year of ownership because I did not inspect the RV at all when I bought it. I didn’t even test drive it. I just looked in the cabinets and overhead area and checked for obvious water leaks or delamination and said I’ll buy it. An extra $700 plus $500 deductible seemed like a good idea.

The major cost the first year was a rear brake job but it was maintenance and not covered by the policy. I was not annoyed because that made sense to me. The caveat of the policy is that work on it has to be done by pros. And maintenance records must be kept. That meant that all of my electrical upgrades and solar were no longer covered. I did the work, I could fix it if something broke.

The problem with professional repair of the air conditioner was that every shop in our area was booked solid all summer. Also there are a couple of things I could try for way less than the $500 deductible. I was advised on rv.net to replace the “start” capacitor. Some Coleman Mach air conditioners have three capacitors, run, fan, and start. But when I opened ours, I found only a run and fan capacitor.

I replaced both and the fan ran on low and the compressor ran the AC at that fan speed. But the high speed fan didn’t run and neither did the compressor on high fan. I tried to figure out that issue thinking that in Indiana we may need high level air conditioning.

I removed the thermostat and tested the wiring from the equipment. When I applied power to the high fan speed wire it sparked instead of turning on like the others. It seemed that connection had a fault. I could not tell whether the fault was in the wire or at the control board. But after all this experimentation I re-installed the thermostat and the compressor no longer ran on either low or high.

At first I could not find the correct model of Coleman air conditioner on the Airxcel website. I was not using the search function well. My model is a Mach 15 but there are multiple types of the Mach 15 model. Once I found the correct information I had to determine what applied to this model.

I tried ordering a fan selector switch listed in the parts information, although I didn’t know what it looked like or where it was located. I had read a tip about restoring fan levels with this part.

I figured if I actually had the part I could find where it was located in the AC. Of course the fan selector switch is for an older model so there was no location for it. Instead the fan is connected directly to the control board.

No selector switch direct wired — No selector switch, it’s direct wired

I thought that the digital thermostat may have been compromised so I removed it and wired in the old analog thermostat but the result was the same. Now I am waiting for a new run capacitor.

I also found out that the air compressor is one speed only. Just the fan has two speeds. So running the air conditioner on just low fan speed probably works about as well as high. Also the impeller on our unit has a crack in one of the blades but it does turn freely and the fan motor seems to be OK.

I have a diagnostic appointment on July 19th. I started calling in May! This date is before we leave for our next trip but if they can’t get to the job, hopefully another new run capacitor will fix the issue for our trip. I won’t wire the high fan because the surge from the sparking wire may have broken the new run capacitor. If repair facilities are not available for months the repair insurance is probably not worth the cost. I’ve been reasonably successful repairing the equipment myself.

Update: The Camping Workd techs found that the thermostat was incorrectly wired and that had froed the electronics for high cool which was wited to the neutral they said. I was waiting for the replacement thermostat that was supposed to arrive before our trip but didn’t. I called and they ran over to another site to pick one up and installed it. We had air conditioning on our trip but unfortunately it was the wrong midel thermostat so I called and I’m trying to get it replaced again.

Posted in Maintenance and Repair, RV Camping | Comments Off

LEED Platinum!

Posted on June 28, 2022 by ellen

I got confirmation today from our evaluator at Energy Logic who emailed that the USGBC has agreed with their evaluation and will award our house the Platinum LEED level! This is an exciting end to our quest for LEED certification. We began this journey ten years ago with our goal being the highest level of LEED.

We had no idea what the path would be or how long it would take.

Our House Leed Platium Certificate — Our Target

We almost lost heart a few times as the rules for a gut remodel seemed to be beyond our reach. But we kept going, agreeing to any stipulations that would allow us to qualify. The two back bedrooms, were not demoed to the studs. But we were able to increase the insulation by having it blown in tightly to eliminate any gaps.

Qualifying as a gut remodel was the biggest obstacle along with eliminating air intrusion. For the rest we always chose the most energy efficient and technically advanced products we found. We were dedicated to reuse and recycling building materials. I studied building science and learned as much as I could about the energy and water conservation and healthy environment principles that LEED required and recommended.

We decided to add a Tesla solar roof as an upgrade to our garage roof solar panels. That 16.2 Kw of power is what put us over the top as a net zero house and earned the maximum number of points in energy and atmosphere. I’m keeping track and analyzing data from our systems so that the house will have records of performance.

Throughout this blog I’ve shared our efforts, our ups and downs, advances and delays. There are currently 670 posts and several pages of documentation. I enjoy telling the tale so the blog will continue. We don’t intend to stop improving the energy efficiency of the house and the development of homestead projects. We also have interior finishing to complete and of course ongoing maintenance and repair. I have been branching out to other projects and family times which I labeled distractions. But now they will become more central to this blog. This is the time to celebrate how far we have come in fulfilling this dream.

Until we get the actual certificate this revision of our original target certificate will have to do.

Posted in Energy Efficiency, LEED Project | Comments Off

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