Twinsprings Research Institute

Front Stoop

Posted on July 20, 2015 by ellen

One of the tasks we have to complete before the doors can be repainted is to put in a patio in front of the french doors. I remember my grandmother used to call the door patio a “stoop”. We were able to get a free load of sand from a neighborhood near us in Arvada through craigslist. The household had too much sand delivered for a backyard firepit project and wanted the rest out of their driveway. The guy even helped shovel it onto our truck!

Free Sand

I used about half of the truckload to underlay the flagstone that had been sitting a pile near the berm wall on the east side of the house just waiting for a project.

Sand on weed block

When we turned over the stones we found those weird bugs living between them, kind of like ants with the black sand, but they also had white spun baby hatching globs. They scattered before I could get the camera out though.
Yuck. I hate these bugs crawling in the house. They seem to come in on the produce from the garden too. We think they are earwigs.

Flagstone Hotel

Trying to fit big pieces of flagstone together is a bit difficult. Inevitably gaps will have to be filled with smaller pieces. I did not try to split the flagstone to fit. Didn’t want to end up with a bunch of broken pieces.

Flagstone Fitting

We have a few more really big pieces of flagstone that were under these loose pieces. They would have to be dug up, or we will be on the lookout for a craigslist offering of more flagstone to finish the patio. I left a little dirt between the patio and the front flagstone walk at this end. That kind of matches the other side of the walk with a little green area between the patios.

Need More Flagstone

Posted in Construction, Landscape, Reduce Reuse Recycle | Comments Off

Temporary Bathroom

Posted on July 17, 2015 by ellen

I picked up another free toilet. This one is also a Glacier Bay but it is a dual flush. It is currently selling at Home Depot for $98. Since I broke the first one I got for free, I promptly dropped it and the tank crumbled, this one I decided to install immediately. The first step was to fit the floor flange in the drain. I had to cut away the extra pipe and try to get the floor flange level.

Cutting the drain pipe

So why would I put a toilet in the middle of the floor without some kind of screening? We had a few big pieces of used polyiso left over so I set them up where the bathroom walls will be. I already found that the toilet is a bit too close to one wall so some adjustments will have to be made there.

Toilet installed behind Polyiso walls

The 2″ drain in this room was used to water test the drain system so I had to cut away the connection and put in a drain for the sink.

Awkward drain hookup

Here is the new setup with a cleanout. UPDATE: This drain has one too many connections between the trap and the sanitary waste pipe according to the plumbing inspector–it will be rerouted.

New drain

Unfortunately the drainpipe at the granite sink is not sealing and I had to stop working on it to go grand kid sitting. I suspect that the granite is not smooth enough and I’ll have to take the whole thing apart and figure out how to make the drain pipe tight enough to be water proof. I had a difficult time finding a drain pipe with no overflow. None at our local Home Depot and only one plug style at Lowes which doesn’t even have a strainer. I’m disappointed they didn’t carry vessel sink pop up drains like I bought in Arizona at the local Home Depot–oh look Amazon has one for $7–ordered. Supplies just to hook up the sink drain and water, not including the pex water pipe and fittings which I already had were $40. No wonder the project is so expensive. That was just for cheap drain pipe and connecting hoses.
Another problem is that one of the hoses at the faucet is not fully sealed and is leaking. I bought three faucets on clearance at Home Depot for $2.50 each a few years ago. They are watersense but cheap faucets. I set the faucet up only temporarily on the sink. But will have to take that off too if I have to take off the sink to replace the drain. Update: I got the hot water hose tight enough to stop leaking although the sink connection peeled off a bit of the interior of the chrome fitting. Weird. I also tightened the drain enough to allow water to flow through with only minimal drips–still not completely tight but good enough for a few days when hopefully the new drain seals better. (It did)

I bought the log towel rack ($20) vanity stand ($75) and stone sink ($50) on craigslist too.

Temporary bathroom

The toilet is working though. It seems to have a very anemic flush, which is why the owners pulled it out and replaced it. But it will do for a second toilet in the house when we have guests. And you can’t argue with free. Although it did cost money to drive the truck to pick up this free stuff–I also got a couple of pieces of outdoor furniture that need a coat of paint and some repair work. UPDATE: The toilet flush seems to be working fine on both the liquid and solids flushes.
Since I had the water off I also hooked up the automatic ice maker in the refrigerator. Now we won’t have to deal with trays and will have some extra space on the door for freezer storage. I had the hose and shutoff valve for quite awhile but never turned off the water to connect it. Happy to report the ice maker works great.

Posted in Plumbing, Reduce Reuse Recycle | Comments Off

More Chiller Disappointment

Posted on July 15, 2015 by ellen

I could not get the new Penguin chiller to cool the 50 gallons of water in the old hot water tank. The company was very helpful but also could not figure out why the chiller was not chilling. It actually did chill at night a few degrees but during the day the temperature kept going up. I sent the chiller back with courtesy shipping and when they plugged it in it worked with a 5 gallon bucket of water, chilling it 8 degrees in 5 minutes.

The support person was Eric and he tried to figure out what was wrong with the circulation system by long distance and photos. He could not figure it out either but here are our theories:

1. The pump was not delivering the water to the chiller quickly enough.

2. The chiller was “frozen” inside so could not chill the water–this would be from inadequate circulation.

3. The piping is not allowing for proper flow–possibly entering and exiting the chiller opposite of what it should.

4. The ambient temperature in the room was too high to chill the water.

5. The electrical outlet delivered less than the required amount of power.

6. The coolant was low from shipping damage.

7. Something, the pump or other heat source was adding heat to the system so that it could not properly chill.

8. Something else?

Evidence

1. There is no evidence that the pump was not operating. It was humming away and when I disconnected the pipes they were full of water.

2. Although the system could have been “frozen” it would have stopped the water flow which would have made the pump react and I didn’t see any such reaction.

3. The input and output were clearly labeled, and warm water goes in while chilled water goes out. What I saw was warm water going in and that coming out not even a degree cooler while the next round of water going in was even warmer.

4. The water could have been getting warmer just by being in a warm room–the ambient temperature was about 80.

5. We just discounted this theory, the outlet seems normal–although I didn’t check the power, it is likely the chiller works at somewhat variable amperage.

6. We thought the coolant was low until it was returned and seemed to work just fine with 5 gallons of water circulating through it.

7. The pump may have been adding enough heat to the water alone with the ambient temperature that the 1/2 HP chiller could not overcome that heat. Evidence that at night the temperature did start to go down does support this theory.

8. Something else entirely may be going on. After all the first chiller was also sent back because it was not chilling! Maybe it was just fine too and the problem is somewhere in my system.

Despite the issue that the chiller was not working in my system for only a 50 gallon resevoir, it may be that 5000 btus would do little to chill the mass in the house. Based on the Manual J cooling load, it would take at least 24000 btu’s and then some to make the floor cooler than the air in the room. But that logic might be based on traditional air conditioning, not radiant cooling.

Eric concluded that no matter what the issue with my system his chiller would not work for this application.

However there are other concerns with what you are trying to accomplish. The first concern is chiller sizing, I’m no expert on radiant cooling, or if it’s even feasible. With air conditioning the unit is sized to remove heat and humidity from the air, with a chiller you are trying to remove heat from a large mass, in addition to the air. This would lead me to believe that you will likely need more BTU in a chiller setup than you would with a traditional air conditioner. The next concern would be that you would need to cool your floors to about 10F lower than you want the air temp to have effective heat transfer. With air conditioning the removal of humidity is half the function of the unit and amplifies the cooling effect, radiant cooling won’t remove humidity. When the floor gets cool it will start forming condensation, and prolonged condensation will lead to mold and a host of other problems.

