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diy solar

diy solar

hello retiring and building a new home soon

Thank you.
I designed the house using the prescriptive design standards in the IBC. it is a simple pitched roof but I made it asymmetrical to get more area for solar.
The second floor south roof measures 20' by 36'. I have a decent playground to work with.
I have a 20'x18' lower roof that is shaded in the morning hours for overflow if needed.
The house has a large dedicated equipment room in the basement from the start. That is my idea of a "man cave".
 
skyking1 said:
Thank you.
I designed the house using the prescriptive design standards in the IBC. it is a simple pitched roof but I made it asymmetrical to get more area for solar.
The second floor south roof measures 20' by 36'. I have a decent playground to work with.
I have a 20'x18' lower roof that is shaded in the morning hours for overflow if needed.
The house has a large dedicated equipment room in the basement from the start. That is my idea of a "man cave".
Click to expand...

Welcome @skyking1

Building a new house ,, That is exciting !!

I retired from a 4 decade commercial construction career a few years back “Victoria BC”.

Where abouts in WA are ya?
 
RV8R said:
Welcome @skyking1

Building a new house ,, That is exciting !!

I retired from a 4 decade commercial construction career a few years back “Victoria BC”.

Where abouts in WA are ya?
Click to expand...
We are south of Tacoma right now, but the new place?
It is 20 minutes from the Black Ball ferry dock in Port Angeles!! We are in the heart of the rain shadow just south of 101 in Sequim.
How about them apples?
I can't wait to bring our 5th wheel across and just leave it there one summer. I think I could enjoy Vancouver Island for a summer. We'd store it and head back home with the truck to take a break now and then, and when the season was over pay the bucks to get the trailer home.
 
skyking1 said:
We are south of Tacoma right now, but the new place?
It is 20 minutes from the Black Ball ferry dock in Port Angeles!! We are in the heart of the rain shadow just south of 101 in Sequim.
How about them apples?
I can't wait to bring our 5th wheel across and just leave it there one summer. I think I could enjoy Vancouver Island for a summer. We'd store it and head back home with the truck to take a break now and then, and when the season was over pay the bucks to get the trailer home.
Click to expand...
Nice place, the moss forest is one of my favorite places

don't forget to dig some geothermal before you slap your house down!
 
gotbeans said:
Nice place, the moss forest is one of my favorite places

don't forget to dig some geothermal before you slap your house down!
Click to expand...
I'm all over that. I will start a thread about the house soon.
Intially I was going to have two Ground Source Heat Pumps (GSHP), one for air and the other a water-to-water.
Now I'm changing that to omit the water to water hydonic unit and using solar heat collection. I started a thread about that in the solar water heating section.
 
gotbeans said:
the more you put in the ground now, the less you'll regret it in a few years hahaha
Click to expand...
That's what I do for a living, put things in the ground. My plan is to over-loop it. I will use PVC conduit sweeps and bring them up in the equipment room, and have (5) 600' home runs for 5 tons of capacity. Then I will put in 2 loops of storage, the same way.
I do not like fusing to a header outside the building. One issue with a loop and you are having a very bad day. With home runs, I can simply abandon a loop if it has an issue in the future.
These PVC runs will be extended out 10' from the house. That way I can backfill the basement and dig up the ends when I want to run the pipe in.
The same goes for our water service.
I will put a piece of 1.5" HDPE from a hand hole out by the power meter. I will push 1" pex through that.
Same hand hole will have data conduit runs to it. That way nobody needs to drill through my ICF concrete basement wall for anything.
 
damn sounds like an exciting build, strap a phone to your head and live stream it lol

skyking1 said:
I started a thread about that in the solar water heating section.
Click to expand...
oh yea I read that thread already a few days ago lol
diysolarforum.com

Planning a large scale hydronic system with Seasonal Thermal Energy Storage

We are building a new home in the Olympic rain shadow, where the sun shines more and it rains less than anywhere around it. It has a less than ideal roof pitch for flat collectors at 3:12, but this is a better pitch for my personal safety :) I am using standing seam metal so I can employ the...
diysolarforum.com diysolarforum.com
 
skyking1 said:
We are south of Tacoma right now, but the new place?
It is 20 minutes from the Black Ball ferry dock in Port Angeles!! We are in the heart of the rain shadow just south of 101 in Sequim.
How about them apples?
I can't wait to bring our 5th wheel across and just leave it there one summer. I think I could enjoy Vancouver Island for a summer. We'd store it and head back home with the truck to take a break now and then, and when the season was over pay the bucks to get the trailer home.
Click to expand...

