tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-108097882012-02-07T07:55:19.509-08:00A quest to make my own energy or find sustainable alternatives - To gain independence from the Frankenstein's monster that's been assembled from diseased, twitching parts of government and industry - peace of mind, guilt free consumption of power.Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.comBlogger651100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-28874751774654695012010-04-27T17:52:00.001-07:002010-04-27T17:54:14.721-07:00

Does anyone remember the eulogy given by billy graham on the national funeral for the 9/11 victims? Keep that in mind as I pose this question: What would you say if someone said "you know, a good lot of those killed in the WTC deserve to burn in hell, and are doing so". Would you be pissed and start looking for the secret service phone number? Maybe turn in a commie, or worse a terrorist? Now

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-87631209930147641802010-04-27T17:49:00.000-07:002010-04-27T17:50:35.648-07:00

just realized it was earthday 2005 that I left the power grid. 5 years. Neat.

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com33tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-59177925178676064042008-08-17T16:10:00.000-07:002008-08-17T16:24:54.569-07:00

Check it. Went to water batteries the other day and this snake, the same who I always see eating chicken eggs out in the hen house was hanging out in my house on my batteries. Which are kept clean btw so there should not be any concern about the snake getting acid on it's belly. I kept trying to pick it up and get it outside and it kept slithying out of my hands back onto or behind the battery

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com35tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-30970123374817295622007-11-27T11:23:00.000-08:002007-11-27T11:42:04.791-08:00

I normally heat water using home built solar panels. When it is below freezing it's a good idea to circulate anti-freeze in the solar panels and have a heat exchanger beside the water tank. I've never got around to that. So, in winters past I've instead run a very shoddy loop of copper coils in front of the air outlet on the biodiesel powered furnace. By pumping water to this loop and back to

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-17059135624308146592007-04-18T09:50:00.000-07:002007-04-21T07:20:42.424-07:00

Going off grid with solar has been all about about reducing consumption. So when I see governments forbid these dingy colored , asinine little heaters I experience shameful joy, trepidation and an immediate need to fit what is an act of aggression into a anarcho/panarcho/libertarian justification. The joy of course because replacing 60 watt bulbs with 14 watt bulbs is projected to allow 600,000

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1166555105684978852006-12-19T10:47:00.000-08:002006-12-19T11:05:06.006-08:00

The last wire to the house is obsolete and soon to be removed. I switched internet service to Clearwire recently. It's wimax. I'm a little out of their service area so aiming the box is tricky. I'm getting 1-2 bars out of 5. I might stick it in a 5 gallon bucket on a platform in a tree if I have problems. It seems like wimax has been just around the corner for way too long. Clearwire is

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1157735137845697942006-09-08T10:00:00.000-07:002006-09-08T10:05:37.890-07:00

This engine running a saw mill at Old Farmer's Days in Silk Hope, NC inspires thought about steam and off grid power. I'm fond of using vegetable oil in a diesel engine to backup solar power, but with a steam system all kinds of waste biomass might be turned to electricity and with the same machine you might generate power during the daylight using concentrating solar collectors. There's DIY

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1151184291091015512006-06-24T14:02:00.000-07:002006-09-08T17:29:59.473-07:00

I've continued to evolve the energy server. It now uses Ajax techniques to improve dynamic data without traumatizing machines with slow connectivity. It's just neater and will be valuable when I add features such as real time graphs.Now the web page gets loaded only once. Javascript in the page then asks for just the energy data from the web server every 2 seconds and then fills in all the

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1150256879317182282006-06-13T20:46:00.000-07:002006-06-14T18:22:44.643-07:00

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/06/offgrid_man_jai.php

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1148529323821327802006-05-24T20:39:00.000-07:002006-05-24T20:55:23.840-07:00

Sunday I finished the first example of a larger solar water panel I've been thinking about for a long time. The SunTuf polycarbonate glazing is a little floppy in the center. I think I'll be adding a rib that has the same outside shape as the end pieces, but is hollow and thinner so it doesn't cast too much of a shadow. The new panel is 8 * 2 feet. I am pleased with it's water heating

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1144084126581007922006-04-03T10:05:00.000-07:002006-04-03T10:08:46.603-07:00

People have reported that the Energy Server doesn't work. I had a dynamic IP address issue that is now fixed. The PDA now has a static address and the router forwards to it correctly. Now, if the page doesn't load it either means I am feeling watt thrifty and have turned the router off for the night or I am working on the PDA software/hardware.

