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Old 09-04-11, 08:45 PM   #26
Xringer
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Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Woburn, MA
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Home heating oil is around $4 a gallon right now, but since we are timed to be only burning
0.5 gal per day, $2 for hot water isn't that bad of a deal. But Solar HW is starting to look better and better!


About 15 gallons a month for the 8 warmer months, comes to 240 gallons.
Our typical fill-up in the early fall is normally around 200 gallons..


But, that might be way off base this year. The last bill I can find shows a fill-up on 02-02-11.
I just looked at our 275 gallon tank, and it looks pretty full.. Just under 3/4 full.
It goes up to 7/8 after a fill-up, so it only looks like we've used about 40 gallons during the last 7 months.
Should have been more.. 214 days * 0.5 gallons is 107 gallons (of burn per the timer).

I wonder if the new lower water temp setting (140F) has the Aquastat
shutting off the burner after 10 or 15 minutes.?.

I'm never up at 7AM when the timer starts it up..

Anyways, I'm looking forward to only needing about 60 or 70 gallons for our fall fill-up..

Even with the 140F water, we've never had any problems taking showers
in the evenings. I think the solar PV assist might be bigger help at low water temps..
I'm working on boosting the PV power to the heater. Got the parts,
just need to do some soldering etc..
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