--------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 272 HOME POWER Ref: DAK00000 Date: 06/15/96 From: GLEN TODD Time: 10:38am \/To: TIM HUTZLER (Read 3 times) Subj: Heat absorption coef Bright the day, Tim! Wednesday June 12 1996 11:55, Tim Hutzler wrote to Floyd Williams: >> 60-deg lat, then you can expect about 100W/per sq/ft. input. FW>> Is this Watts/sqft/time?? TH> You can take it either way. The heat input is about 100W. Over the TH> period of one hour it would be 100W/hr. FW>> Mobile, Alabama near the Gulf of Mexico. I will look the latitude >> up on a chart. TH> No need to - you have plenty of sun energy units there - even on the TH> coastline. How is this affected by altitude? We live at 9000 feet in the Colorado Rockies, and the sun gets IN-tense up here.{g} Wind to thy wings, Glen ... "Bother," said Pooh as he took out a contract on Bugs Bunny --- GoldED/386 2.50+ * Origin: <> High Reaches CyberSchool BBS == (719) 687-5974 <> (1:128/203) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 272 HOME POWER Ref: DAL00000 Date: 06/14/96 From: ELVIS HARGROVE Time: 09:13pm \/To: TIM HUTZLER (Read 4 times) Subj: Re: Heat absorption coef -> I think your problem is getting enough *cool* water. Cool AIR! It's poisonous HOT. (And hasn't rained in a coon's age.) ^..^ --- FidoPCB v1.5 beta-'j' * Origin: BOO! Board Of Occult, Rio Grande Valley Texas (1:397/6) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 272 HOME POWER Ref: DAL00001 Date: 06/16/96 From: ROBERT SAYRE Time: 03:51am \/To: JIM MCANDREW (Read 4 times) Subj: OOPS! JM> Instead, the bulb grew quite bright over a period of about JM> 1/2 second, culminating in a blown lightbulb and a $70 smoke JM> signal from the inverter. JM> What went wrong?: I forgot to consider what I should have JM> known! That when the two sources were 180 degrees out of sync, JM> the voltage difference would be 240V! ( [+]120V - [-]120V ) JM> -not the usual 120V that I was erroneously expecting. Dang! JM> JM> I should have used two bulbs in series. Hmmmm..., or maybe I JM> should have just watched a movie or read to the kids. Well, 2 lightbulbs would have saved the bulb. I doubt if it would have saved the inverter, though. :( The inverter probably didn't draw enough current to heat the bulbs enough to make their internal resistance high enough to drop enough voltage to leave no more than 120 volts for the inverter. You might have gotten by with putting the two bulbs in series, and connecting the inverter across one of the bulbs. Later. Robert * SLMR 2.1a * Careful, we don't want to learn from this. --- RA 2.02+/GE 1.20 Pro * Origin: Fresno Area Amiga eXchange -(209)226-7162- *HST/DS V.34+* (1:205/40) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 272 HOME POWER Ref: DAL00002 Date: 06/16/96 From: TIM HUTZLER Time: 09:06am \/To: FLOYD WILLIAMS (Read 4 times) Subj: Re: Box Cover? -=> Quoting Floyd Williams to Tim Hutzler <=- TH> Right now I am using 3-mil plastic sheeting, it degrades by > summers-end, but it's cheap. Someday, I'll get tired and put on > some glass. FW> I'm having trouble finding a suitable covering? Do you think > corrugated plastic roofing would serve this purpose? FW> Thanks, FW> Floyd . . . I think that would work fine. It's not as effient as glass, but it would be cheaper. Make sure you seal the gaps off, so you don't vent away your heat. Glass works best (at least two panes), but buying them new and cut to order is costly, I know. I haven't looked into window repair and retrofitting outfits. There may be some possibilities there. Good luck. --- Maximus/2 3.01 * Origin: Madman BBS * Chico, California * 916-893-8079 * (1:119/88) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 272 HOME POWER Ref: DAM00000 Date: 06/16/96 From: JIM DUNMYER Time: 08:22pm \/To: IAN WOOFENDEN (Read 4 times) Subj: HOT WATER HEATER ?? > But the _idea_ of using energy around the clock to keep 40 gallons > of water hot seems a bit screwy to me when you can just heat what > you need when you need it. > > But educate me, Ian, You're not "using energy around the clock", just kicking on the burner/element for a short time every now and again. The actual wastage is dependant on several factors: how much and how often you use hot water, and how well-insulated the tank is, along with the length