Posted: Feb 12, 2018 4:07 pm
Macdoc wrote:Same for the water heater, which will be solar but with an assist.
Why do you ever need a water heater when you've got lots of sun.
We get prolonged rain/fog/cloud conditions, sometimes for a week or more. Solar with a power assist is very common in SD, probably half the houses have it.
Just replaced the entire battery bank in the trawler, three deep-cycle 8D AGM (Absorbent Glass Mat) beasts, for a total of just under 800 amp hours. Sufficient for any overnight needs plus starting everything up in the morning. They can take 85% discharge over and over again. Cost two grand with installation and haul off of the old batteries. I'm just too old and creaky to hoist those 150 pound things in and out of the engine compartment. It was well worth the extra installation cost. We used the electric davit to hoist them on board, but then the lads had to carry them up a ladder, down a flight of steps, and lower them into the engine compartment.
Engines hadn't been started in over 3 months, when I turned the keys they both fired up in under 3 seconds. What a lovely sound.