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1143955833637580382006-04-01T21:30:00.000-08:002006-04-01T21:44:42.463-08:00

today I finshed a serial port expander for my online energy meter. It lets the software I've written on the PDA talk to both the Pentametric power meter and the Outback charge controller and inverter. The problem was that the PDA has only 1 serial port. The expander acts as a 10 position switch that lets the PDA decide which of 10 devices will be connected to the PDA. Support for only 2

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1143660557109164312006-03-29T11:16:00.000-08:002006-03-29T11:29:17.126-08:00

The real time energy server that's running on an old Pocket PC has a new web server on it. It's free, like the old one. But it also comes with source code, a bunch of extensions and some neat tweaks. One is that you can tell it how many threads to run serving pages. The default is 4. I believe this means that it will be less likely to choke. The fact that it works with scripts and mime and

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1140978048583253432006-02-26T10:14:00.000-08:002006-02-26T10:20:48.583-08:00

I didn't' know it, but there's an adjustment on blogspot so that it only feeds 255 chars to aggregators. In a discussion about the biodiesel blog aggregator it was mentioned that this was good to have. I thought that this was a setting the aggregator administrator turned. Oh, well. I hope the biodiesel agrregator will get running again. I'd like to see the new setting in action.

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1140939071722085292006-02-25T23:11:00.000-08:002006-02-26T00:07:33.536-08:00

I've been messing with instrumenting the house energy systems this week. There is now a Pentametric power meter and serial port living in the DC power box. To that is attached an old PocketPC with a wifi card. I wrote some software for the PocketPC that interrogates the Pentametric and then writes a tiny web page once per second. Also installed on the pocketPC is a small web server that talks

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1136873365173790982006-01-09T20:54:00.000-08:002006-01-09T22:09:25.220-08:00

I use a backup generator sometimes. Mainly at night if I'm doing a lot of machine shop work. About a month ago I noticed my backup generator was starting to sound like crap. I figured it was time to take the head and cylinder off and the piston out for a decarbonizing. This thing really takes an abusing and deserves a better user than I. In the summer I run it on new SVO and in the winter I mix

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1133420004893695572005-11-30T22:42:00.000-08:002006-06-04T20:40:56.663-07:00

I've been messing with building larger solar panels for water and possibly radiant heat as well. A big holdup was that I want these to be nice so that I will enjoy the results and be motivated to build a pile of them. For me, this means really neat shapes that will add to the function and appearance but simplify construction. I want these keystone parts to be as few as possible so that other

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1133419344285428302005-11-30T22:40:00.000-08:002005-11-30T22:42:24.286-08:00

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1133419183643006652005-11-30T22:37:00.000-08:002005-11-30T22:39:43.660-08:00

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1130348299964155482005-10-26T10:31:00.000-07:002005-10-26T10:38:19.973-07:00

Last week I ran two lines of pex tubing 100 feet from the house to my solar backup generator. It runs veg oil pretty well and makes 30 gallons of boiling water in it's cooling tank. I ought to be able to get some of that to heat my house water. It's gross coolant water so I don't want to drink it or shower with it. So I made a copper heat exchanger that sets in the tank. Problem is the heat

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1124588720086757382005-08-20T18:45:00.000-07:002005-08-20T18:47:23.483-07:00

Today I started a babington burner. It makes clean fire from all kinds of oils, including waste oil. Instead of a clog prone and ineffective nozzle a sphere is used. Oil drops onto and flows over the outside. Compressed air is blown through the back and out a small hole near the tip. When the oil hits that hole the air sprays it into an amazingly fine fog. It looks like smoke, not mist and it

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1124587935893103622005-08-20T18:32:00.000-07:002005-08-20T18:32:15.896-07:00

Here's the flame exiting the tube 2 feet later. Notice no smoke? 