of the pipes between the heater and the point of use. If your heater is fairly close to the point of use, and you use water several times during the day, you'll save pretty much nothing by going to a demand-type unit. OTOH:, if you often go 24 hours without using any hot water and the tank would be 30+ feet from the point of use, a demand heater would save "some" money. When you consider the other costs and increased complexity of the demand heater, you'll find that it's not the be-all/end-all that many folks think. --- FLAME v1.1 * Origin: Telnet toltbbs.com or call 313-854-6001, Boardwatch #55 (1:234/2) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 272 HOME POWER Ref: DAM00001 Date: 06/17/96 From: TIM HUTZLER Time: 07:33am \/To: GLEN TODD (Read 4 times) Subj: Re: Heat absorption coef TH> No need to - you have plenty of sun energy units there - even on > the coastline. GT> How is this affected by altitude? We live at 9000 feet in the > Colorado Rockies, and the sun gets IN-tense up here.{g} The higher the better I would think. Two factors: (1) Number of average hours of sunlight. (2) Quality of sun light. Chances are there are less overcast and obscured days at your level. On the coast beach areas tend to be foggy - not good for the solar enthusiast. Your only concern is outside temperatures. Your box needs to be well insulated on all sides, and good glass (two or better, three panes, glazing) facing the sun. It would be a good idea to have an insulated cover that swings over the glazing at night to keep the heat from radiating out. Keep me posted on your plans. --- Maximus/2 3.01 * Origin: Madman BBS * Chico, California * 916-893-8079 * (1:119/88) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 272 HOME POWER Ref: DAN00000 Date: 06/17/96 From: TIM HUTZLER Time: 08:22am \/To: ELVIS HARGROVE (Read 4 times) Subj: Re: Heat absorption coef -> I think your problem is getting enough *cool* water. EH> Cool AIR! It's poisonous HOT. (And hasn't rained in a coon's > age.) EH> ^..^ But what do racoons care. ___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.12 --- Maximus/2 3.01 * Origin: Madman BBS * Chico, California * 916-893-8079 * (1:119/88) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 272 HOME POWER Ref: DAN00001 Date: 06/18/96 From: GERRY CALHOUN Time: 02:09am \/To: ALL (Read 4 times) Subj: Ground heat/cooling Hello All! We are planning a move at some time n the future to a larger ranch, and I have been thinking about ways to heat/cool a large (5000 sq. ft.) horse barn we have and will move. The location is in the high desert of California with lots of wind in the afternoon and most mornings. Temps range from freezing in the winter to 100+ in the summer. These are some of my thoughts for constructing a system for at least some climate control. How deep into the ground would I have to lay pipe to get an average temp of 60 degrees or so? I have been thinking if a lay enough pipe deep enough (if feasable) and could cycle the water using wind (when available, which is most of the time) I could plumb it through a bank of old auto radiators with fans to move air through them for cooling in the summer and some heating in winter. I seem to recall a few years ago reading of a type of wind-turbine that was fairly easy to construct, and thought that would be a good way to pump the water through the system, with maybe a 2 horsepower jetpump for the winter nights. Co-generation is also a winter possibility as we will probably switch the 150 HP electric irrigation pump for a diesel, and I have thought about the possibility of a large storage tank, or at least a water to water heat exchanger to store heated water for night use (there are only about 3 months a year when it would not be needed for crops). Of course another possibility for summer use would be to divert some of the pump water to the indoor cooling radiators before sending out to the sprinklers to be used for irrigation. There are several auto-bone yards around here, and I think I can make a deal with them for old radiators if I take what they have just before "crush" time, so that part of the cost should be small. I gues my main questions are: 1.) Does this sound do-able? 2.) how far down would I need to place the heat exchange pipes if I went that route? 