A Kauai Blog » Homeowner

Solar Hot Water

September 17, 2006 | In Weather, Homeowner, Activism | 1 Comment

We finally had a solar hot water system installed in July, and I’m finally getting around to writing about it.

Solar hot water is just a no-brainer in Hawaii. Electricity and propane cost 2-3 times as much as the mainland, and we probably receive 2-3 times as much solar radiation (I don’t have the exact figures) for free. New systems cost $5-7,000, and used equipment such as ours was only $3,000, but there is a 35% State income tax credit, and 30% Federal tax credit, so the system pays for itself in less than 2 years. After that it’s free hot water for 15-20 years.

We had an old 40 gallon (150 liter) gas water heater that worked, but it wasn’t vented properly, so we knew since we bought the house two years ago that we wanted to replace it with a solar system. One of the installers on the island was selling second-hand systems that he removed from an army base on Oahu (many of the units needed maintenance on one part, so they replaced them all—I won’t criticize the army this time because taxpayer loss is my gain). So we now have a 120 gallon (600 liter) tank with three panels measuring 3′x8′ (0.9x2.4 m) each, or 72 sqf. (6.7 m^2) in all.

In the first picture you can see a photovoltaic panel above the hot water panels. It generates electricity to run the pump that circulates water from the tank up to the panels. I really wanted this option because it avoids having temperature sensors and a microcontroller running an AC pump. The DC pump runs for free when there is enough sunlight and therefore heat, plus it will keep the panels from boiling over during a daytime power outage. The one problem is that I suspect the PV output current is not quite calibrated, so it circulates water too early before the panels are hotter than the water remaining in tank. Maybe I can fix that with some resistors (anyone with electrical knowledge please feel free to leave a comment with the right way of fixing it).

In the second picture, cold water arrives through the copper pipe on the right. The pump is behind, and hot water returns from the roof in the other insulated pipe. Hot water goes to the house through the thermometer and out the copper pipe on the left. The other option I wanted is a thermostatic mixing valve that you see above the thermometer. It mixes cold water with the output of the tank to keep the water from scalding. The gray conduit is the electricity for the backup heater element.

So how well does it heat water? Well, we’ve never had to turn on the electrical backup heater, but there’s only been one day without sunshine so far this summer. In July and August, the tank would heat up to 130-140F (55-60C) and cool down to about 100F (38C) after usage and heat loss by morning. Now in September, the tank is actually getting over 150F (66C) each day because the sun is closer to the angle of the roof where the panels are (the summer sun would be more intense, but it strikes at an angle from the north). That’s another nice self-regulating feature of the system that keeps it from over heating.

Open Reply to Bill

February 21, 2006 | In Homeowner, California, Development, Kauai Style | 2 Comments

Bill just wrote to me:

My wife and I have been envious of your ability to make the transition from mainlander to islander. […] But we have to ask, how were you able to do it?! We have looked from afar at the property listings and they are outrageous even for modest properties. And yes, we’ve read that the islanders are just fine with that as more people would like to have that dream existence.

But anyway, just wanted to say hello and thanks for your blog postings. Its very interesting reading and great to see the vivid pictures. […]

I’ve been asked similar questions before, and I think my answer will interest other readers, so I hope you don’t mind if I answer publically.

Hi Bill,

Thanks for reading A Kaua‘i Blog, glad you like it.

There are at least three transitions to make if and when you move here: financial, social, and psychological. Many people leave again in less than two years if they can’t successfully make all three. There is a book called “So You Want to Live in Hawaii” that you should read if you’re considering moving here. It doesn’t encourage or discourage you to move, it just helps you be clear about the realities and your own motivations.

The financial transition is the most obvious, you need to be independently wealthy, have a job lined up ahead of time, or enough savings to last until you find a job. Personally, I took a sabbatical from a computer job to move here and begin the adventure hiking business, and my wife quit her job to make and sell crafts here. We are frugal people and we made the move with our savings. However, we found we didn’t want to live in a shack and we could not afford rent for a decent house with our start-up ideas.

Fortunately, I was able to go back to my California job through tele-commuting and stay on the island. That allowed us to buy a house, barely. I still do guided hikes, but it just can’t pay the mortgage in a place like this. Like my hiking business, I think there is a market for successful entrepreneurs on Kauai, but not much funding. You either need a background in business so you can do a real business plan and get a loan, or scale back your living needs drastically to whatever you can make from your cottage industry.

Any decent (but still small) living space for a couple is at least $1000 per month, mortgage on a small house is around $3000 monthly. The cost of living is roughly the same as the San Francisco Bay Area, just without all the job opportunities. In my estimate, you would need at least one professional salary (architect, engineer, nursing, etc.), or two skilled jobs (contsruction, trade, teaching, government, etc.) for a couple or small family to be comfortable. Long-time residents and local families who own their house can live on two or more service jobs (sales clerk, cleaning, tour guide, entertainer, etc.) because their mortgages are much much lower. For everyone else, the overlap between available salaries and obtainable mortgages or affordable rents on this island is very small.

For career-minded manager-types, the only real opportunities are with the international luxury resort franchises on the island, but they do exist. The good news is that nurses can always find work here, skilled jobs are available for those with experience, and service jobs abound at $10/hr. So people willing to work can usually get started here, long enough to see if they can make the other transitions. The bad news is, the weather is often perfect, the beaches are beautiful, the locals are taking it easy, and you won’t have time to enjoy it. When you move here expecting every day to be a vacation and instead you have to work more than you did on the mainland, you will feel how hard the financial transition can be.

