Building new house in Costa Rica

[sammy1413]

Is anyone using solar power or propane refrigerators any info would be great. Building near Puriscal. Thanks. Scott great book.

[DavidCMurray]

In our main house, we installed a two-panel solar hot water heater with an eighty-gallon storage tank in our bodega. The downside of this system is that it requires a small pump to circulate the water through the panels. We could have installed a one-panel/sixty gallon tank system but wanted the additional capacity for marginal days. A one-panel/fifty-three gallon tank system is available, too. The latter puts the storage tank on the roof. Our builder and architect felt that it would require additional roof structure and be a hazard in an earthquake.

All these systems include a back-up electric coil in the storage tank for times when the sunlight isn’t sufficient to keep you in hot water. Ours has been turned off since we moved into the house just before Christmas.

These systems are all available from Swissol in Belen whose service has been excellent. And we have no financial interest in Swissol, by the way.

We had solar hot water heating systems in Lansing, Michigan and on the Outer Banks of North Carolina and would recommend them to everyone.

Edited on Apr 08, 2007 15:41

[artistjohn]

Hi Scott,
Where you building and where you from? I ask because I might do the same.
I have used propane refrigeration and lighting in my cabin up North Maine of the USA. It’s a wonderful system if that’s what your asking.
John

[tomasino]

Yes, solar systems in Costa Rica make a lot of sense and provide the consumer with tremendous savings. In 2002 I built a home in Cariari with an 8 panel solar system to heat a 52’long x 10′ wide x 5′ deep pool and it works great. The pool circulating pump via a T-valve diverts the filtered water up to the roof where the panels heat and return the water into the pool so there is no additional CNFL costs involved. Additionally, I installed a single solar panel hot water heating system for the 500 m2, 5 bath house with a 250 gallon holding tank and a back up electric heating system for those days when there is insufficient sun. The interior water system is pressurized with a 3/4 HP pump and 500 gallon holding tank. Both systems work well and whenever the system has failed TermiSolar in San Rafael, Alajuela has promptly returned to troubleshoot and repair the problems. Keep in mind that with Costa Rica’s location less than 15 degrees from the equator the plastic solar panels have a realistic lifespan of no more than 5 years. So make sure you purchase your equipment from a business that will be there when you need to replace some of the panels or connecting PVC pipes. You will also need to factor the wind in your area, type of roof structure and pitch when considering which system to install. Contact tom@costaricahomebuilder.com for more detailed info about integrating solar systems into housing construction in Costa Rica.

[apexit]

1

Edited on Apr 15, 2007 18:53

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