Winter for 2015 Has Passed

Well another winter period has completed and as of 1 September we are heading into spring.

The three  months of winter have been the coldest months for many years with August being significantly wetter and colder than previous years.This is reflected in the lower than normal pv results for the period.
Likewise the core temperature plummeted as the system tried to keep the core to the 21 degrees it was set for.

The system has had a few frustrating issues of late with pressure being regularly lost in the solar water system. the pressure release system has coped with the events with no damage to the system but we are still endeavouring to find where the pressure is leaking from. This impacts on the ability to store heat in the core so hopefully will be resolved sooner rather than latter.

  




The core temperature fell to 20 degrees in July and has only just started to move back up. As we move into the fourth summer period for the system the expectation is that the core should get above 35 degrees by the end of this coming summer.



As indicated the level of power from the pv system in August is the lowest since the system was installed. Hopefully the long hot summer that is forecast will generate plenty of Kwhrs in the period ahead.

First Quarter 2015 Results

The first quarter of 2015 has produced a great January and February and slightly messy March but overall the results for the house and the systems are similar to previous years.

The core temperature peaked at the end of February at 32 degrees and has decreased slightly to 30 at the end of March. One assumes this means that the heat has spread into the core and has assisted in drying out the core so that it will be more receptive to heat gain in the future and the total cubic metre area has increased. Time will tell on that one.

 The photovoltaic system continues to produce steady and similar results from previous years.January is consistently the best month for pv output followed by February and then December. We are now up to just under 10MWhrs since turn on of the system.

January produced 385.7KWhrs which is the best month yet.

The third annual report has now been completed and is available on the site.