Solar Water Heater

[youngnstudly]

Just wanted to post a quick update:

Starting around mid Nov the sun started felling in the horizon to the point that I am getting shading by 2pm (at the worst). I have switched back to gas for now. I can cut some trees and gain 1 to 2 hours at best or start running electric backup.... Not what I was hopping... this effectively cuts 2-3 months of the year out.

We've only been getting a few hours of good sunlight around here too, even on a sunny day! In the summer, we get sun from 7am to around 5:30pm, but lately it's been from 11am to 1:30pm.

As for the solar hot water setup, I like yours a lot! My dad just removed the 2nd water (pre-heat) tank from the garage roof due to the roof leaking, so we have no more solar hot water helping to lower our bill. The first tank started to leak a while back, and I was thinking of welding the seam split so that tank could be used for solar on the hot tub. It's more of a back burner project for the future though.

Like you, we could use a trimming on our neighbor's trees (say about 12" from the base! Haha). Not only does it block out our sunlight, but we get all kinds of digital breakup while watching TV on the antenna. Especially if it's windy out!

Pics of one solar cart (losing daylight by the minute!) and the leaky stainless water (pre-heat) tank are attached. The neighbor's think we're idiots for trying to save on our household expenses...yet they complain about their $200-300 PG&E bills constantly and they're never even home!