So this argument won the day. I was the one who could not get the chiller to work in my system and could not find an answer to the problem. I got my money back so I should not complain that my design is not acceptable to a company whose products are not used for radiant chilling. But I now I have to look at what else I can do. I’m tempted to spend the money on a larger chiller, but would have to buy it from Amazon where a return is as easy as from Penguin. I found a 1 1/2 HP chiller for almost $1500! But I would have to buy a larger pump–it requires circulation of at least 10 gallons per minute. Or I could try a small exterior heat pump with a water coil instead of fan unit. There are less expensive split units but would have to figure out how to build the heat exchanger to use water instead of air as mini splits send coolant to an inside unit that cools air instead of water.

But as far as the science of such a system, cooling the thermal mass instead of the air, there are papers that support the idea paired with an enthalpy ventilation system, a dedicated outdoor air system or DOAS. Energy Recovery Ventilators use enthalpy to “condition” the incoming air by exchanging heat and humidity with outgoing air.

Colorado generally has low humidity so condensation on the floor is much less likely. We probably don’t need the mass to be a full 10 degrees cooler than a typical air conditioned inside temperature as Eric believes. Radiant cooling should make the house more cave-like, a constant cool temp of the whole structure cooling the air inside. The theory of mass is that it has a long term effect so that by the time the heat of the day overcomes the cool of the mass, the temperatures are dropping outside again. This would work because Colorado tends to have cool nights. Eric lives in Florida and such a system would not be feasible there.

From the ASHRAE Handbook for HVAC Applications (which I apparently found posted illegally as the original link was down so this link is to the subscription site) there is this argument for the efficiency of radiant cooling.

One way to reduce cooling energy further along the path to net- zero-energy buildings is thermally active building systems (TABS) or active-core cooling: direct cooling of building mass by chilled water in conjunction with chillers designed for very high part-load efficiency in low-lift operation and enthalpy-recovery dedicated outdoor air systems (DOAS).
TABS differs from passive storage by cooling the mass directly from the inside, thus eliminating charging-mode convective or radiative coupling resistances. By directly precooling the mass, instead of the occupied space, substantially better storage efficiency and larger effective diurnal storage capacity are achieved. Precooling energy percentage savings may be 5 to 35% higher because the condenser-evaporator temperature difference is lower to begin with and because, with the elimination of supply fans and mechanical cooling, energy use is dominated by compressor operation at very low pressure ratios (Armstrong et al. 2009; Katipamula et al. 2010a). Economizer-mode energy, which involves pumps only rather than fan transport energy, is extremely low as well.

I looked up the research that the ASHRAE Handbook cites for radiant cooling and much of it is centered on control strategies to integrate low lift chillers (small differences between incoming and outgoing water temperature) with ventilation controls to increase cooling efficiency. This explanation is from the introduction to a report for the DOE by Katipamula et. al. entitled, “Cost-Effective Integration of Efficient Low-Lift Baseload Cooling Equipment: FY08 Final Report”

Peak shifting and active and passive thermal energy storage are proven technologies that improve chiller load factor and can increase chiller efficiency. DOAS enthalpy recovery provide more efficient latent cooling so that radiant cooling can be used to satisfy sensible cooling loads. Radiant cooling further increases chiller efficiency by allowing the higher temperature of the radiant panel/ceiling, and hence of the chilled water supplied, to be only a few degrees below room temperature.

Given the issues I am having getting a chiller system to work, it is interesting that the paper also explains the lack of systems using these technologies.

Most cool storage installations to date have been justified by time-of-use electric rates; none have, to our knowledge, used chillers optimized for low-lift operation or for very efficient operation at less than half rated capacity. The main reasons for this are: 1) the double approach temperature penalty inherent in most discrete cool storage configurations, 2) a dearth of low-lift, high part-load efficiency chillers in the marketplace, and 3) low probability of finding an owner willing to try two or three new, mutually dependent cooling technologies in the same building.

I’m just going to have to continue to research this issue and test the circulation in the storage tank system to determine if the chiller functions will meet our air conditioning needs in a more efficient way.

As far as LEED goes, this system would seem to be innovative given that all I can find about a small scale chiller design is in research papers.

Posted in Radiant Cooling | Comments Off

Repurposed Fiberglass Packing Corners

Posted on July 13, 2015 by ellen

I love perusing the offerings at Repurposed Materials. Actually I kind of hate to see them growing by leaps and bounds because they were my own little treasure trove here in Denver while now good stuff is located in Chicago, Atlanta and soon to be Texas.

These fiberglass edges all say Coors on them so they must have been used for packing large crates at the brewery in Golden.

Fiberglass Edges

I bought about 30 of them during a spring auction–they run an online auction every month or so to clear old inventory. I paid less than their catalog price so not only repurposed materials but a bargain! When I picked them up the lady at the desk asked me how I would use them. I told her and she said to let them know as they always wonder how their products are being repurposed!

I already used one of the sections as a barrier for the spa concrete slab. I laid it against the existing deck wall instead of using a board. It held the rock base inside the slab area so that it didn’t spread under the wall. I also cut a few pieces to protect the edges of the spa while it was being transported.

Today I used three of the edges to form a sill protection for the front french doors and to cover the exterior styrofoam insulation. This was the original purpose for buying the edging. First I filled in under the door sills with leftover 3″ blue board XPS Foam that was also from Repurposed Materials. I had just about enough XPS to cover the concrete ledge that the doors sit on. I plan to dig out the other foam edges of the foundation walls to cover the styrofoam and protect it from burrowing rabbits. It was originally covered by EPDM rubber sheeting that has gapped over the years. Rabbits were able to snuggle between the dirt and the insulation in the winter. Comfy for them I bet.

Foam Insulation under Door Sills

I used a homemade foam cutting tool and the more I use it the better I am an using it. The U shaped plastic is wired to hold a model airplane rechargeable battery that heats up a nichrome wire and melts the XPS foam as it is drawn across a marked line. It is a pretty quick way to cut foam but best to do it in a well ventilated space. In this case outside. I used adhesive caulk to glue the foam to the concrete and other pieces. I also used expanding spray foam in crevices that needed filling.

Homemade foam cutting tool

A non-ferrous metal blade in the circular saw is recommended for cutting the fiberglass. After the first cut I wore a face mask as the fiberglass gets into the air and didn’t want it in my lungs. The short edge of the corner was cut to the reinforcing layer at the edge leaving 3″ of solid fiberglass to fit under the sills and over the layer of insulation to the 12 inch depth.

Cut off short side of fiberglass edge

I also used the Wigluv tape from Siga to cover gaps at the edge of the concrete and any exposed wood sills as a waterproofing layer. Then I installed the first piece to fit over an existing metal flashing in the corner where the door wall meets the sided wall.

First Piece Installed

Dave had the brilliant idea to use small pieces of rebar to hold the bottom of the edges against the styrofoam until the dirt was replaced in the trench.

Rebar to hold bottom of edge

A nice toad came to sit on the edge of the sill–he had been running back and forth while I was working on the edging, like a cat needing to be right in the middle of your project. You can see the tape and the spray foam behind him.

Friendly toad checking out the new edge

And so before the rain came in the afternoon I was able to refill the trench and put the rubber membrane back up to the doors. Next we will install more geotextile fabric and move some flagstone into the space as a stoop for the french doors.

