There are any number of people posting about the huge PV systems they are building to support either taking their home offline or supporting the majority of loads for long period of time when grid power is not available. In most cases I don’t see any analysis of loads and the potential for shifting loads […]
building an energy management system for an EG4 PV system Read More »
I didn’t design or build the ground mount system at my home on the North Shore of Maui. It was done by a professional installer who left the solar business years ago. It looks improbably flimsy, but it’s held a double row of 32 Sanyo 250 watt panels for the last 13 years through several
A wimpy-looking Ground Mount System That withstands Hurricanes Read More »
I’m generally considered a reasonably smart guy. I can blunder my way through some fairly complex technical issues, write coherently, and I read stuff generally considered challenging. I’ve started and ran several successful companies, I know how to fix things. But I am capable of doing some stunningly stupid stuff. And the most recent screwup
So this is going to be fun. As soon as I get back to the Northwest (right after I calm down from taking delivery of my new Ducati Desert-X and return from a very short trip to Connecticut to attend my Daughter’s graduation from the Yale PA (masters) program) I’m going to do a video
More on Oil (and gasoline) from Toxic Terry Read More »
Yeah, I know, “what oil should I use” is what bored or clueless folk post on any FaceBook motorcycle forum to see how many pointless comments they can get. Everyone has an opinion on what oil should be used, which is generally what they use, backed by nothing more authoritative than “I’ve been using this
Motorcycle Lubrication Read More »
The usual way to manage critical loads is to isolate them in a subpanel so that during an outage or other similar event you can power just that panel. That works more or less OK when you’re doing new construction, or you can easily access the wiring coming into your main panel. But if your
A Different Way To Manage Critical Loads Read More »
To mitigate wildfire risks for homes and businesses, a comprehensive strategy focusing on defensible space, structural hardening, and proactive maintenance is essential. I’ve developed a 10-step plan based on wildfire resilience best practices from fire safety organizations and mitigation experts. I’m not an expert at this–far from it–so the first thing I did was study
Wildfire Mitigation Planning Read More »
So it’s time to figure out how we’re going to power everything and set up the electrical system so three scenarios are met. Scenario 1: No fire, grid power available. Scenario 2: No fire, grid outage. Scenario 3: fire, grid outage. I suppose there’s really a fire/grid available version, but I don’t have to plan
Critical loads for the Deluge Sytem Read More »
Update: Okay, at the end of this article I wrote “I don’t foresee major problems, which may say more about my foresight than how challenging the issue might be.” which turned out to be accurate. The pool recirculation pump and the salvaged piping isn’t up to the job. so I’m hiring a pro to install
Designing the Sprinkler System Read More »
The first thing I want to do is recommend that you watch some of Fire Safe Marin’s excellent videos. If you want to create a defensible space around your home you need to understand what that means, and these videos do a great job of that. I’d start with this one, but they are all
