Thanks-will post details in appropriate threads, but here's a summary of what's done so far:
Radiant floors: All but 3 rooms upstairs and the unfinished basement are done. Let me tell you, it's easy to get spoiled padding around in your bare feet when it's below 20F outside. I didn't realize how much so until I walked across an area that wasn't done yet-BRRR! Staple up can be retrofitted into existing floor by cutting access strips out of the subfloor-easier than removing drywall from below since we are installing tigerwood throughout the entire house including kitchens/bathrooms as each area is completed. After experiencing warm floors, I would never be without it. Realtor surveys of homeowners that have experienced warm floors show that nearly all of them felt it was the best feature of their house by far. By the way, don't listen to naysaying that wood can't be used where humidity is an issue-if it's engineered rather than solid and you use urethane gluedown installation, you are good to go-2 years going and still looking great. The only exception is the first few inches by your shower door-standing water that dribbled out the corners several times every day has caused discoloration. I will cut out wood & install an accent tile strip in it's place to solve this. Staple up works great with 1/2" pex and 12" or less spacing and heat transfer plates, useless without. It can be used with setback strategies and is more responsive during shoulder seasons where a slab type wouldn't put out enough at night but too much during the day. Much easier than structural reinforcement and slab over frame!
Thermally reflective roof: Replaced with Energystar rated Certainteed Landmark in Silver Birch color. This is the only 25%+ solar reflective asphalt shingle roof that isn't white or rediculously expensive. Most roofs only reflect 2-6% of solar heat. On a 90F sunny summer day, the old roof surface tested at 159F, the underside of the decking was 136F, the top of the R30 insulation was 119F, and the interior surface of the drywall ceiling was around 89F. I put a test patch of the new shingles on the old roof before it was replaced. On a 70F mostly sunny day, the old roof was 148F while the test shingles were only 124F. We have had some 90F humid days already and the upstairs rooms without sun coming in are 3-8F cooler than the downstairs rooms that have sun coming in, and the ceiling was around ambient! Those rooms would have been roasting before due to the ceiling heat and how much wall exposure they have to the attic. Since the basement is ripped apart for finishing, we only have a "1.75 ton" upstairs airconditioner for the entire house. It ran for 20 hours a day, but kept the entire house between 74-79. That would have been impossible before-the house was equipped with 4.5 tons of ac.
A/C system/filtration: Found a Tappan (Nordyne) inverter central air system that can modulate down to 1.2 tons or up to 3.5 tons while being quiet enough for a low conversation nearby at surpluscityliquidators.com. These components normally would be over $6k, got them for just over $2k. These guys have tons of stuff and most of it silly cheap-expansion valves, compressors, delay timers, etc-great source for just about anything HVAC. This system is rated 14EER/22SEER. Need to get their proprietary (read $$$) controller stat before installation, unless anyone has insight into hacking their communication protocol and making something different-any takers? Using 20x24" 8 pocket 36" long MERV 14 bag filter with tackified prefilters in the return grilles. Installation happening as we speak, but need to find a good plate HX for the desuperheater. I am considering a Danfoss Micro Plate HX, since they have no internal gaskets to leak unlike regular plate exchangers. They are supposedly more efficient and can handle R410a pressures. Anyone have any good sources for these?
Drill Rig: I bought a 52cc gas auger ($180 @ Harbor Freight) that has more displacement and lower auger RPM than others. It came with a 4" auger that is seriously reinforced on the business end. I am planning to clamp this to the upper half of an extension ladder where the lower half is firmly anchored to the ground with cable stays and screw-in earth anchors ($20 for 4 30" anchors at Home Depot online) and another ladder lashed to it at an angle for support (plus you can climb to the top of the rig if necessary). With the rung latches disabled, I plan to use a hand boat winch to raise/lower the upper section after drilling the starter holes with the auger by hand. This will make it easy to bring cuttings to the surface then relower without having to remove drill stems and will also prevent the auger from screwing itself into mud since it will be "on a leash". I can add weights to the moving section or connect another winch to an earth anchor to pull down on the moving section if necessary, but I doubt it.
GSHP: I have an 8000btu R22 portable air conditioner ready for hacking. A similar Tecumseh compressor is rated 8100 btu at ASHRAE conditions, but 12100 btu at 90F condensing and 55F evaporating temps while drawing 521w. Thanks to the stratification in the tank and 62F natural ground temp before summer heat injection raises the ground temp, I think these will be realistic operating conditions. Adding the compressor energy, that should be just shy of 14,000 BTU/hr into the storage tank, this should be able to provide all space/DHW heating not provided by the solar, since it can run 24hrs/day while using the tank to even out the load.
Solar: got a SR728C controller from aliexpress.com for $130 shipped. It has 5 temp inputs, 2 collector array controls (one for solar and one for the desuperheater on the A/C in my case), plus it can control 1500W of aux heat which I will be using to turn on the GSHP when the top of the tank drops below 135F.
Tank: Using 4x8 sheets of 3/4" plywood, I could build a tank 8' wide by 6' high inner dimensions using 2x4 horizontal ribbing supported by chainlink fence posts at the midpoint to prevent bowing. Since the top and bottom can be secured to the sides, they will act as a diapragm in tension to support the fenceposts clamped to them. This gives a volume of around 2400 gallons, but mine won't be quite as wide for space constraints and to have the tank closer to a cube. I am planning for 2000 gal. The tank surface area per gallon of storage is 0.12 square ft. Although the tank and water will weigh over 17000 lbs, the bottom loading is around 2lb/sqin, well within the compressive limits of polyiscocyanurate foamboard. Interior will be lined with the Sanitred/Permaflex system. Having a 5'10" depth allows the top of the tank to be around 145F while the bottom is around 110F, demonstrated by research I found. Keeping it that way involves a low velocity return to the tank with multiple outlets so the water goes in at its own density. 3" pvc with sanitary tees every 1.5 ft is my plan.
Gotta go-it's Mothers Day. More info and pics to come!
Craig
