The recent fires in our county as well as Sonoma and Napa
counties are a harsh reminder that we are very much subject to the
whims of Mother Nature.  40+ dead and thousands of homes
destroyed.  The first responders did a remarkable job of
evacuating the neighborhoods and battling the blaze.  We caught a
glimpse of the aftermath while driving on the 101 to the Bay
area.  In the northern Santa Rosa area, businesses were burned
out.  The surrounding hills were scorched and entire
neighborhoods were gone.  Thousands of folks have been displaced.
I have learned that it is critically important to keep the brush
cut down low before the dry season as well as keeping a 100'
defensible space around the house.  Hats off to Calfire.

Meanwhile, back here at home, we're starting to run into issues
with slow recovery on the well so we are having to be judicious
with our water use.  It appears there is sufficient water for the
household, but not the garden.  For now, I have closed the inlet
valve to the water tank to give the well some time to recover.
We still have plenty of water in the tank.  Probably around week's
end, I'll open the valve again to top up the tank.  Our well is a
shallow well (~ 20 ft.) so it is somewhat seasonal in it's
production.  Once the rains start, I expect recovery will
improve.  I might check into what we can do to recover our gray
water for use in the garden.  Most likely we would need some type
of holding tank and change the soap we use to something that does
not contain sodium.  I think between some conservation measures
and gray water recovery, we should be able to water the garden
next year. Always more projects...

Probably it is also time to upgrade the solar rig.  I have
ordered a professional grade hydrometer to check the condition of
the batteries.  They sat for more than a year before they were
put into service, so I am not entirely sure what their condition
is although they are holding some charge.  I have kept a
desulphater on them for the past year.  That has probably helped
somewhat.  Although the cost of panels have come down over the
Years, batteries are still quite expensive.  New (and old)
battery technologies are working diligently to capture the lion's
share of the growing market. Silicon salt batteries are worth a
look as they handle deep discharging somewhat better than
standard flooded batteries although I have not seen much testing
to support the claims.  Nickel iron (or Edison) batteries have a
much longer life (on the order of 25 - 30 years) and have an
established record of deep discharging as well as being much less
toxic than standard lead acid batteries.  The down side is they
do not have as much capacity as lead acid batteries are are quite
expensive (although I understand they can be sourced from China
at a better price).  The other potential downside is a special
charge controller would have to be purchased for a bank of
nickel iron batteries.  Most standard charge controllers can be
used on the silicon salt batteries.

In order to maximize the life of a standard lead acid battery (~
6 to 10 years), one has to avoid discharging the battery more
than 50%. Ideally, the depth of discharge should be kept under
20%, so if one has a 100 amp hour battery, only 20 amp hours are
available if one wants to maximize the life of a lead acid
battery.  That's not much capacity if you compare cost per amp
hour.  More on this project as it progresses.