how to save a home with solar pool heating [RE-wrenches]

Tom Lane, Energy Conservation Services solar8 at ehostingbiz.com
Mon Nov 10 08:39:02 PST 2003


How to save your house with a solar pool heater
When people have a solar pool heater, they can run a secondary line with a
cut off ball valve with sprinklers along the top of their roof. just above
the solar pool heating system.when a fire occurs, open the ball valve to the
sprinkler system, have a generator big enough to start and run the 1-11/2
horsepower pool pump in the event of a power outage.guarantee that this will
save your home. most pools have 15 to 20 thousand gallons pour about 50
gallons of dishwashing detergent into the pool like Duz, or Ivory etc.,to
act as a surfactant. if you decide to stay in the home, during the fire you
may want to get a mask and a snorkel, or scuba gear to jump into the pool
when the fire gets really close. Don't laugh, I know people who during the
80"s who used such a system to save their home, even if you do not have a
pool heating system you can rig this setup if you have a swimming pool with
a generator and or inverter battery bank setup. There is no reason a person
should lose their home if they have 15 to 20 thousand gallons of water in
their swimming pool. I have worked as a firefighter for the US.SO.Forest
service, and bureau of Indian Affairs in the late 60"so and early 70"so, all
solar contractors especially swimming pool contractors should offer this
type of setup in high risk fire areas where there is a swimming pool at the
home.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <mlafferty at universalenergies.com>
To: <RE-wrenches at topica.com>
Sent: Monday, November 10, 2003 9:19 AM
Subject: RE: California Fires and PV [RE-wrenches]


> Joel D wrote:
>
> >  The PV system was working fine because neighborhood power was
> restored by hard-working Southern California Edison crews.
>
> Joel,
>
> Thanks for clarifying that so quickly!  My response to your original
> post would NOT have been so "paranoid" sounding if this sentence had
> been included there.  My hat is and always has been, off to the Guys and
> Gals that work their butts off to restore power and other necessary
> infrastructure after disasters.
>
> I left something out of my original response, as well.... The news that
> the PV system was working is a fine and encouraging testament.
> Congratulations to you and the homeowner!
>
> All:
>
> I hope it was clear in my message that I was posing as "Devil's
> Advocate", as opposed to actually being "The Devil".  I admit it may
> have sounded paranoid and overly critical.  It was intended to.
>
> I don't "come from" the same place the, as Matt T says, "Dark Side"
> does.... I do know where they are coming from..... It's a paranoid and
> overly critical place... In my opinion, with regard to Utilities, PV and
> inverter based RE, it is feigned and fantasy at this point.  A position
> they maintain so they can feel "in control".
>
> With thousands and thousands of units deployed across the country in the
> last 5 years, they still can't point to any "negative" safety or
> operational related incidents to my knowledge.
>
> The only "negatives" that I can think of, stem from their own inability
> to effectively and efficiently handle "their side" of it.... Things like
> billing, paperwork, engineering, inspections.... Following "the rules"
> primarily... Administrative and procedural things.... These "negatives"
> are self-imposed due to their own internal structures, culture, and
> processes.  Oh, they also don't "like" the fact that Net-Metering was
> legislatively imposed on them, thereby forcing them to do something that
> is counter to their "control" culture.
>
> The lack of ACTUAL negative safety and operational incidents is a strong
> testament to the equipment we have today.  Nevertheless, the people
> charged with managing, protecting, and controlling the technical and
> physical aspects of the grid (Wires, Transformers, Protection Equipment,
> Generation, The Electricity Supply itself stuff....) are loathe to look
> at a little 2KW, IEEE & UL Compliant Inverter as anything other than a
> "Generator"....
>
> Generators, to them, have "moving parts", "rotating machinery",
> "oscillations" (they don't admit that one)... They have very complex
> protection control systems (so do our inverters!)... They require fuel
> to operate.  They are dispatchable and can come on or off line with a
> flip of the switch.  They have Multi-MW capacity, day or night.  The
> power is purchased and sold via an infrastructure of contracts, credits
> and billing.  They know how to deal with them.  Well, not in Ohio, but
> that's not what this is about.... ;-)
>
> To them, the little red, white or white and gray box hanging on the wall
> is just the same, but different.... They can't flip the switch and
> expect it to dispatch at full capacity within seconds, especially at
> night.... They aren't the "wholesale buyer" who gets it first and in
> turn, re-sells it at a profit, to the "customer".... But they want to
> require all the same "standard utility protection devices", including
> "visible-lockable disconnects" which we are all familiar with, but also
> so many other things.  Things which are built into the anti-islanding
> controls of the inverters, but aren't made by GE & Westinghouse....
> Brands they know.  These are chips and relays and sensors, not large
> boxes or rooms full of boards with exotic gas-filled contact
> enclosures....
>
> They don't need to be!  It's 240 volts and like 15 amps!  Not 121 KV and
> 100 MW!  Herin lies the Devil.  They want it "their way" because that's
> what they know.  Like most humans, change in one's embedded thinking and
> perspective does not come easily, they just don't want to have to change
> their thinking or how they "do things".
>
> When it comes to things like siting a wind turbine, or PV for that
> matter, the same paranoid overly-critical thought processes are in
> place... Either in a neighborhood association, City/County Planning, or
> other local group or agency.  Fear and control.  Fear over not being in
> control.  Fear of the "unknown".  Fear of "what it will look like from
> my backyard".... Fear of.... Well, the list goes on.
>
> Yes, California has finally attempted to address a portion of this issue
> via legislation.  That is being tested right now, in various areas
> around the state.  There are many "miles to go before we rest" on this
> one... Again, change does not come easily and everybody has their own
> interpretation of "the law", if they even know it exists.
>
> Witness medical marijuana, for example.  Not because it's related to RE,
> because it's an example of varying interpretations.  The difference with
> RE is that there are far more neighborhood associations, municipalites,
> and neighbors in general than there are County DA's and State and Fed
> AG's.  If the relative few can't achieve consensus on a highly
> publicized issue after this many years and court cases, how long and far
> will we have to go to to find consensus in our case?
>
> It is the existence of these types of obstacles, understanding their
> depth, and having scars from fighting them that causes my "alarm" to go
> off.... Oh, it also causes me to....
>
> Play the Lotto.  Play the Lotto.  PLAY THE LOTTTO!
>
> "Fight on, just be sure to know who you're fighting!"
>
> Matt Lafferty
> Universal Energies Institute
> mlafferty at universalenergies.com
> (916) 422-9772
> (916) 628-7694 Cell
> (916) 914-2247 Fax
> www.universalenergies.com
>
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>
>
>
>

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