Bayside Park Farm solar hot water/Previous version: Difference between revisions

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This page is part of Bayside Park Farm's appropriate tech projects.Info Kiosk • Food Dehydrator • Greywater (en Español) • Photovoltaics • Solar Water Heater • Spiral Herb GardenRead more...

Background

The Arcata Educational Farm is a CSA (Community-Supported Agriculture establishment) that provides local organic produce for members/shareholders and hands-on agricultural education for local students and residents. Adjacent and connected to the farm is the upcoming Bayside Community Garden, a place for residents to grow their own produce and learn how to farm organically and sustainably.

As part of our ENGR305 class, our team was asked to fix the solar water heater system there (the previous one developed a leak, presumably from the winter freeze and subsequent cracking) . We would like to improve the new system by winterproofing it and also by integrating its output into an efficient vegetable-washing system that could potentially double as a rudimentary shower for workers.

Opportunity Definition

Who

ENGR305 Spring 2010 students Melissa Pawson, Kristy Lindquist and Roger Tuan are assisting Phil Lucas, our client at the Arcata Educational Farm.

What

Retrofit, repair, and improve the solar hot water system at the farm.

• Water Heater / Storage Tank - We know it's a Reliance 606 series heater, but we still need the exact model number.
  • Product manual (for connection instructions, etc.):
    • PDF from manufacturer's webpage
  • Related patents (including diagrams):
    • Method of insulating the exterior of a water heater tank
    • Water heater construction
• Solar Collector:
  • Colt, Inc. Model C-141C solar collector. An UNVERIFIED guess is that it's actually a closed-loop system meant to be filled with glycol and not water, but this needs to be confirmed.
• Piping: The piping from the previous system is still mostly intact and can hopefully be reused after a check for cracks and leaks.
• Vegetable washer / shower: We'll need to track down a flexible hose and washer/shower head and perhaps improvise a shower stall. We'll also need to research various methods of effective vegetable washing and design the station accordingly.

Why

We were asked to fix the solar hot water system so the farm will once again have access to hot water. This could be useful for future community events held throughout the year!

When

Our project will take one semester, approximately 15 weeks in duration and ending around May 15th.

Where

The Arcata Educational Farm is located at 930 Old Arcata Road in the Sunnybrae neighborhood of Arcata.

See Also

• Solar water heater - Basic principles and operations
• Parras, Mexico's solar water heater projects - Contains data logs and graphs from their testing phase
• Hotel Perote's solar pool heating project - One of the specific sites in Parras. Contains additional examples of the kind of mathematical/physical calculations that we'd probably want to incorporate.

Literature Review

Solar Hot Water Heater

• A Flat Plate Collector

• Installing, Plumbing and Wiring Your Collectors

Piping and Pipe Insulation Testing the System

• Types of Flat Plate Collector Systems:

1. A Thermosiphon System

2. The Drain Back System

3. Recirculation and Drain-Down Systems

4. A Fluid Freeze Protection System

• Example: The Bread Box Design: A Passive Solar Water Heater

Vegetable Washing Station

• Different Ways to Wash Vegetables

Vegetables and fruits are often covered with pesticides, herbicides, fungicides or wax. To maintain freshness it is best to wash produce before use and not before storage, which can make it spoil faster.

Firm-skinned Produce

To wash firm-skimmed produce you should use a little warm water and a scrub brush if needed. It is also important to rinse produce well to remove any residual dirt. ^[1]

Soft-skinned Produce

To wash soft-skinned produce soak vegetables or fruit for a minutes. The temperature should be between room temperature or a couple degrees cooler. ^[2]

Common Disinfectants

This study was undertaken to determine the efficacy of three commonly used disinfectants in packing-houses of Culiacan, Mexico:

• sodium hypochlorite [NaOCl]
• trichlor-s-triazinetrione [TST]
• thrichlormelamine [TCM])

Water samples were taken after 2 minutes of contact with chlorine-based products and tested for the particular microorganisms. TST and NaOCl were found to effectively reduce for bacterial pathogens and viral indicators. The highest inactivation rate was observed when the turbidity was low and the disinfectant was applied at 300 mg. TCM did not show effective results when compared with the TST and NaOCl. These findings suggest that turbidity created by the organic and inorganic material present in the water tanks carried by the fresh produce may affect the efficacy of the chlorine-based products. ^[3]

References

Books of Reference

• Keisling, Bill. (1983). “The homeowner’s handbook of solar water heating systems.” Rodale Press, Emmaus, Pa.