Very Nice 👍 !!

In the Aviation Circles around here we call the “Olympic Mountain” rain shadow that starts @ Sequim ,,, “The Blue Hole”. It hits a part of Victoria called Oak Bay & also San Juan Island. Victoria has the lowest snow fall in Canada & there is lots to see. Aviation around this area is superb ,, beautiful.

We toyed with the idea of buying in @ Diamond Point “Hangar / House” years ago. But decided to go a different route ,,, International investment & governments & tax hunger ,,, sometimes it is best to go in a different direction.

Geothermal Heat Pump sounds like a great plan. The cost of energy will continue to rise in my opinion & best to use what you can to your advantage. Sequim is a beautiful area ,, Great Choice ,, Good for You !!


www.theweathernetwork.com

Meet the 'Great Blue Hole', this sunny Canadian secret explained - The Weather Network

Local pilots have noticed that a certain patch of blue sky remains clear even when frontal systems track through.
www.theweathernetwork.com www.theweathernetwork.com

goinginzane.com

The Blue Hole

We’re headed for the Blue Hole! (Yes, I’ve been known to fly my airplane up through holes in the clouds to get on top and fly in the clear air above. But that’s not what I&#8217…
goinginzane.com goinginzane.com


I have only been here since 68, but in that short timeframe, I kinda like the area 😁.

IMG_5052.jpeg

IMG_5057.jpeg
 
Last edited:
you probably figured out I have an interest in aviation as well :)
I have never been in an 8 or a 6, but I got wedged into the back seat of an RV4 and did half Cuban Eights until my middle ears got angry.
Commercial SES SEL MEL Instrument airplane instructor single and multi.
Not current but that can be fixed.
 
skyking1 said:
you probably figured out I have an interest in aviation as well :)
I have never been in an 8 or a 6, but I got wedged into the back seat of an RV4 and did half Cuban Eights until my middle ears got angry.
Click to expand...

My “handle” comes from another DIYer hobby of camperizng vans for our travel. RV8R was supposed to stand for RV Renovator

Funny I have a “Van that I changed into an “RV” ,,, Then I built a “Vans” RV ,,, but it isn’t an 8 it is a 7. Regardless, they hit a sweet spot in GA Experiment class.

Sequim is a very beautiful town & area. I’m sure would will be very happy with your choice. Yes your avatar with the big 4 blades kinda gave away the aviator in ya 😁👍.
 
The civil engineer emailed the final stamped stormwater plan yesterday. I have to do a few edits of elevations on the print and draw in the new side sewer. Just a quick sketch and I will shoot that off to a Dropbox file I share with the lady in the city office.
Send her an email and then the ball is in their court again.
I have about 10 days of work, and then the big machine and the dump truck will be idle and not too far from the homestead. I'll ask the boss about using them and hopefully get a permit with the right timing.
 
I started brushing out the driveway route by hand while waiting on the permit. Where it cuts up to the top of the escarpment it will be a true batcave.

PXL_20240620_195551922.jpg

Coming at it from the other end. I have 1 section left to get daylight all the way.
You can see the big cedar in each picture.

PXL_20240618_192719787.jpg


The old farm road bisects the route. Here is what it looks like at the back of the truck. Cuts to the right, fills to the left.

PXL_20240618_192633288.jpg
 
1000004254.jpg
That was the end of the day Sunday the 22nd.
1000004307.jpg

We poured it Friday the 27th
1000004312.jpg


1000004311.jpg
We had quite a bit of drama by the end of the day. We had it all straightened up nicely and then that last 2-ft lift moved that wall in 2 in and the brace system could not move it back. I had to reach in there with the excavator and adjust my wall. In the 40 years of operating equipment. I've done, I've never done anything like this and it was on my own house. I would not suggest this as a solution but we got it done.
 
Absolutely loving it, we moved into our ICF home in October, solar system provides all of the electricity to our house with no grid connection.
 
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