The original hot water heater in the home was powered using gas. When a solar hot water system (with electric backup) was installed, the gas was turned off. Using evacuated tube solar collectors (flush mounted with a summer bias), the solar hot water system provided plenty of hot water through August with an average temperature in the storage tank of about 160º. By the end of September, the average temperature had dropped to 120º. In October, a cold shower motivated repair of pipe insulation. In November 2006 the backup electric was turned on three times. In December 2006 the backup electric was left on full time until March of 2007.

In mid 2007, the collectors were tilted to a winter bias. With the new winter bias enough hot water was available for four people through November. In December 2007, the solar hot water supply was insufficient, and the backup was turned on to provide supplemental heat through March of 2008. So tilting to a winter bias helped a great deal. In early 2008 the evacuated tubes were replaced with 4 flat plate collectors. The hope is to be able to go the entire winter without using any backup. In future, the evacuated tubes will be re-installed to provide space heating and reduce the use of the woodstove.