Filled and finished sill edge

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Slab for Spa

Posted on July 11, 2015 by ellen

Today we finally got the slab for the spa poured! It has rained all week so we had lots of water to bail out of the form and from around the outside of the form. The rain also delayed the pouring of the slab to this morning which meant a charge for Saturday and a charge for a short load, but concrete is hard to schedule right now because everyone is behind due to the rain and we were at least able to get it.

I hired Alberto at Mile High again to pour the slab and he arrived with three guys to get the concrete into the form. They had to use wheelbarrows to move the concrete. He ordered 2 yards and all of it was used.

Filling wheelbarrow from truck

Concrete in wheelbarrow

Leveling to form

More Leveling

The form was filled quickly and they leveled it with a 2 x 4. I had the form lined with plastic and they cut the plastic edge along the wall at the top of the concrete to get a smoother seam. Then Alberto used the bull float to smooth the top.

Bull Float

Floated surface

I decided not to put in any expansion joints. And after trimming the edges the guys waited a little while and then swept the surface for a broomed finsh.

Broomed surface

The whole process only took about 2 hours. I’m thrilled that it is done. We can remove the forms tomorrow and put the spa on it after about 5 days. So exciting.

Posted in Construction, Landscape, Spa | Comments Off

Success Repairing Another Short Circuit

Posted on July 9, 2015 by ellen

New electric box with one new wire the other goes to the light in front of the garage

I did it! I finally fixed the short in the front lights. It took a lot of disentangling of wires and trying to understand triple switching etc. but in the end the issue was just a bad wire to the light box. I had to pull another one.

The good news was that it was accessible without destroying the stucco or figuring out how to cut at just the right spot in the garage ceiling. The bad news is that it required that I climb up into the space that is between what I think is the garage attic firewall and the outside siding. It is just barely big enough to scoot along and of course there are nails hanging down and through the siding just waiting to prick a head or arm. Also even though it is a mild day it was super hot–I had to breath through my shirt sleeve to keep the dust out of my lungs when I first disturbed it. I was pretty wet from sweat by the time I emerged.

These are wires in the space. Four wires go down into the switch box in the garage wall next to the door. One controls the garage lights, and two others have been disconnected. One may have powered a light in the entryway. The other may have been a triple switch wire as it has four wires. I’m not sure how the wires got grease on them. That is the black areas on the wire.

Bad wire at far left other wires go to the switch below.

In the upper left quadrant of this photo you can just see where the wire goes into the garage wall insulation to the outside light box and then a wire comes back up and continues to the garage outside light and on to the post lights in the terrace wall.

Replaced white romex wire that goes down through the garage wall to the light fixture

I had no idea how to figure out where the short was. I had the circuit down to just one wire and when I connected it, the circuit breaker blew. Everywhere I could see the wire looked just fine. But I read on the internet that a short is caused by either an open neutral or a connection between hot and ground–short to neutral or short to ground. The test whether to tell if the short is to neutral in the wire is to wire ONLY the hot side. Then if the white and/or ground wire are also hot when the breaker is turned on–and the breaker does not trip, the fault is in the neutral wire or ground wire. Doesn’t matter which as it means the whole wire has to be replaced.

It was difficult to find the help I needed for this problem. One reason is that most of the electrical troubleshooting tips stop at the most rudimentary testing. The other is that hire an electrician is too often the answer to even the simplest of problems that put a do it yourselfer in no danger at all. Yes, an electrician can fix your problem faster than you can. We know it, but that that does not make it practical to hire an electrician for every little wiring issue.

A book I found on Google Books had the answer. It was Circuit Down by Larry Dimrock from 2007. He also has a website called Circuit Detective. The text is a little difficult to understand at the troubleshooting page. And the information is only partially available on the website–it “disappears” after 30 seconds, and for $10 you can buy all the information currently on the website.

There is a Zulu.com link to the ebook version for $5. The ebook format is of the print book that is on Google Books. Since I found the information so helpful, after I solved the problem I bought the rest of the ebook–finding a coupon for 25 cents off. From the Google books version, I found this hint on page 68 for testing for an open neutral or ground fault.

The matter of whether it is the neutral that the hot is shorting to is best determined by disconnecting that circuit’s neutral from the panel’s neutral bar, capping it, and seeing that the short is then gone. An ammeter clamped on the hot wire at the breaker or fuse can also confirm that it is tripping/blowing for high current. Clamped on the circuit’s neutral, it would also show that the circuit is indeed running hot-to-neutral.

Instead of disconnecting the neutral in the box, I just hooked up the black wire to the lights and left the white and ground unconnected and even uncapped and the circuit breaker did not trip. With my circuit tester–I have one of those beep on hot–it showed that the neutral (white) was as hot as the black, as was the ground. So somewhere in that wire the hot was touching the white and the ground and breaking the circuit.

The wire was tightly fixed inside the wall, so I had to run an new wire and cut the old one off. I used a wire puller tape that I bought some time ago at Harbor Freight. It worked pretty well but I had to make the hole in the top plate larger to fit the new wire through. The old wire was taking up space and we couldn’t pull it either up or down. It is stapled somewhere in between, probably enough to have broken the wire.

I installed a switch for the two front lights and will think about tying in the third or will put it on its own switch. Tomorrow I will try to re-install the lights! And I can add to the list that the area between the garage attic and the outside wall needs caulking and spray foam to seal small openings to the house ceiling and walls.

New switch

Today I filled in the perimeter of the junction box with spray foam and installed the lights.

Foam insulation around box

The porch light has a function that allows it to dim for several hours at night as accent lighting. This didn’t seem to work very well with the LED bulb that is supposed to be dimmable. I just put the bulb that it came with back in and will see if I can get a setting that works with the LED bulb later.

Re-installed porch light

The rewire of the garage carriage light is a little funky with the bulb at the very bottom of the light. The bulb holder is designed to swing–I guess to change the original candelabra bulbs. I used an outdoor socket but it didn’t have a mount at its neck so it is hanging from the old light holder. But it also works for now–I want to paint this light dark copper like the others eventually too.

Re-installed garage light

Posted in Electrical, Maintenance and Repair | Comments Off

Landscaping Fabric

Posted on June 29, 2015 by ellen

I purchased this “professional” landscaping fabric from a guy on craigslist for $75. The roll is 4 foot by 225 feet so longer than what I could purchase at the home improvement store. It is heavier fabric too. I used more than half of the roll on the patio area today.

Fabric Install

I tried to chop a channel for the fiberglass edging but It was too difficult for me and I wore myself out. Had to come inside and lay down for a nap.
I gave up the idea and just lined the area with the landscape fabric. At the dirt sides I brought the fabric up to the top of the sides but at the wall I just left a bit of extra material. The fabric is installed with the pins that came with it. I used them all and a few nails to hold down strategic points. The fabric is overlapped about six inches.

Six inch overlap

It was not easy to spread this material because the ground underneath was rocky with dried clumps of dirt and my knees hurt from kneeling on it. But the area is covered and tomorrow we can start putting rock on it.

Full Coverage

I’m planning to fill in with about 6 inches of road base and then tamp it. Another layer of fabric should go on top of that and then an inch of sand to lay the tile on. The sand is leveled and smoothed with a concrete float so that the tile lays flat. The patio will be a step down from the existing edge.

