Blackpool LUG and virtual Makerspace

Solar hot water

blackpoolmakerspace — Mon, 12 May 2025 13:18:18 +0000

I had to remove my two solar panels when the aluminium heat exchangers corroded and started leaking. Which is why there have been no graphs lately.

I started experimenting with central heating radiators as heat exchangers about 10 years ago. Because of the hot weather we have been getting,I decided to put one 5foot by 3foot radiator back up. Here is the graph of the first 3 days.

Meetings restarting

blackpoolmakerspace — Tue, 27 Feb 2024 09:26:27 +0000

After a long spell of only meeting virtually, we have restarted face to face social meetings once a month at the Hive cafe in Blackpool. There is free WiFi, but no Makerspace facilities. Saturday usually at 10 or 11am. Next one will be the weekend before Easter and will be announced on the mailing list …

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2022.11.10 Virtual meeting

blackpoolmakerspace — Sun, 11 Dec 2022 09:37:58 +0000

Attending: Tony,Theo,Surley,Les and Mike Surley talked about his home automation system. Les was hacking a new controller for some Poundland Christmas lights. Theo was working on a racing game, Tony wa looking forward to tasting some sourdough bread he had made and Mike was about to start decorating in the small room under the stairs …

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2022 November solar hot water

blackpoolmakerspace — Sat, 03 Dec 2022 20:50:11 +0000

2022.11.5 Virtual meeting

blackpoolmakerspace — Sat, 05 Nov 2022 13:13:33 +0000

Attending: Tony, Theo, Barry, Simon and Mike.

Discussed:

MQTT with node red on a Raspberry Pi. (home automation)
Leaving Twitter for Mastadon.
Electricity prices.
Sourdough bread making.
Beamish museum : https://www.beamish.org.uk/
Astley Hall park and gardens: https://astleypark.co.uk/

Solar hot water graph October 2022

blackpoolmakerspace — Sat, 05 Nov 2022 05:53:03 +0000

No hot water produced this month. The average tank temperature was about 33c, just about warm.

SolarHotWater Graph September 2022

blackpoolmakerspace — Wed, 05 Oct 2022 17:06:16 +0000

This is the graph of hot water tank temperature. The logging is not for a full month, because I switched from using an ESP to an Arduino to capture the data and missed a few days at the beginning of the month. Should be back to the normal graph next month.

2022.10.01 virtual meeting

mickology — Sat, 01 Oct 2022 12:01:18 +0000

Attending:

Theo, Surley, Simon and Mike.

Discussed:

This is the day gas and electricity prices doubled compared to last winter. It would be trebled not doubled, but the government stepped in and made up the difference. So all things electric dominated the discussion. Air friers versus ovens, tumble driers versus clotheslines/racks, devices on standby, phantom power usage and so on. WiFi got a mention with regard to how many people could stream Netflix,iPlayer etc. Before buffering started to be noticed.

2022.09.03 Virtual meeting

blackpoolmakerspace — Sat, 03 Sep 2022 19:02:41 +0000

Attending: Tony, Theo, Mike, Barry and Surley

This week, energy costs were discussed at length. Tony and I (Mike) have been monitoring energy usage for many years using: https://monitor-energy.appspot.com/ This is a manual system where I read the meter and enter the reading on the site.

This graph show my electricity usage pattern since 2013. Hovering over each small circle on the graph shows the date, the average usage that week and the meter reading.

I also have solar water heating which is graphed in real time here:- https://iotplotter.com/user/feed/153228799529169234

2022 August Solar hot water graph

blackpoolmakerspace — Sat, 03 Sep 2022 18:43:21 +0000