diy solar

diy solar

My Best cabin purchase ..

I am a DIY guy! I designed and plumbed the system to be as automated as possible myself. For me, being DIY means designing it MY way to meet MY needs and desires. I could cut all my firewood with an axe, but I prefer to use a chainsaw..
 
I have an off grid cabin ( 1600 sq ft) on a little lake I BC, we use the cabin most weekends even in winter, I have a solar system that supplies most of our power requirements except in winter days with little sunshine. Our 14 kw propane generator charges the batteries ( 12x 2 volt) when needed. I have a cellar where my water system and food stuffs are kept, cool in the summer warm in the winter! To winterized the cabin I simply use my cheap air compressor to blow out the water lines including my on-demand water heater. Dump some pink into the toilet and sink drains , Done. 15 minutes!
 
I redesigned mine with drain lines all sloped towards a drain, added low point drains for fresh tanks, pressure tanks, etc. open 4 Valves and it ddrained dry. Close again in 5 min and ignore till I fill it all up again And kick the pumps on. air is problematic from a health standpoint, you Can get things like legionnaires disease from it, air tanks are Known repositorit’s of bad things.

I never got sick from anything but I noticed that in the spring sometimes there would be some scum in the bottom of the three drum water tower.
All I ever did was drain it refill but you got me thinking now.
I think i am going to go tankless next.

And going to stick with a washhouse in a separate building for bathing, laundry and composting toilet.

No wood stoves anymore...
Maybe a outdoor boiler and a gravity radiator system.
Woods a hassle...
I bet a few diesel heaters are all I willl ever need anyways I won't be using it in winter.
 
I also used a filter on my water fill, 15 micron pleated, then another screen Before the water pump, and a carbon after it. My new system incorporates a UV Inline filter as well. I like clean water. I filled up random places (rv) amd would every so many months run some bleach through the whole system to make sure it’s clean.

water can seem fine, but hand a sample to a water scientist and get a report and youlol likely be surprised.
I never got sick from anything but I noticed that in the spring sometimes there would be some scum in the bottom of the three drum water tower.
All I ever did was drain it refill but you got me thinking now.
I think i am going to go tankless next.

And going to stick with a washhouse in a separate building for bathing, laundry and composting toilet.

No wood stoves anymore...
Maybe a outdoor boiler and a gravity radiator system.
Woods a hassle...
I bet a few diesel heaters are all I willl ever need anyways I won't be using it in winter.
 
Legionair's disease from compressed air?

Yeah, no.

I harvest rainwater. Run it through a screen, into 10 micron sediment filter, then a 1/2 micron filter then through a 100 watt UV light.

I started chlorinating the tanks as the .5 micron final filter is subject to algae growth when used with rain water....it's a catch 22. If you chlorinate you end up not needing the final filter and uv light.

That final .5 micron filter isn't cheap.
 
I boil the water on the wood stove if it’s for drinking
Shower water is heated in an old gulf oil fired water tank i made a wood firebox for in the 80s

But hot water is not boiled or sterilized.

Ya worth a rethink as i plan a clean sheet new cottage
 
I know, right?
All that extra cash accumulating in the checking account is a pain?

Go on into the bush illegally cut the tree on crown land ( my island is only about two acres not large enough to support a wood lot )
Limb tree turn into log
Drag log to lake
Float log to island
Drag log on shore allow to dry for further processing
Cut split pile cover season…

15 pounds of wood has about the same heating value as 1 imperial gallon of diesel

5 gallons of diesel is pretty easy the carry compared to that

Efficiency of combustion
You do the math on wood stove and oil furnace

Yes I could buy wood from a lot and bring it in by boat
I could use dead fall and squaw wood I collect
I could and I do some of this

I could be a part time rag and bone man too
 
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Efficiency of combustion
You do the math on wood stove and oil furnace
Ya, I was probably being myopic. Everyone has a different context and I should consider that.
Around here wood is cheap and plentiful and even gleaning casually would yield a few cords of firewood over the summer. Buying wood also is 1/3 or less than the cost of heating fuel per BTU, and gleaned wood is essentially $0.00
 
Ya, I was probably being myopic. Everyone has a different context and I should consider that.
Around here wood is cheap and plentiful and even gleaning casually would yield a few cords of firewood over the summer. Buying wood also is 1/3 or less than the cost of heating fuel per BTU, and gleaned wood is essentially $0.00
Vermont is beautiful.
I've never been there but one of my inlaws was from there and has shown me a lot of pictures .
Nice mix of hardwood and soft woods too.

I have a lot of Hemlock growing on the Island and some white pine.
Its never been logged and its very old growth so its big and hard to process.
An ideal mix would be some maple pine birch for heating and cooking....

Costs I think the bears need a permit to crap in the bush these days.
That's not a wholly bad thing I guess because there are a greater number of idiots these days in every corner of the streets and woods that would set them selves on fire and drown in bathtub if you left them to use their own common sense.
They will let just about anyone into this country now as long as they have enough money to own a chain of Quicky marts and Chinese restaurants and buy a million dollar house

Liberal governments that campaign on the left but govern on the right.
( in reality the promises are never fulfilled except for the regulations on everything and all the rich connected buddies get contracts and incentives to look after each other.... Nepo babbies and socialism for the wealthy and connected)

Phew...
That went full rant.......

I would rather selectively cut the ugly wood around me and I'd be willing to buy a modest permit to do so.
Rules don't work that way, somehow it ends up that dynasour squeezings are still cheaper than green energy.
Its maddening!!!!!

Gasification:
I love the idea, played with it...
Even considered building a gasometer and running some sort of mini plant to make fuel gas for heating and power generation.
But back to the feed stock issues.