Posted in Landscape, Reduce Reuse Recycle | Comments Off

Existing Circuits and Where they Go

Posted on June 28, 2015 by ellen

We have been trying to figure out all of the existing circuit breakers and their function in the house. One day last winter we went through the box and labeled every dangling wire in the house with the corresponding circuit number in the box. I have since used several of those for temporary light switches and outlets. Some of the circuits connect to the back of the house and were not disconnected.

We can account for at least five live circuits in the back, the radon fan, the fire alarm, the red room, the hallway, and the back room which includes the bathroom and the crawlspace light. We don’t know what a few of the circuits control though, they are currently off and we are not missing their function. The GFCI in the bathroom does not have power and none of the circuit breakers seem to turn it on. There is an outlet in the crawlspace that does not have power and some outlets outside at the old spa heater area that must be on some circuit.

Today I worked on the double switch box in the garage. I was hoping one of the lines there controlled the front lights which would verify the connection to the patio light posts. But I could not find the feed wire in the box, while one wire in that box is unidentified, it does not power the front lights.

Wiring behind the garage switch box

This was already labeled as circuit 13 and we knew it fed the garage light switch, the second switch in the box appears not to control anything, Maybe it was used to control the hall light as you walked into the house. I have an outlet going to the router that I found out is tied to this circuit but was not on the switch, and a black jacketed 4 wire that does not seem to go anywhere that was wired into this circuit and was hot–so I disconnected it. Maybe it provided a three way switch for the outside lights? But I was not able to figure out what wire serves power to the lights. It is a mystery that may require that I climb up into the garage attic and cut through the wall that separates the attic from the house. There is a weird uninsulated space there that is a chase for wiring and the plumbing vent.

In the meantime I removed the lights including one I had just installed. I am going to convert the big garage light to a single bulb from three candelabra bulbs. I may paint it bronze to match the other lights too.

Existing garage light

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Rock It

Posted on June 27, 2015 by ellen

Yeah, had rock delivered today. The cheapest gravel I could buy is road base. It is not nearly as pretty as pea gravel because it is a mix of aggregates from about 3/4″ gravel down to sand particles. Used mainly under concrete and roads, it can hold a lot of weight and works well for patios. Alberto used it under our concrete slab.
I had figured 12 tons for the roughly 25 x 16 front patio @ 6 inches deep. The patio is about 400 square feet. The quarry said a ton of the road base covers 105 square ft. to 2 inches deep. So for 400 square feet six inches deep, I needed 12 times that amount or 12 tons. I had figured the gravel needed for the patio from 200 cubic feet or 200/27=7.4 cubic yards. I found a reference that said a ton of gravel is equal to about 18 cubic feet. So 200/18 is 11.11 tons. Some rock types are 1.3 or 1.4 instead. But road base is about 1.5 tons per cubic yard. I ordered 12 tons just to make sure I had enough.

Rock Delivery

My grandson agreed to do a quick pose in front of the truck. He is taking a break from playing tennis with Grandpa. We told him he could take all week to move the gravel for us and we’ll provide the wheelbarrow.
But before we can move the gravel I had to figure out what was wrong with the patio outlets. We had a short in the line and the electricians looked at the buried cable and determined it would be too difficult to find it quickly so they disconnected the outside line and put in a new GFCI outlet that allowed us to use the circuit.
I dug out the buried wire and found it was the correct underground cable for burying under a patio. I visually inspected the wire and found it to be in good shape, although there are large roots that have grown over it in spots.
After I removed the first outlet in the wall–ants were crawling all over it! I disconnected all the wires and made sure they were not touching. I removed the GFCI for the purposes of testing and wired the outside wire to the circuit wire directly. Then I tested the circuit and it was fine. So I moved onto the next outlet, and disconnected it completely while connecting the wires in the first outlet directly. It was fine. So was the third outlet.
The fourth outlet goes underground past the flagstone path and under the deck where the rabbits live. So I thought perhaps a rabbit chewed through an exposed wire. In fact the first outlet on the deck was the cause of the short. So the wire on the patio side is all good. I just disconnected the last wire that goes under the walk and re-buried the rest. Those three outlets are probably enough for the 20 amp circuit anyway, and they are wired to a GFCI outlet in the garage so they meet code! I covered the exposed wires at the right corner post area with a Schedule 80 elbow that I slit up the middle with a cutting wheel on my Dremel tool and poked the wires into it. Then I used some of the Siga Wigluv tape to seal it so that rabbits won’t be able to get to that wire. The other outlets are in parts of the wall that are covered by the stucco and concrete walls. There was a schedule 80 pipe in the wall, it just didn’t extend down to the ground. The inside corner will be covered with the stone and the patio but may be exposed on the outer side so now those wires are protected.

Patio area with reburied wires for the lights and three outlets.

Third outlet with broken connecting wire pulled out also pulled out some of the slack in the wire.

The patio area is right outside the front doors in the terraced area. Will be a great living space when it is done.

Patio area from inside

Eventually we can wire the last two deck outlets to the new circuit that will be connected to the spa. The 15 amps are used only for the spa lights and the exterior outlet on the house so two more outlets won’t overpower the wiring.
I bought the rock for the patio so that when I rent the tamper I can tamp it as well as the slab rock. The tamper is $80 for the day and I want to have enough rock to tamp to make the cost worthwhile. How one thing leads to another.
For want of a hammer the nail was lost
For want of a nail the shoe was lost
For want of a shoe the horse was lost
For want of a horse the rider was lost
For want of a rider the battle was lost
For losing the battle the kingdom was lost
And all for the want of a hammer. (I think I added the hammer–just the nail part is referenced as an English nursery rhyme–used by Ben Franklin in his Poor Richard’s Almanac.)

Ben Franklin

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Excavation with a Dingo

Posted on June 25, 2015 by ellen

I was working too hard to take photos so I found this short video on You Tube that shows basically what I was doing all day. Not using the rotary digger but just the excavator on this Toro walk behind tractor.

This was another rental from Arvada Rentalls because I just got tired of digging out the slab area for the spa by hand. I basically gave up and called the rental place and this hand excavator/loader was available for today. I woke up bright and early to get there by opening at seven to rent the excavator. They rent it with a tilt trailer so I just needed to have a big enough truck with a 2 inch ball hitch.
It took me about 2 hours to get the slab area excavated and then I had to set up the forms. Then I lined the form with 6 mil plastic to help keep the spa warm and used the excavator to pick up and dump the free pea gravel into the bottom. I used almost all of the stone for about a 2″ layer of stone in the form.
I used 2 x 12’s for the form because we had them. Two eight footers and a 12 footer. But I decided to put the edge of the slab back a little bit from the edge of the patio wall so the final slab will be about 11′ 3″ x 8′. I’m thinking I will try to use up the waffle boxes that are left over. There are 10.
I will definitely need more stone and will have to rent a tamper to be sure it is settled under the concrete. I will also call about getting a load of stone for the front patio area. I also excavated that, and cut some of the grassy path back to make the patio a little larger with less grass to maintain. Maybe we will plant along the flagstone path as a border between that and the patio. I put the extra dirt on the bottom of the patio area and used the excavator in reverse with the blade down as a grader.
Although I only used 4.5 machine hours I think I got my money’s worth out of the 8 hour rental, about $212 with the gas. I have to wake up again bright and early to return it by 7:30. I love having a rental place close by. So many expensive toys to bring home to play with. And it helps to get a task done from that infernal list.

Posted in Landscape, Tools | Comments Off

Summer List

Posted on June 25, 2015 by ellen

So did ANYTHING get done this spring? Actually work was done but little was actually FINISHED. And there were things that we did that were not on the official list of next steps.

