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Old 05-05-12, 11:32 PM   #5
menaus2
Apprentice EcoRenovator
 
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Driftless Region, North America, Earth, Solar System, Orion Arm, Milky Way Galaxy,Virgo Supercluster
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Yes! I've been busy recently but I got my pictures finally downloaded onto my computer. Right now I'm probably 75% done on the Storage tank side and I'm generally following the $1000 design on builditsolar.com. I plan on having 166 sqft of collector area that drains back into a tank roughly 3.5ft x3.5ft x3.5ft of interior storage space that yields 322 gallons of storage capacity.



I started with 3 4'x8' sheets of 3/4" treated OSB as I wanted something strong, moisture resistant and economical. I cut them into 4'x4' pieces. The sidewalls rest flush on top of the edge of the bottom sheet. The wall widths are 3'11&1/4". This allows them to but up against the next one in a "circular" fashion (you'll see in later pics).



I screwed on the top and bottom supports (from the tank inside of course ) using treated 2"x4"s I have them overlap each other for easier final reassembly. One thing in retrospect I wish I had done is to directly attach the bottom support to the base sheet as the sheet would take the outward pressure at the bottom walls better. To address this issue I simply added another layer of 2x4s to reinforce it more. Also, Torx bits are your friend



Here I glued and screwed the middle supports onto the walls. A good New Glarus Fat Squirrel beer makes things go much faster (or maybe it only seems lol ) I also used Gorrilla Glue brand woodglue, idk how much of a difference it really would make over regular woodglue, but I figured it couldn't hurt.

Last edited by menaus2; 05-05-12 at 11:34 PM.. Reason: fix picture imbedding
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