Project Moving Forward

Power system has been modified to make a space for the Vitosolic 200 controller, which has been configured for the solar system and mounted on the wall.

I will soon be bringing the heating/DHW sytem down briefly to cut into my existing system and install the tie-in points for the radiant heating system capacity tank (my existing Vitocell single-coil DHW tank). This will involve cutting into my 1 1/4 inch supply and return headers and installing two 1 1/4 by 3/4 tees, and installing a third tee in the return header for a temp well. Valves and short (16") copper tubing sections will be installed so that I can bring the system back up and still be able to solder and continue adding solar components.

Once this phase is complete, and the new DHW Vitocell double-coil tank has been prepped, I will bring the system back down to switch tanks and come back up with the new DHW tank. Completing this step will mean that the existing system will not have to be shut down any more, and the remainder of the entire solar system (collectors, Divicon, pumps, sensors and all), can be installed and the system tested. At this point, any "fine tuning" of the Vitosolic 200 controller programming can be done.

One note on the Vitosolic controller. It is a fine piece of technology, and has a great deal of optionality in it's programming. But, it is not for the novice. Even with 30 years of industrial controls experience working with programmable logic controllers and distributed computer control systems, it took several weeks of pouring over the manuals and asking lots of questions of not only the Viessmann tech guys, but the KW electronic guys for me to feel comfortable with the settings and options.

I'll post more as work on the system progresses, and hopefully be able to tout it's success an help to dispel the notion that solar hot water will not work in the coastal Northwest climate.