I’ve written about what I have been doing, and of course Dave has been busy planting a garden and working on the garden wall which I will feature one of these days. He also put together the old shed from our kids’ yard as a playhouse for the grandkids and it is about finished. Plus taking care of the lawn and planting fruit trees.

1.~~Install outside electric box~~
2. ~~New windows~~
3. New doors (will be replumbed and leveled today)
We know what is happening with the doors–just more tasks to add to the Summer list.
4. Insulate remaining openings
Still need to do this…
5. Install battens
6. Install membrane/air barrier
Battens are installed on all the finished membrane but there is more membrane to put up. Right now working on the master bedroom.
7. Polyiso in crawlspace joists–Not yet
8. Plan ventilation system
I have worked on this and found some 10″ insulated flexible duct for a great price at the Restore. Using this larger ductwork should help with the air distribution.
9. Resolve door issues–pending
10. Get insulation inspections–not ready yet!
11. Foam sheathing cracks/tape–not yet–get this done and we can call for the inspection.
12. Drywall exterior walls–not until after inspection
13. Patch concrete (floor) and caulk edges–Not on the near horizon but maybe if I get inspired when I’m cleaning the floor.
14. Clean and polish floor–have to get to this before guests come in late July.
15. Interior walls–pipe dream
16. Pour concrete slab–working on it.
17. Install spa–I wish
18. Excavate spa slab area–tomorrow!

Yes I was out of town for two weeks in May, and yes it has been raining almost non-stop all spring, but only two items crossed off? Starting to feel like we will never make progress. Again starting with something that is already done–seems like I really need to cross off something!
Summer List
1. ~~Rebuild radiant system valves so chiller system will work with thermostats.~~
2. Install chiller to cool the house enough to work in it on hot days.
3. Rewire thermostats to add both heat and cool to their functionality.
4. ~~Set up outdoor eating area for guests–Install new exterior lights.~~(OK also did this already but didn’t have it on a list.)
5. Prepare for new rubber tile patio and french door stoop.
6. Think about how to screen french doors.
7. Figure out overhang for exterior doors.
8. Remove siding from front of house.
9. Replace polyiso in exposed areas, wrap and install new siding.
10. Order pieces to rebuild trombe wall.
11. Finish spring list.

Well, fine, more to do. Each day we do something. It is working all day in a way that will complete this huge project that is difficult. But the actual work is still fun. I watched a documentary on building a tiny house and that took a year and over $26,000 to complete so I didn’t feel so badly about our house project.

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Rebuilt Honeywell Zone Valves

Posted on June 24, 2015 by ellen

The Honeywell zone valves on the radiant system were all part of the original boiler system from 1984, So I purchased rebuild kits to have on hand if the valves didn’t work initially or stopped working. Luckily they all worked when I first set up the new boiler system, but two of the five stopped working last winter. I just got around to rebuilding them, a good task for a hot day.

Rebuild Kits

The great thing about rebuilding is that the plumbing which is all soldered can stay put. But to upgrade from the old style to new style motorized head, the water has to be drained from the manifold so I waited until summer when the heating system was off. The broken valves stayed open on manual–so whenever any other valve opened, these valves also delivered warm water to the zone. That worked fine for the rest of the winter. Now that I want to install a chiller system though I needed to take care of fixing the valves.

Valve Set on Manual

In order to avoid that situation next winter (I hope) I just rebuilt all of the valves. It was a simple rebuild–even with having to place the new ball plate for each valve. The old valves had the ball closure device built in but when removed, it opens the valve piping. The separate piece now allows the valve head to be replaced without emptying the water from the system.

Old Valve Head

The most difficult part of the install was removing the old gaskets, they were very flattened in the groove. I was able to slip a small screwdriver under part of the rubber and use my thumbnail against the screwdriver to grab the old gasket and pull it out.

Valve Conversion Kit

Also two of the four bolts are configured to accept the screws from the valve head, and naturally I got two in the wrong place the first time I installed one.

Bolting on the Plate

The new plates have indents that align with those on the valve to made positioning a no brainer. Thank goodness for that because access to the valves in my system is tight.

Indents to position the plate

The old valve body has matching indents for lining up. Notice the black around the rubber gasket area, from the old gasket deteriorating over time.

Old Valve Body with Indents

The valve body slips right over the plate and with a bit of wiggling sits down correctly over the valve control arm and aligns with the two bolt heads to attach the heads. The valve must be on manual to seat on the arm so be sure they are on that setting. They are set on manual in the package, but might be wise to double check.

After a couple of hours all the valves were rebuilt and labeled. I will have to bleed the system again to get out any air that was introduced and I will check for operation when I get the new chiller.

Newly rebuilt valves

The old valves lasted thirty years, the new valves may not last as long. Some of the comments on the Supply House website where I purchased the new heads say the new valves are junk compared to the old. I hope not.

Honeywell Zone Valve Replacement Head Install

Posted in House Systems, Maintenance and Repair, Radiant Heat | Comments Off

What’s the Weather Like Today?

Posted on June 23, 2015 by ellen

Hum along with me to the old tune, “Its Good News Week” if you know that one you are probably a baby boomer. It is a 60’s one hit wonder by a group called Hedgehoppers Anonymous! Not that I remembered–what did they do before the Internet?
I received this contraption for my birthday from my dear husband. This is a fantastic gift. I love it. It is an Acurite Five in One Weather Station.

Five in One Weather Station with Dual Solar Panel Upgrade

I mounted it at the very top of the house. Not too difficult when I can just climb onto the roof from the rear of the house since it is bermed to a step right below the gutter. The device is installed level and mounted due south (according to my GPS) to get accurate wind direction and solar power for the thermometer fan.

Accurite Weather Station on House Top

This Five in One weather station can use PC Connect software downloaded from the site to transfer data to their website. But I don’t have a PC to connect to the display. I use a Mac Powerbook and I splurged on an iPhone so that I could buy a Flir One thermal imaging camera last Christmas. So I added the Acu-link accessory. It is a wireless bridge that plugs into the internet router and transfers the sensor data to the Acurite My Backyard Weather website. Then I can log in from my computer or phone (or iPad) anywhere there is a data connection to see the weather data from my rooftop.

Aculink Bridge Instructions

The Five in One station measures Temperature, Humidity, Wind Direction and Speed, Rainfall, and there is a Barometric Pressure readout too. The icons on the website are configurable, add or delete options and place them in any order. The inside display is also configurable for some of the information widgets.
My website display setup looks like this:

Aculink Website Display-Temperature gets nice and cool at night

And this is an example of the inside display screen with widgets on the lower half that I have chosen to display. Notice it is pretty hot inside as the weather starts to cool off outside. Opening the windows at night cools it down inside but only to about 73 or 74. We just have so much mass in the house that it takes longer than overnight to cool it down. So the chilling system should really help cool the mass and keep it cooler inside.

Inside Weather Station Display-about an hour earlier that the website display

The window at the bottom of the display is a ticker that tells the moon phase, the last rainfall, the current records for heat and cold etc.

One problem I had when the temperatures started to get hot outside is that the display was about 15-20 degrees higher than the actual temperature. The weather station thermometer is exposed to the hot sun and the way it is kept accurate is to power a small fan with a solar panel. I read on the user forums that the single panel is just not enough for hot summer temperatures and there is an upgrade that has two solar panels that makes the hot sunny day temperature readout more accurate. So of course I had to have one.