Real-estate is a thorny issue here. Many realtors are just flipping homes to investors, which prices out the locals, and sometimes literally drives them out of their affordable rental. Locals have no mobility because they’re selling older homes and can’t afford the new ones, unless they leave for the mainland. There is also resentment against developers who are taking the green agriculture land that gives Kauai much of its character and turning it into investment/vacation housing. You can guess what happens when there is more housing than open land: no more character and charm.

The social and psychological transitions are harder to see and plan for. If you have a large circle of friends and live close to family, you may find you won’t stand the move. But that may be true even if you move somewhere else on the mainland. Locals and earlier transplants avoid the fresh-off-the-boat mainlanders because so many of them leave even if you take the time to cultivate a new friendship. We’ve had that happen to us. We’ve tried being open to the local culture, both the Hawaiian heritage and the current rural character, and we’ve found people to be friendly, but there is still a limited number of like-minded people on the island who share our professional and recreational interests.

And finally, island fever is real. Activities are more monotonous, and potentials are more limited here than on the mainland, especially if you come from a city. We love the outdoors and are still finding things to discover, but we also miss skiing—fortunately that can be fixed with a winter vacation to California. No such thing as a road-trip in Hawaii, if you’re used to a change of scenery every now and then. Again, it is a question of openness. Kauai has a lot to offer if you’re not busy complaining about how it’s not like the mainland.

And once you feel you’re established here, you may still feel like you’re not treated as a local. It takes much more time for those who were raised here to see you as one of them. You need to get connected to the social fabric and think of the island as home, not someplace you can leave if things go bad. And don’t try to speak pidgin until it feels natural to you. Our friend Gabriela, who has lived here for 30 years, built two houses, ran a B&B, and wrote a book about it, says it took at least 20 years to be accepted into the local community.

To be honest, we feel well established here after 2.5 years, but we can tell that none of our transitions are complete. Buying a house and raising a child on a single income from a remote job makes us financially vulnerable, we’ve met lots of people but have really established only a few friendships, and we do get homesick for the high Sierra or the Alps. So be prepared, but don’t be afraid to make the move. And once you get here, slow down, be open to the local culture, the local activities, and the opportunities that are here. And give it some time.

Aloha!

Haunted Yard

October 31, 2005 | In Homeowner, Kauai Style | 5 Comments

Some neighbors a few blocks away put up a lot of house and yard decorations for most of the major holdiays. They had lots of lights at Christmas and some figures at Easter. Now they are going all out for Halloween, with a big banner that reads “Haunted Yard.”

At first they only put up the skeletons and gallows (and guillotine for us francophiles) and made it look like a graveyard. They lit it up with some lights, and I thought they had already done too much work, considering how much I like Halloween:

But then today, they filled the yard with grotesquely costumed mannequins all over the yard. They set out several veritable dioramas of witches, monsters, and ghouls. I talked to a lady working on the setup, and she said they invite people to come and walk through. There was also a large awning tent covered in black plastic, and I gather they have some sort of haunted house set up in there with spaghetti guts and grape eyeballs to feel:

It’s late already, but if you want to see it, it’s on Lanakila Street in the Wailua Houselots. It must be a success because we can actually hear people screaming over in that direction!

The Poinciana Saga

October 9, 2005 | In Homeowner, Flora | No Comments

Last Wednesday was a very sad day because we had to cut down our beautiful Royal Poinciana tree. I didn’t write about it before, but this is how it was blooming all through June and July:

After the flowers, the leaves started filling in with a beautiful emerald green color. But then, on August 5th, a branch fell down on our neighbor’s driveway, probably due to the weight of the new leaves because there wasn’t much wind that day.

By the way, that’s our neighbor Joe and my wife Sonja, who is 6 months pregnant here. It cost us $120 for a tree maintenance guy to come and cut it up that day and haul it away, and I spent the afternoon cleaning up the neighbor’s yard.

Then we discovered why the branch was so weak. The entire heartwood of the tree was rotten, and that branch was only being held by the edge, painted black with pruning seal in the next photo. The rest of the tree was being held up by the outer layer of wood on 2/3 of the circumference.

That’s when we knew the tree would have to be cut down. It is really a shame, because it now had a full crown of beautiful leaves, shaded the yard, and still seemed solid. I suppose that it grew stronger on the sides that were still holding. It didn’t even seem to move in any of the storms we had before we could get somebody to work on it. But we knew there would be more storms, and several branches were threatening the house, so it had to go.

It took us almost 2 months (and $1200!) to find someone with the time to do the work, arborists seem to be booked solid on this island. But he and his helper finally came last week, and took down the canopy on the first day and the trunk on the second day:

It was really sad to watch the beautiful tree come down, still green and strong. Sonja even cried a little and couldn’t watch. The yard seems empty now and the house is more visible, as are the neighbors. We hope it will start growing back from the good roots, and we will plant other trees in the yard, but we will miss you, beautiful poinciana tree.

1000 Nails

September 23, 2005 | In Homeowner | 1 Comment

When we bought our house, the house inspector suggested that we strengthen the garage with hurricane ties. Even though it survived hurricane Iniki that struck Kauai on September 11, 1992, every storm is different and we thought it was a good idea. So earlier this summer we rented a nail gun to install the ties. As you can see in the following picture, they hold the roof to the walls so it doesn’t blow off in the winds. We probably overdid it with a tie on both sides of every rafter, for a total of about 1000 nails. But when you have a nail gun, you have a tendency to overdo things.