yet another newbe to the forum

Mikesolar · 09-01-12, 03:46 PM

As the same suggests, i'm a solar professional, about 60% thermal and 40% PV. We build some of our solar components ourselves and we design systems which include boilers and heat pumps. We build A/W and W/W heat pumps for all applications but mainly for floor heating.
I have been a gas tech for 20+ years and before that I was a carpenter and have built a number of ultra low energy homes over the years, though most of that was 20 years ago. You never lose the desire to build net zero energy homes or at least work on them. Cheers.....

Daox · 09-01-12, 04:52 PM

Welcome to the site Mike.

Do you have any personal projects going on, or planning?

Mikesolar · 09-01-12, 05:11 PM

Yup, being in Ontario where most of the power is from non polluting sources, I have come to the conclusion that heat pumps are the way to go in low energy homes. Low temp floor heating (30C max) is the way to deliver the heat with an HRV to equalize it through the house.

In Toronto, there is often not enough room for ground loops so my goal is to offer an ASHP heating the floors with solar hot water as an input to raise the COP to the annual equiv of a good GSHP.....all for less money.

I have one under test and I am currently retrofitting my 100 year old brick house with foam "out"selation and part of the south side of the house will get a "Building integrated solar thermal" wall which will add heat to the coil when it is at all above the ambient temp. If the temp is high enough to go directly to the floor or DHW, that will come first. Even if the temp is -15C outside and the panels are 0C we can have an improvement.

We have another house with 10kw of PV that we are about to retrofit thermal heat exchangers to. This will provide heat for a swimming pool in the summer as well as DHW. It won't do much in the winter because it acts like a pool heater and the pool panels have no performance in the winter.

We have a few other things as well but that is the focus right now.

09-01-12, 03:46 PM	#1
Mikesolar Master EcoRenovator Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: Toronto Posts: 958 Thanks: 40 Thanked 158 Times in 150 Posts	yet another newbe to the forum As the same suggests, i'm a solar professional, about 60% thermal and 40% PV. We build some of our solar components ourselves and we design systems which include boilers and heat pumps. We build A/W and W/W heat pumps for all applications but mainly for floor heating. I have been a gas tech for 20+ years and before that I was a carpenter and have built a number of ultra low energy homes over the years, though most of that was 20 years ago. You never lose the desire to build net zero energy homes or at least work on them. Cheers.....

09-01-12, 04:52 PM	#2
Daox Administrator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Germantown, WI Posts: 5,525 Thanks: 1,162 Thanked 374 Times in 305 Posts	Welcome to the site Mike. Do you have any personal projects going on, or planning? __________________ Current project - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. & To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

09-01-12, 05:11 PM	#3
Mikesolar Master EcoRenovator Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: Toronto Posts: 958 Thanks: 40 Thanked 158 Times in 150 Posts	Yup, being in Ontario where most of the power is from non polluting sources, I have come to the conclusion that heat pumps are the way to go in low energy homes. Low temp floor heating (30C max) is the way to deliver the heat with an HRV to equalize it through the house. In Toronto, there is often not enough room for ground loops so my goal is to offer an ASHP heating the floors with solar hot water as an input to raise the COP to the annual equiv of a good GSHP.....all for less money. I have one under test and I am currently retrofitting my 100 year old brick house with foam "out"selation and part of the south side of the house will get a "Building integrated solar thermal" wall which will add heat to the coil when it is at all above the ambient temp. If the temp is high enough to go directly to the floor or DHW, that will come first. Even if the temp is -15C outside and the panels are 0C we can have an improvement. We have another house with 10kw of PV that we are about to retrofit thermal heat exchangers to. This will provide heat for a swimming pool in the summer as well as DHW. It won't do much in the winter because it acts like a pool heater and the pool panels have no performance in the winter. We have a few other things as well but that is the focus right now.