Temperature Sensor Add On

It was not too difficult to install, just had to keep track of the screws and not let the internal electronic box fall out of the device. The effect was not immediate, the temperature sensor stayed at 104 degrees when it was probably 90 but the next day the temperature did not skyrocket in the sun and seemed much more accurate. There is some calibration that can be done for the instruments but except for the temperature on sunny days they seem pretty accurate right out of the box.
I’m pretty impressed with this device. It does run on four AA batteries that come it. I will have to see how long a set lasts. In cold weather they recommend lithium batteries to combat the effect of the cold on alkaline batteries. The data collection memory in the inside display is full right now and I don’t have a PC to use the software to download it. I wonder if it would just show up as a USB disk on my Mac to download and empty the memory. (Didn’t work–did open iTunes though!)
The total cost was more expensive than purchasing the kit with the acculink bridge and temperature sensor upgrade included so look at the website and get that one in the first place (Currently: Acurite Model: 900WES) to get the full capability of the system.

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The Rain was Raining All Around

Posted on June 22, 2015 by ellen

It falls on field and tree. It rains on my umbrella here and on the ships at sea.

A Child’s Garden of Verses–Robert Louis Stevenson

I always liked these little verses as a child and memorized several of them. They are comforting to me when I think of them, little rafts in an uncertain river of time.

Almost 3 inches of rain

Mother’s Day Snow

The spring weather in Arvada was wetter than normal. Most of the plains states got more rain than usual, in fact most of the country did except for drought-ridden California. They are suffering from a several year reduction in normal rainfall. Similar to the early 70’s when we lived there but they say it is worse–well more people using the water now and more fields being planted to feed us.

I thought Colorado had a state-wide average for rainfall, but I was wrong. In Arvada, just 30 minutes from Denver we have 19 instead of 14 annual inches of precipitation and another 30 minutes further north in Boulder the annual precipitation is 24 inches. That seems like quite a difference.

Here are the Arvada averages for precipitation.

The number of days of rain or snow averages about 6 for the month of May. In 2015 we have had 20.

The average number of inches of precipitation in May is less than 3. We had nearly 7.

This map shows the total precipitation in Colorado for May 2015. The location of Arvada is marked. It is a little North West of the center of the state.

Colorado May Rainfall Totals 2015

The Community Collaborative Rain Snow and Hail Community keeps detailed records in several states and have a goal of collecting data for each square mile. Volunteers purchase official rain gauges and hail recording devices and send their data to the website. Automatic collection is not allowed. Our closest station is about a half mile away and the data shows 6.95 inches of rain in May, plus 10 days over .10 inches and 20 with measurable amounts. Two other close stations reported 7.85 and 6.35 inches respectively. June has been rainy too with 3.58 inches through June 21st and 3.46 for the second reporting station with 9 rainy days over .10 inch and 13 days with measurable precipitation.

Denver numbers were similar. Denver Airport only had 3.72 inches of rain in May with 19 rainy days. The National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office published these figures for Denver in May.
WEATHER CONDITIONS. NUMBER OF DAYS WITH
THUNDERSTORM 0
MIXED PRECIP 0
RAIN 9
FREEZING RAIN 0
HAIL 0
SNOW 1
SLEET 0
FOG W/VIS <= 1/4 MILE 7
HEAVY RAIN 2
LIGHT RAIN 23
LT FREEZING RAIN 0
HEAVY SNOW 1
LIGHT SNOW 2
FOG 14
HAZE 3

Denver’s rain amount did not even make the top ten.
TEN WETTEST MAY`S IN DENVER WEATHER HISTORY SINCE 1872:
8.57 INCHES 1876
7.31 INCHES 1957
6.12 INCHES 1969
5.06 INCHES 1973
4.95 INCHES 1935
4.88 INCHES 1938
4.88 INCHES 1898
4.79 INCHES 2011
4.77 INCHES 1967
4.67 INCHES 1995

But it was significantly higher than the driest years.
10 DRIEST MAY`S IN DENVER WEATHER HISTORY SINCE 1872:
0.06 INCHES 1974
0.09 INCHES 1886
0.15 INCHES 1899
0.22 INCHES 1919
0.34 INCHES 1977
0.34 INCHES 1966
0.43 INCHES 1925
0.49 INCHES 1972
0.52 INCHES 1911
0.53 INCHES 1900

Bottom Line? We have not been able to dig out the space for the cement slab to place the spa. The rain has just let up this week and we are getting to it now.

Posted in Construction, Landscape, Planning | Comments Off

Door Doldrums

Posted on June 22, 2015 by ellen

The Therma Tru doors from Alpen are a remodeler’s nightmare. After the initial install, they didn’t work very well at all. They didn’t close correctly apparently due to being out of level and not plumb.

First Door Installers

SOO the installers, the door assemblers, the window company rep and the sales rep got together to look at them and take pictures and say the installers needed to return and move the doors enough to be perfectly level and plumb. At first they said I should take out the doors and level the concrete sill first, but after I thought about that I decided that was crazy and that we could use shims, preferably fiberglass shims to make them level and then just foam any cracks. So the installers returned to level the doors but that took about a month for them to get another space in their schedule.

Front Door View

I also had them reframe the back door as it was framed in a crooked wall so that the door left over an inch of space between the sheathing and the brickmold which would have been almost impossible to seal and frame again. So that was done and I left town to visit my Mom for her birthday so we were again on hold for a couple of weeks.

I had several concerns about the door quality–for instance the bolt that holds the lockset is oversized and scrapes the strike plate.

Scraped strike plate

Apparent warp in door

We also had gaps in the insulation and one door came without insulation and one lockset was the wrong type. So there were several things to address. But Alpen doesn’t do warranty work until the bill is paid in full. Nice for them to have the negotiating all on their side.

The company rep was supposed to return to fix paint issues with the doors, one surface was rough and when that door seemed to be warped by about 1/8″ they suggested that first the installers come out again and re-level it–less than 1/8″ in 6′. So they did and I finally paid them the last of what I owed them as I didn’t really think it was an installation issue any more.

During this time we had an unusual amount of rainfall for Colorado. Something like 5 inches. I have to look up the exact amount but that is a lot of rain for here. So the re-painting was delayed and so was the re-level but eventually the installers stopped by to re-level the warped door, but they could not get it to lock. Instead of Alpen returning to re- paint they convened another meeting.

Peeling paint on jamb

Peeling paint on upper brickmold

Peeling paint on lower brickmold

This time the company rep had a more senior rep with him but the door assembler was not involved. They looked at the paint and it was obvious that the situation was much worse. The installers had mentioned that Alpen thought that perhaps the paint issues were caused by the install–perhaps banging on the doors incorrectly and chipping the paint. There is some evidence that paint is chipping where the installers may have tapped on the doors to align them, but there is other chipping that is at the bottom of the jambs and at the edges of the brickmold that are less likely to be installer caused. So overall, it seems to be an Alpen warranty issue.

But here comes the worst part. ThermaTru excludes the wood parts of their doors (pine or oak jambs, sills, brickmold) completely from their warranty and Alpen had a clause in their sales document that said that the doors have to be protected by an overhang for half of their width. WHAT? I had neglected to see this stipulation on the door order until AFTER I sent in the final order so I am out of luck there.

Alpen Door Warranty Exclusion

I was annoyed with the sales rep who told me the warranty was an issue for outswing doors. Apparently it is an issue for ANY of Alpen’s Therma Tru doors. The sales rep never mentioned this stipulation when I was deciding on doors and he knew I had no plans to cover the solar gain doors by a huge overhang. Why would I spend extra money to have Alpen sell me the doors with their special solar glass if I couldn’t use them for solar gain when they shade most of the fall and spring sun?

