System Components

I started this post about four years ago, 
and never finished.  I guess I didn't know much about my system.  Since then have replaced the batteries, fixed a broken turbine (partial replacement) and as you will read below, added more solar panels and a dump load water heater.  Life has been interesting.


This is the original "backyard".  The outdoor wood boiler, back up generator, 8 135 watt solar panels and lp tank = electricity and heat.
 

The outdoor wood boiler is made by Central Boiler.  It is a dual fuel model - will run off of lp or wood.  I think it is over sized for my house - on sunny days, it really isn't utilized at all, the house heats itself naturally, but the pump still runs.  I'm not sure if it is really the answer for an off grid system.  I love the fact that I heat my floors and am using wood instead of lp, but since the pump on the stove runs constantly circulating the water from the tank to the house, it consumes a lot of power over 24 hours.  The short days and long nights of winter - especially cloudy days require the generator much more often.

These is a picture in my utility room of the four pumps that circulate the hot water through the floors.  I put in four zones - one pump for each zone.  Each floor of the house is one zone and the garage is the fourth.  These only circulate the heated water when the thermostat requires heat. 

The solar panels and in the background the small wind turbine.  The Kyocera solar modules have a 20 year warranty.  These supply a little over 1kw of power.  The Whisper 100 has a 5 year warranty.  It is a 900 watt system. 

This is the configuration in the garage, with the battery box underneath.  I keep the garage heated in the winter at about 48-50 degrees Fahrenheit.  The big white pipe is the battery box vent.  These are just vented into the garage, they were supposed to be in the basement and a vent to the outside was installed there.  In this configuration are the transformers, the Outback inverter (2 year warranty) the wind controller and the Outback Mate to the far right.






In 2013 I added another 12 solar panels, 250 watts each and in 2014 another 3 solar panels with the dump load electric water heating system that I have described in another post. This adds another 3.75kw of solar power.