The solar hot water system oat NEWAIM Fiber Mill has dropped their propane bill by more than half

Happy solar hot water customers Nancy and Al of NEWAIM Fiber Mill were recently featured in Lincoln County News. Their solar hot water system was commissioned in 2008 and Nancy reports that “my monthly payment went down from $288, before ReVision Energy, to $120. Since this past June was normal (no 23 days of rain like 2009) I bet it will drop even more!”

Here’s what NEWAIM has to say about their system on their website:

It takes 200 gallons of 140° water to wash 10 pounds of your lovely fiber. It takes nearly 4 gallons of propane to heat this water! In December of 2008 we added a 90 tube solar hot water system to the mill. This uses the sun to preheat the water before it goes into our propane fired water heater. In the summer we should be able to heat nearly all of our water using the sun.

Even in the darkest part of winter, we still get a significant boost from solar. On January 4, 2009 the outside temp was 18° and the wind was blowing, but the sun was shining brightly. The temperature at the solar collector was 147° and the water in our 160 gallon storage tank had been heated to 132° by the end of the day! Not bad for January in Maine.

Thanks for the update, Nancy, and visit NEWAIM’s website to learn more about the solar installation.