So I knew this clause was going to be a problem. They thought perhaps the wall needed to be sealed before the doors are re-painted and that means tearing off the rest of the siding and replacing some of the aging polyiso sheathing and using SIGA housewrap which the sales rep offered to me without charge I believe, and more of the tape and then re-siding and caulking the doors so moisture is not getting behind the brickmold. That seems reasonable and it has to be done anyway.

I also have to figure out how to install my solar shades which are still in the design stage and hope they will count as “overhang”. I asked the installers to send me another estimate to seal the front as I thought they would get to it before I would, but it has been a week and no estimate. I know they are busy with a big job in Golden though.

Delivery of the windows and doors was almost three months ago. So although I didn’t think we needed to prioritize the door issues I now think it will be another several months before they are finished and they will always suffer from exposure and for that they don’t have any warranty. They are WOOD moldings that should stand up just fine to weather if protected by paint and the fiberglass doors are supposed to be more durable than wood. They were not cheap doors; aren’t most exterior doors exposed to weather? I have to just chalk this up to a bad experience as I settled for these doors in the first place, knowing I wanted outswing french in the front room and in the master and got inswing and a single door instead. Now I really regret getting doors from a window company. It is just not their specialty.

It is disappointing, but to look at the overall picture–all is not lost. These doors should function very well, keeping the cold and heat out with their high R value and the low U value glass. They are really more energy efficient than any other door choice (except for outswings which have a lower air transmittance due to shutting against the wind) and were less expensive than some of the foreign brands that are available. I just have to look on the bright side.

Therma Tru Warranty

Alpen-HPP_Residential_Warranty-8-2014

Posted in Air Intrusion/Thermal Envelope, Maintenance and Repair | Comments Off

Switcharoo to Penguin Chiller

Posted on June 17, 2015 by ellen

Penguin Chiller Logo

I was very disappointed about the new/old Arctica Chiller not working, although ebay is fantastic in providing free return shipping. I let it drain for a day and packed it up in the original box and plastic bag making sure that the styrofoam pieces protected it all around. Then I carried it out to the car and hurt my back twisting it into the back seat. I should have put it in the trunk. The store owner was apologetic and of course was also disappointed that now they have a returned chiller that does not work. She thought perhaps it was the shipping that did something to it, but I suspect it was repaired at some point and the new seal in the copper may have leaked. It is hard to say–the fins were clean and the water in the pipes seemed to be flowing just fine.

I also packed up the controller in its original box and followed the return instructions so I hope to get refunds for both of these items in a few days.

I ALMOST bought a 1/4 HP Ecoplus chiller because there was a 15% off coupon on Amazon. I was not sure that chiller would be large enough and I wanted to see if I could find one with the more efficient R410A refrigerant. After MUCH more searching on the internet I came across Penguin Chillers.

I am so impressed with the specifications and the list price that I ordered one immediately, even though there is little other information on aquarium forums etc. Not only are these made in the USA (Arctica are made in Korea) but they have R410a which is even better than R134A because it is a more efficient refrigerant that must work at higher pressures that means the design is better than most chillers. The commercial Arctica used R-22 which is being phased out as an HCFC refrigerant so R410A is better for LEED compliance too. This chiller has less than 1/2 pound of refrigerant and is sealed so it is also exempt from LEED required refrigerant pressure testing. It operates at a lower gph, the flow must be at least 300 gph, while the Arctica required 480gph. That translates into a 5 gpm capable pump for my system which will use less electricity than the higher speed.

1/2 HP Penguin Chiller

It is rated at 4.5 amps instead of 5 like the Arctica and at 5000 btu’s instead of 6000. But it should operate more efficiently and the noise level is published–most don’t publish the level and you have to rely on anecdotes to determine noise levels. The noise level is rated at 56 decibels which is about twice as loud as the humming of a refrigerator or the quietest dishwashers, but about a third less than normal conversation, rated at 60. Like the Richter scale for earthquakes, Decibel ratings are on a logarithmic scale so 60 is twice as loud as 50.

Currently these chillers are so popular that there is a 5-7 day shipping wait time. So even though I have not found many comments other than Penguin Chiller reviews on Amazon, they are selling quickly. Amazon has a seller listed and they are available on ebay but the best price was on the website. Don’t forget to add the controller–they should offer the controller as standard and a discount if it is taken off, but their web software may not work that way.

Eric at Penguin Chillers was kind enough to send me the user manuals as pdf’s so that I can post them here. I also copied the specifications from the website as another pdf.

Penguin Chiller Specifications
Penguin Chiller Setup
Penguin Controller Setup

I’m looking forward to installing the new chiller, although the summer temperatures here have remained lower than average with more rain than average. Which is delaying our concrete slab work for the spa. Rats!

Posted in Appliances, House Systems, Planning, Radiant Cooling | Comments Off

Radiant Cooling

Posted on June 13, 2015 by ellen

It was easier than I thought it would be to switch the thermostats to cooling and hook up the circulation pump as the primary pump on the system. I just had to switch the white wire from heat to cool. Eventually I will re-wire the thermostats with 4 strand wire.

Thermostat Wiring

The pump had to be rewired to turn on when the thermostats called for cooling to circulate the water that is cooling by moving through the heat exchanger and becoming lower in temperature from the chilled water in the storage tank.

This is the original wiring diagram that was redone for this system.

Original wiring diagram

The actual boiler setup using the Fireplace Boiler as a secondary heat source is not yet wired or figured out. The storage tank circulation pump is just running all the time–as an energy efficient EMC pump that is not a huge efficiency drain. With the heat cycle that pump would only turn on when the water is hot enough and only on a call for heat. I’m still trying to follow the logic to allow the primary pump and boiler to come on after the heat from the storage tank is used up.

Radiant cooling has been running for about an hour now. The chiller has still not come back on as the storage tank water has only given up about 5 degrees. The temps in the house will take more time to come down since radiant cooling is cooling of the surrounding surfaces not the air itself. At least the temperature in the house has not gone up as the outside temperature approaches a high of 84 today. Currently it is 81 outside and 75 inside with all the windows closed. I’m hoping to keep the house cool to get more work done this summer!

Update: The temperatures in the house did begin to go up and wound up at about 78 degrees. After a full day of running off and on for a few minutes each time, with the sensor telling me that the chiller was working, I began to suspect that it was not. Overnight I realized I had a new sensor that came with the controller–so I plugged that one in first think in the morning and taped it to the delivery pipe where the water should be the coldest. The temperature measured 75 and continued to measure about 75 for the next two hours as the chiller ran. Oh oh. I felt behind the chiller and NO warm air was coming out. DARN there goes my good deal. I’m glad I installed it as soon as I got it so that I could test the system. I have filed a return request and will also return the controller.

I took a couple of thermal images to see if the floor was getting cooler and I got a solid photo! This basically shows that the floor had NO cooler water running through the pipes as it is all one solid color, with only my toes for contrast.

Radiant Floor with Toes

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Heat Exchanger Piping

Posted on June 12, 2015 by ellen

I finished the heat exchange piping this morning. This is how the heat exchanger works. Notice the hot in the upper corner going IN and the warm after exchanging its heat going OUT in the lower corner. Conversely the cold is going IN at the lower corner of the other side and the warm is going OUT. In other words the temp exchange is piped opposite of one another.