3.) Does anybody know where I could find plans for a wind turbine I could build? Also, does anybody have input on ideas for a second equal sized barn? should I buy another steel, build from abode (warmer in winter maybe?), for build a straw bale barn with plywood inside walls (I have a source for free old straw or alafala). Gerry --- * Origin: PETS R US! - Lancaster, CA (1:2004/0) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 272 HOME POWER Ref: DAN00002 Date: 06/09/96 From: JOCK ROGAN Time: 09:59pm \/To: ALEC CAMERON (Read 4 times) Subj: Self exciting alternators Hi Alec Cameron, hope you are having a nice day 05-May-96 19:07:43, Alec Cameron wrote to Jock Rogan Subject: Self exciting alternators AC> Hi Jock AC> On (03 May 96) Jock Rogan wrote to Alec Cameron... AC>> Not funny. Radiation fades your Genes! AC>> Cheers....ALEC JR>> Well all I can say is: JR>> ... In an atomic war, all men are cremated equally. AC> AC> Thanks for your message re steam boilers. I hope that STRATH can trade AC> successfully, looks like they have a niche market and that Authority AC> hasn't AC> boxed them in. They certainly seem to have confused the authorities by meeting all their standards:-) AC> Levity about nuclear hazards will irritate some. We visited Dounreay AC> Nuclear AC> PS in 1990, wore the white overalls wellies hard hats etc and stood on AC> the AC> reactor floor during a maintenance outage. The security was great. *BUT* AC> the AC> electronic locks on the main access door had jammed! So embarrassing. AC> They AC> led us thru the Fire Escape which of course is unlocked. I think when we can no-longer laugh about ourselves then we are/will be doomed as a race. I have no doubt that there would be those who WOULD consider a small scale nuclear plant if some authority would turn a blind eye. Or perhaps could be bought! AC> Suggest you give out the postal address of STRATH on this echo. Most AC> readers AC> being from US, there could be a decent export trade to encourage. Maybe AC> Detroit could use a V8 version of the pack? The gearbox of course would AC> be One AC> on the Floor! with reverse. Gosh........ just imagine, reverse speed same AC> as AC> forward speed! Cheers...ALEC Good idea! I will check with the fellow to make sure he is happy for me to mention his address. Sorry about the delay in responding to this ..... reality got in the way again:-) -=> Yours sincerely, Jock Rogan <=- ... I will defend to the death your right to my opinion! ___ TagDude 0.83 [Unregistered] with 205 taglines. --- Terminate 3.00/Pro * Origin: ****** SUCH JOCKULARITY ***** (3:800/843.4) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 272 HOME POWER Ref: DAN00003 Date: 06/09/96 From: JOCK ROGAN Time: 10:05pm \/To: TOM DUGAS (Read 7 times) Subj: Re: LPG or Diesel Gen. Hi Tom Dugas, hope you are having a nice day 06-May-96 23:10:00, Tom Dugas wrote to Cloyce Osborn Subject: Re: LPG or Diesel Gen. -=>> Quoting Cloyce Osborn to Tom Dugas <=- TD>> I'm setting up a homestead on approx 15 acres. I'm on the CO>> but we get our share of tornados, etc. I rigged a transfer CO>> switch on my main power feed and can now hook a tractor CO>> mounted generator to the house for emergency power. The CO>> generator won't run everything in the house but it will run CO>> the essentials such as lights, refrigerator, furnace blower. CO>> My tractor is an old Satoh S-670D (30 hp diesel). The TD> I hadn't thought of using a tractor with a PTO setup, *smart!!* I recently saw a modification that I thought was clever. A friend has a little four x four car called a Lada Niva. It is apparently made in Russia (or that way somewhere). It is a carbrettor engine and comes with jets that let it run or just about anything short of furnace oil. On a recent camping trip, once we had made camp, he changed the carby jets and ran a seperate fuel line to a boat fuel tank containing kerosene. He then used the PTO to run a compressor to an inverter to allow mains type power. The thing that made my chin drop was that it only took him about ten minutes to set up the change over. -=> Yours sincerely, Jock Rogan <=- ... "He was a man, all and all, I shall not look upon his like again." ___ TagDude 0.83 [Unregistered] with 205 taglines. --- Terminate 3.00/Pro * Origin: ****** SUCH JOCKULARITY ***** (3:800/843.4)