OT: warranties

Nothing wrong with solar ... however, you would not normally do solar on $1 million "spec home" around here if you want to sell it. Most of the folks who buy in this range could care less about the cost of anything and are the last interested in "green" (except $$), as they are typically too wrapped up in their egocentric selves.

Or, in a custom home where the client is not interested.

The current client, in this custom, is interested in solar, but she wants one "whole house" gas tankless as a supplement.

She is still vacillating on the solar roof system in a spot where the sun shines 200 days a year, don't ask my why.

I advise, but ultimately build to wishes/budget.

Well, you just never know for sure that the sun'll actually keep on rising every morning. :)

Makes perfect sense to me. And it reminds me that I need to keep on with my efforts to (borrowing a phrase) inform peoples' discretion...

Solar cells don't operate with clouds. They need Red/yellow. Clouds only let in ultraviolet which is a ray that will do some in water...

Electronics is different than water. Simple as that.

Mart> Mart>>> Sw>>>

"I learned something from that."

That moment of burning pain when one's immediate reaction is to say: " my goodness, I must be more careful next time."

I think you misspelled "AAAAAGH! GOTDAMM SUMMA *BITCH*!"

I did - I never built another water-heating panel. :)

It's taken from April of '73 until April of '09 to convince myself that it might be worth another go. The memory of that mouthful of 180F water is still pretty vivid...

Bah! I'll bet you drink room temperature coffee. I also meant illustrating the effectiveness of solar. Consider yourself twice blessed. I'd be more skeptical if my black Lab does't sit out in the winter sun to watch the neighborhood, and come in hours later toasty warm.

Has no one else scalded themselves from trying to drink out of the hose that was lying in the yard all day?

Noooo, can't say I have. I flush every source of water till my finger likes it and I know that the rubber/plastic taste has flushed away. You?

Wasn't quite so smart at age 9.

Oh, okay then, that does make a difference.

Most folks only do it once, however. :)

I enjoy building things that push the state of the art - but I've made a point of /not/ building things that have the potential to cause injury (or that lend themselves to being weaponized).

Consider it just one of a number of personal quirks.

So, no solar powered hot water canons in your future?

Not even accidental ones.

"Robatoy" wrote

Noooo, can't say I have. I flush every source of water till my finger likes it and I know that the rubber/plastic taste has flushed away. You? ======================================

I had a brother who used to put the hose in his mouth and let the water shoot out both nostrils. And he could squirt you with his dual nose water cannons form a good distance away too. Totally freaked out anybody female and a few males as well. Makes my nose hurt just to recall it.

I used to work for a crazy inventor type who made a lot of parabolic reflectors. He used to go for the extreme displays at fairs, etc. He ended getting kicked out a a couple of them because his demonstrations were considered too dangerous for a public setting. He even burnt up a couple of his parabolic dishes.

I would get nervous when he started brainstorming another solar powered stunt. The stupidest one was when he put a bunch of powdered magnesium in the focal point. That on almost burnt down a building and half destroyed the collector.

No, but I've done worse. Had my wisdom teeth removed in the hospital. I was pretty groggy afterwards recovering from the anaesthetic, but was able to gather a urine sample at the request of the nurse. Fell asleep after that, but work up thirsty a little while later. Naturally, I reached for the little cup sitting on the beside table and took a sip. It wasn't water...

Yikes! It's probably not great form to quote my self, but here's an extract from an e-mail I sent to a gentleman in Montreal who's thinking of building a parabolic trough:

"Although the mirror width is 48", the trough (with the mirror curved) is somewhat less, but still provides concentration to more than 100 suns

- resulting in dangerous temperatures and extreme brightness at the focus.

You should protect your eyes with something like welding goggles when you work with your concentrator outdoors - and /please/ remember that shiny bright things attract children, and that even older children do not listen well to warnings about dangers to their eyes."

He'd already read the warning at