Brazed plate heat exchanger

This is my piping before I hooked up the chiller.

Heat Exchanger Piping

On the left upper side hot is being pumped into the heat exchanger and so it will be leaving its heat in the exchanger and returning to the storage tank much cooler on the right hand side. Conversely, the cool water from the radiant pipes is entering on the right lower side, it will heat up and is being pumped back into the radiant system on the lower left–to the boiler in this case.

Cooling works in a similar fashion. The chilled water leaves the upper outlet on the chiller and enters the upper left corner of the heat exchanger. But it also flows to the input of the chiller at the tee just before the exchanger. This is where the system can be turned off for the winter. Then it gives up its chill to the water in the radiant system and leaves at the upper right corner of the system and back to both the output of the chiller and the input of the tank. The radiant system water enters again at the lower right side of the heat exchanger and leaves to chill the floors at the lower left. Either the cooling or the fireplace heater can be closed off from the heat exchanger system with ball valves depending on the season.

Finished Piping

I switched the wiring on the pump outlet to allow the pump to run continuously and plugged in the chiller controller with the temperature sensor and power connected from the chiller. With the pump running and the water running through just the top of the heat exchanger the chiller compressor kicked on and ran for about 10 minutes as the temperature on the controller dropped from 64.9 to 55.5. For some reason the controller continued to drop the temperature reading until it reached about 44.2! Then it started to go back up. I ended up unplugging it when we left the house for a few hours. But at least I know it works. (Rather I was tricked into thinking it was working–but it was not cooling the water as much as the internal sensor indicated at least that is what the new external sensor showed.)

Chiller water temp at shut off

Chiller temp continues to go down

The trick will be to get the valves to open and the circulation pump to start on a call for cooling instead of a call for heat. (Not a problem with the correct re-wire of the thermostats.) That should involve the valve from the heat exchanger to the radiant system which I may just leave open, and the valves to the floor piping which need to have the thermostats rewired for the cooling function. Plus changing the pump wiring around again and hoping it all works.

Posted in Radiant Cooling | Comments Off

Killer Chiller (DOA)

Posted on June 10, 2015 by ellen

For the past couple of years I have installed a window evaporative cooler that I bought on craigslist in one of the front windows. This year, however, that window has been replaced and there is not a new window that would fit the cooler. SO I had considered several other ways of cooling the house for the summer.

Installing a whole house evaporative cooler is one idea that was appealing but that would require ducting that is not the same as the ducting for the ventilation system. Evaporative cooling also wastes water–at least it has for the last couple of years as the tank dumps itself out every 8 hours. I also thought about running a mini-split air conditioner outside. These are heat pump air conditioners that run the cold fluid through copper pipes into air exchangers hung on the inside walls. They are 220 volt and would require more electrical outlets outside. I thought I might eliminate the air exchange unit and run the cooling fluid through a heat exchanger to cool the water in our radiant system instead but then I started reading about chillers.

Radiant cooling was recommended by some friends of ours who know of a house that has it and say it works really well. I guess we are about to find out because after lots of research on aquarium chillers, I found a good sized one on ebay and bought it. The unit was advertised as new and is the Arctica Commercial 115 volt 1/2 HP unit–model 500B. The unit did not have a controller included so I ordered one from Marine and Reef supply and was surprised when it shipped from Tempe, Arizona, our former hometown.

Arctica Chiller and Controller

The list price for this chiller is about $1700, although I found a price as low as $1159 at Marine Depot. The unit I put together was less than half of the lowest price I found online. Which may make up for the messed up label. (But does not make up for not chilling as I find out later.)

R-22 refrigerant is a problem for LEED as there is a complicated formula that determines whether the amount of refrigerant used is a detriment to the environment. Energy efficiency can be a trade-off between the use of HCFC’s, electricity, or water. Since heat pumps also use R-22 and are beneficial as energy saving heat and cooling appliances, this chiller that only uses 5 amps when operating should balance the use of an HCFC. A typcial 1 ton air conditioner would use 10 amps at 220 volts or 20 at 115. So this unit uses about half of what a 1/2 ton air conditioner would use. Our Manual J calculations actually called for 3 tons of cooling, but I had not controlled for awnings on the solar exposed windows.

I wrote the company and the unit is sealed with 1 lb. 4.5 oz. of refrigerant. So like a sealed heat pump, it should not need to be pressure tested for LEED certification.

Chiller Label–somewhat obliterated

This chiller is capable of cooling 150 gallons, more water than I have in the system with the 50 gallons of water in the old water heater, but the tank will lose cooling strength going through the exchanger so it will probably need the extra capability.

Chiller Front

It is rated at 6000 BTU’s which is “half ton” in air conditioners. The pump speed needs to be between 474 and 792 GPH which translates to about 8 to 13 GPM.

Chiller Model Arctica Commercial DA-500B

The controller temperature on this commercial unit can be set much cooler than regular aquarium chillers down to 32 degrees.

Arctica 1/2 HP Controller

I plan to tie this chiller into the storage tank for the fireplace boiler and run the chilled water through the same heat exchanger. The thermostats will work on cooling mode and they should send the same signal to the valves to open and start the circulating pump on a call for cooling.

I’ll use the same pump that is installed on top of the water tank to circulate the water through the chiller and the exchanger. Although I still have more work to do on the design. I hope I can get it set up before the weather gets really hot. It has been pretty cool so far this spring with a LOT of rain.

Arctica Commercial Specs

Arctica Commercial Chiller Manual

Posted in Appliances, Energy Efficiency, Radiant Cooling | Comments Off

Novan Solar Hot Water System

Posted on June 10, 2015 by ellen

I have been searching on craigslist for a hot water solar system for some time. A month or so ago, I went to look at one that was $800 for three panels, a control system and tank that all needed to be removed and another buyer arrived just as I was leaving so I passed on it. My original thought was to add collectors to the boiler system but after I bought the spa, it seemed like that would be a good application to counteract the cost of keeping the spa water warm.
The system was all the way on the south side of Denver but the owner said make an offer–so I did. For $200 and the disassembly, I bought two Novan solar collectors that have damaged in and out connections because of stupid roofers, a heat exchanger “optimizer” and a storage tank.

System on Truck

These are the photos on the craigslist ad. There are two collectors.

Novan Collectors

The heat exchanger is copper mounted to a board with two pumps that probably don’t work anymore, a differential controller, and various plumbing drains and connections.

Novan Optimizer

The tank has a tag that says it is electric, but there is no electrical connection so it appears that it was just a storage tank. It is a 66 gallon 1981 Conservationist, a line still made by A.O. Smith.

Novan System Tank

I was able to find some information about the Novan systems which were manufactured in Boulder, Colorado until about 1985 when the tax incentives of the time dried up. They were exceptionally well built collectors and the system used Bray oil a currently unavailable thermal transfer fluid that was only used in the Novan systems. The owner captured some of the Bray oil but it will surprising if enough was captured to refill the system so we will have to flush the panels and the collectors and use a glycol mixture.

Novan Information

Novan Solar Collector Manual

C-30-1S Solar Controller

The collectors will need to be rebuilt due to the smashed connecting pipes. But the collector is put together with screws and bolts so it should not be too difficult to dissasemble and reconnect pipe to the interior collector. I’m excited about the system and the information I found regarding these high quality components. Novan is one of the most sought after brands for hot water solar panel restoration.

Posted in Energy Efficiency, Reduce Reuse Recycle | Comments Off