• McConnell, Charles. (1977). “Plumbers and Pipe Fitters Library.” Water Supply, Drainage, Calculations. Howard W. Sams & Co., Inc. Indianapolis, Indiana.

• Kut, David. Hare, Gerard. (1979). “Applied Solar Energy.” A guide to the design, installation and maintenance of heating and hot water services. The Architectural Press. London, England.

• Ramlow, Bob (2006. "Solar Water Heating." A Comprehensive Guide to Solar Water and Space Heating Systems, New Society Publishers, Gabriola Island, Canada, Chapter 5 Solar Water Heating Systems.

• Carter, Joe (1981). "Solarizing Your Present Home." Practical Solar Heating Systems You Can Build,Rodale Press, Inc.,USA, Chapter 2 Domestic Water Heating.

• Hunter, Mason (2005. "Green Clean." The Environmentally Sound Guide to Cleaning Your Home, Melcher Media, New York, NY, Chapter 3 The Kitchen, 44-65.

• Bainbridge, D. A. The integral passive solar water heater book. Passive Solar Institute, PO Box 722.
  • Basic design and operation, different types, solar availability across the USA

• Chiras, Daniel D. 2006. The homeowner's guide to renewable energy. New Society Publishers, April 3. Gunerhan, Huseyin, and Arif Hepbasli. 2007.
  • Methods to deal with freezing

• Schroeder, Daniel V. 2000. An Introduction to Thermal Physics. San Francisco, CA: Addison Wesley.
  • To better understand math and physics involved in our project

Peer-reviewed Articles

• Chaidez, Cristobal, Moreno, Maria, Rubio, Werner, Angulo, Miguel, Valdez, Benigno (2003). "Comparison of the disinfection efficacy of chlorine-based products for inactivation of viral indicators and pathogenic bacteria in produce wash water." International Journal of Environmental Health Research, Vol. 13, Issue 3, p295-303.

• Annous, B. A., G. M. Sapers, A. M. Mattrazzo, and D. C. R. Riordan. 2001. Efficacy of washing with a commercial flatbed brush washer, using conventional and experimental washing agents, in reducing populations of Escherichia coli on artificially inoculated apples. Journal of Food Protection&# 174; 64, no. 2: 159-163.
  • For vegetable washing information -- is a commercial agent necessary vs plain water?

• Exergetic modeling and performance evaluation of solar water heating systems for building applications. Energy and Buildings 39, no. 5 (May): 509-516. doi:10.1016/j.enbuild.2006.09.003. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6V2V-4M5WHXR-4/2/4d54fed9fe0e7c8e8f6ba6ad58337d1a.
  • Mathematical modeling of exergy

Websites

• Anon. Natural Renewable Energy Laboratory: Dynamic Maps, GIS Data, and Analysis Tools - Solar Maps. http://www.nrel.gov/gis/solar.html.
  • Solar availablility maps

• Guidance for Industry: Guide to Minimize Microbial Food Safety Hazards for Fresh Fruits and Vegetables. WebContent. http://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/GuidanceDocuments/ProduceandPlanProducts/ucm064574.htm.
  • FDA produce safety guidelines for fruits and veggies

• Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. Produce and Plant Products. WebContent. http://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/GuidanceDocuments/ProduceandPlanProducts/default.htm.
  • As above, but for certain specific veggies

External Links

• Solar Water Heaters at energysavers.gov