Fin MacDonald

Today I installed a web energy logger on a solar thermal system in Halifax. The system is in a large multi-floor residential building. The entire process took about 3 hours, which is a new record for me. The solar data logging system installed has 5 temperature sensors and a current switch to detect if the pump is on. With this setup we are able to calculate the amount of energy that the solar panels are able to extract from the sun and supply to the glycol. The data logger will provide real time data once each minute as well as log the data to a .csv file for analysis at a later time. It connects to the WEL Server (www.welserver.com) to transmit the data over the internet.

The limitation of this data logging system configuration is that it is unable to calculate how much of that energy is actually transferred to the water. Since the solar system was already installed prior to the decision to add a data logger, it does not have electronic pulse flow meters. Flow meters connected to the data logger would allow for accurate calculations of the energy supplied to residents and the savings on the buildings power bill associated with that energy. The decision to go back and install pulse flow meters will rest with the building owner.