Despite the rainy weather, I have now completed the soldering of the tubes for the solar collector. I connected it temporarily to the Horse Field water supply pressure vessel with a hosepipe, in order to test for leaks. I don’t want to install it on the roof and then find it’s dripping! The Horse Field tank holds some 300 litres of water at 4 bars pressure, so this is four times the pressure required by the solar collector when in operation. (When installed, the solar collector will contain propylene glycol at a mere 1 bar, as it will be an open vented system). I was pleased to find there were no leaks, so it would appear my joint soldering was up to scratch.
The pipework was then fixed to the backing plate by using lengths of copper wire salvaged from the old electric wiring I ripped out when I upgraded the household electricity. I then fixed the temperature sensor in place using thermal glue. Once that was done, I painted the pipes matt black. After giving it another coat of paint tomorrow I can then start putting it all together.
In the late afternoon we bought yet another two hens; that makes a total of eight. Well, we have the room. Of course putting the new occupants to bed was interesting; they’d never seen a perch before!
Unfortunately this means the hens’ profit and loss account is in the red again, but I calculate we only need another 35 eggs to reach the new break-even point.