This house is located in Southern Park County, Colorado. To ask this homeowner a question, send an email to the CoSEIA office at info@coseia.org and we will forward your question to them. Please refer to the JK-Park County home.
Solar Home #2
Two levels @ 1635 ft ² each, lower level is a walk out basement
Six 4' X 10' Solar Heating panels for DHW and space heating - LPG boiler back up
Drain back solar heat collection system
Quadra-Fire 3100 wood stove
LPG used for cooking, clothes dryer, boiler, generator
2680 Watts PV (1200 watts of Photowatt modules [originally this was 1600 watts but two Photowatt modules failed. Therefore the string of four modules has been replaced with Kyocera modules] & 1480 watts of Kyocera modules), two Trace SW4048 inverters
One Outback MX-60 MPPT charge controller
10 KW Kohler 10RY62 LPG backup generator
We love living in this house. It's so comfortable in both winter and summer. We especially like the low yearly electric ($0.00) and propane ($132 - $150 per year) bills. We also cut our own wood from our land for the wood stove. So, that's free except for the work required.
Kitchen
Has Peerless-Premier propane stove
Sears-Kenmore 120 volt energy efficient refrigerator - uses 1.077 kw-hr per day
KitchenAid Dishwasher
Sears-Kenmore microwave oven
Wood Stove Corner
Quadra-Fire 3100 wood stove
Used ~ 1 ¼ cord of wood for 2004-05, 2005-06, 2006-07, and 2007-08 heating seasons - anticipate a similar amount for the 2008-09 heating season.
PV Array
2680 Watts PV (1200 watts of Photowatt modules [originally this was 1600 watts but two Photowatt modules failed. Therefore the string of four modules has been replaced with Kyocera modules] & 1480 watts of Kyocera modules), shown at summer tilt angle), two Trace SW4048 inverters
One Outback MX-60 MPPT charge controller
PV system placed into operation on 10-24-01
Moved into house on 8-26-03
Average electrical usage ~ 8.5 KW-hrs per day ~ 15% is for solar heat collection ~ 12.7% is for the refrigerator
Maintenance ~ 3 - 4 months add ~ 2-3 gal. water to batteries, requiring ~ ¾ hr (40 T-105, 220 A-H batteries, wired for 48 VDC)
Mechanical room
Drain back solar heat collection system - used for space heating and domestic hot water
400 gallon insulated stainless steel solar storage tank
Buderus 40 gallon water heater and backup boiler
2004, used 130 gal. LPG (@ $1.15/gal, $149.50), ~ 36 gal for generator (18.3 hr)
2005, used 115 gal. LPG (@ $1.15/gal, $132.25), ~ 30 gal for generator (14.9 hr)
LPG fill up on 9-28-05 @ $1.739/gal
LPG usage from 9-28-05 to 9-30-06 was 68 gallons, generator was used 2 1/2 hr during this time period.
LPG usage from 9-30-06 to 9-30-07 was 147.5 gallons, generator was used 8.2 hr during this time period.
LPG usage from 9-30-07 to 6-30-08 was 95 gallons, generator was used 2.1 hr during this time period.
