armb's journal

Buying a new heating pump yesterday at PTS (Plumbing Trade Supplies), I picked up a copy of their new October price list. It has sections for Solar Thermal panels, and Geothermal Heat Pumps, which the previous (April) one doesn't. I'm not planning on buying anything yet, but it shows the spread of alternative sources into the mainstream.
(I did consider how I might add solar heating in future while I was working on the existing stuff this weekend, but the tanks already have twin coils and the system confuses plumbers as it is.)

[Edit: Crossposted to chlorofilk, where I meant to post it in the first place. Right, now for a shower. With hot water, now the new pump is fitted (even if only one cylinder is in place).]

I still haven't got around to sorting out anything about the pool heater. I did pick up a smallish spare hot water cylinder from cam.misc, which, with the dead ones we had to replace in the house, might end up something like this.
Or might not, depending on whether (i) I can persuade other members of the family that it won't be an eyesore (the south side of the sheddery does face away from the house) (ii) I get around to it. Regular readers will already know not to hold their breaths.

Took the winter cover off our pool on Saturday, and it's looking fairly clear now. It took weeks to get out of the green soup stage our first summer in the house, and several days last year.
Thinking a bit about solar heating - got a couple of paper junk mails advertising it recently (pushing the DTI Clear Skies grant scheme, and revisited some bookmarks, and reread a CAT guide to DIY systems. I have the old hot water tanks from when ours were changed. They might be usable as tanks as is, blocking off the coils that are leaking (they have two coil, one for hot water, one for underfloor heating circuit, of of which wouldn't be needed for at least some applications), or as copper sheeting to make a collector like this one. For pool heating an inefficient but cheap system might be better than a more expensive more efficient one, and a drainback system using the shed roof would probably be simplest. (On the other hand I noticed that the bathroom dormer windows have quite an expanse of house roof below them, and would probably allow a thermosiphon system to work if there was a tank in the attic above - no need for a pump or controller.)