As a matter of fact I do want to try and build a wood gasifiying boiler and put a gravity furnace down near the lake and try and use natural convection to move hat water up to some radiators int he building.
But I don;t want any more dirty wood stoves creating fire and burn hazards in my new camp.
I don;t need so much heat anyway.

I'm thinking if I do this new solar thing right thats enough electrical power for lighting refrigeration maybe a single burner induction stove top and entertainment and tools...
Not all at once and profane gas to cook on when serious about a meal.

Diesel heater from China should be able to provide supplemental heat for most of my needs.....

My mileage will absolutely vary....
 
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My wood gasifier sits at 92%. But yeah, I have a practically unlimited supply of firewood; it's different when you have to buy it or acquire it otherwise. I understand it's not practical for many people.
I had to sell most of my timber to pay for the stumping and clearing to open enough daylight for my solar... Everything in life seems to follow the first law of thermodynamics..
 
wood gasifier sits at 92%
At efficiency in rectangular dollars in the USA- compared to heating fuel that’s 300% efficient. BTUs for nothing and your kWs for free.
Burning wood less thermally efficiently is still very much very efficient measured rectangularly. Rectangular US dollars, that is.
 
rectangular dollars

Could you explain that?
I normally understand " Americanisms "
I even googles that and I all I could hit upon was the Royal mint square silver and gold coins.

iu
Gold plated for collectors
iu
Gold bars for Jewellers and the paranoid...

But that doesnt square with rectangular dollars...........
 
Could you explain that?
I use the playful euphemism “rectangular dollars” commonly. Originally it comes from a quote I read in Hot Rod Magazine (I think it was) when I was like 12- or 14-years-old 1980ish. It affected my mindset in several metaphorical and abstract ways to such a degree that it stuck deeply in my mind. It’s profound at several levels beyond its face value.

Famed engineering-minded and brilliant innovative auto racer Smokey Yunick stated, “cubic inches are less expensive than rectangular dollars” referring to achieving horsepower gains in a racing engine. In other words, more cubic inches of displacement- bigger engine size- cost less to make more horsepower than spending a lot on technology or engineering or fancy parts.

That statement in my quirky intellectual and philosophical understanding of the world was extraordinarily profound in how it related to problem solving, developing ideas, applying the complexity of technology to realize a goal- as well as the literal interpretation that simply “going bigger” costs less than technical development and testing.

I say it often usually because I still find it a hilarious statement from one of the biggest names in automotive development at the time. Yunick was even tapped by General Motors for energy efficiency development purposes. Efficiency and power are the same bottle of water.

Whether taken literally or in a more contemplative and intellectual manner, one cannot deny the fundamentals exuded by his statement. Even here on this forum it is often suggested to “just add a few more panels” to overcome an efficiency issue with an AIO or compensate for limited sun hours. ‘More potential power’ input costs less than higher technology or rebuilding a system- and it’s quick to implement.

All of which has little to nothing to do with this thread other than I unconsciously platformed the phrase. It is a frequent colloquialism for me. Plus it’s fun because few know the reference:?you learn a lot about a person’s character who doesn’t ask for clarity or comment regarding what was implied. You learn who is listening, whether they are competent to learn, and whether they can be trusted to make unguided complex decisions or discern what to do with abstract problems.

I simply used it literal, here, at face value; I got entertained unexpectedly. ?
 
Whether taken literally or in a more contemplative and intellectual manner, one cannot deny the fundamentals exuded by his statement. Even here on this forum it is often suggested to “just add a few more panels” to overcome an efficiency issue with an AIO or compensate for limited sun hours. ‘More potential power’ input costs less than higher technology or rebuilding a system- and it’s quick to implement.
So ye old absorption fridge passed quietly in the night a couple years back and my cousin suggested we kick in a few dollars for a replacement.
Not a cheap piece of kit now or in the past.....
And all those bottles of profane gas that need to be boated in....
And the CO and by products of combustion vented into the old camp because it was never an issue until it became one of my issues....
( also fires not trusting of that style of fridges anymore because of the rash of RV fires last decade ).....

I suggested going electric and add more solar to run a fridge ( DC or otherwise )
She says this was not cost effective.
Maybe not right away but down the road ya it is more cost effective to throw some sun on the problem.
I never had to test my back carrying a bottle of sunlight out of boat too!

And me I decided to build another camp on the other side of Bublefook Island so I never have to have these discussions again.
About sharing the cost of lye for the back house and other consumables, profane bottles, maintenance on outboards I do not use ect ect ect....
Yes i have tired of doing things the old way that was not simple or long term cost effective VS short tern gains and all.
I spent my youth doing everything up there the hard way because my sweat and money was cheaper than someones else's..
 
Sounds like you got a bad deal in the situation.
bad deal
Well if you can’t exploit your family…

I remember it so clear now.
I was the summer of 74 when I discovered they still made nails
There they were in steel bins at the hardware store
I said “man look at that…. Old man…. I don’t have to pull straighten and reuse them old nail’s anymore “
And the old man said “ you going to buy them then? “
 
I remember it so clear now.
I was the summer of 74 when I discovered they still made nails
There they were in steel bins at the hardware store
I said “man look at that…. Old man…. I don’t have to pull straighten and reuse them old nail’s anymore “
And the old man said “ you going to buy
Is that sung to the tune of Scenes From An Italian Restaurant? Nah, that was the summer of 75.
Movin’ Out?

 
Is that sung to the tune of Scenes From An Italian Restaurant? Nah, that was the summer of 75.
Movin’ Out?
Anyone going to moderate us?
Not that we at staying or doing anything bad just Way out into the rhubarb patch lol

Interesting you picked a pretty interesting my tune to put that too

Never been a fan myself
 
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