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1124587832372565002005-08-20T18:30:00.000-07:002005-08-20T18:30:32.406-07:00

Here's the ball turning veg oil into fog that feeds a fire in a tube. The tube is needed to make the flame self sustaining. It roars. To the left I am dripping veg oil onto the sphere.  

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1123122729746289512005-08-03T19:32:00.000-07:002005-08-03T19:32:09.766-07:00

Things are a mess and the belt tensioner is a ratcheting strap until the weekend, but here it is. That 30 gallon barrel of water gets boiling at the top after about 5 hours of hard running.  

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1122873203084433882005-07-31T22:11:00.000-07:002005-07-31T22:13:23.090-07:00

I still haven't taken pics. I've been reworking the control box and a few other things on this home assembled generator set. I'll post when I'm happy about all the details. I have been running strait veggie oil with no problems, though.

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1121574596982101832005-07-16T21:11:00.000-07:002005-07-16T21:30:41.016-07:00

I've been putting together a diesel generator for occasional use during extended cloudy times. Today it runs. It's running right now. I've got the charge controller set to take 2000 watts off it. The prime mover is a very old style based closely on a lister engine. It looks like something from 1920. It's very efficient and the coolant system I've built for it will also be able to supply hot water

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1118928429297792012005-06-16T06:27:00.000-07:002005-06-16T11:42:10.213-07:00

We've been using two of these to cook with since just after going off grid. I haven't blogged about it because I was using an unknown mixture of biodiesel and kerosene. I've also used a bunch of lamp oil in it. This weekend I bought some B100 and cooked with it just fine. There was a false start that made some B100 steam. I got too carried away with pumping just after ignition. These quaint

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1118798688314306622005-06-14T17:51:00.000-07:002005-06-14T18:24:48.316-07:00

This isn't related to biodiesel or solar power, but check out the pics below. Last week while walking the dogs I ran into a metallic blue winged wasp-like creature dragging a beautiful, totally paralyzed spider to an evil fate. A big wolf spider can live 15 years and is a magnificent animal. This wasp was no doubt a recent graduate of maggot of the month. I lump wasps with ticks, fleas

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1118796659876824512005-06-14T17:50:00.001-07:002005-06-14T17:50:59.880-07:00

Tonight sustantial movment and grasped water soaked q-tip! 

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1118796608081559022005-06-14T17:50:00.000-07:002005-06-14T17:50:08.116-07:00

Spider last week. Looked very healthy despite total paralysis 

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1118772372933140802005-06-14T10:51:00.000-07:002005-06-14T11:06:12.936-07:00

I put the AC unit in the window for the season last week. This time instead of tolerating crappy sealing provided by the stock AC mounting hardware I used some of the aluminum backed foam that's left over from the solar water project. Air and insects stay on the correct side of the wall now. The unit is the most efficient Susan could find 5 years ago. The EER is close to 11. I've never seen one

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1118771481612210372005-06-14T10:36:00.000-07:002005-06-14T10:51:21.616-07:00

Read the first june 14th post, then this one. additions / clarifications It did take several days for this to heat the tank. It is interesting that even with this small tank we still have decent shower water for two days of clouds. This is summer, though. I want to make sure it is understood that the small pump does not pump our water out the faucets. It only pumps water out to the panel and

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1118770450824185472005-06-14T10:15:00.000-07:002005-06-14T10:34:10.836-07:00

Someone said they heard we were still taking cold showers so I guess it's time to post. We've been using the single solar panel for a while now. It seems like at least a couple of weeks. Maybe 3. I just measured the water out of the faucet at 99f. With no solar heat it is 65. To make this panel work I pulled the dual 4500 watt heaters, top and bottom, out of the water heater. Those used 1" NPT

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1116953131108284662005-05-24T09:39:00.000-07:002005-05-24T09:45:31.113-07:00

Here's some results from the DIY water heater in full sun. When filled with water the temp quickly rose to 177f. When trickling through it was 154 and at a slightly greater flow it was 140. At an aggressive flow the output was 90f. The water entering was 65F. Sorry about the flow rates. I'll need to get a measure on those to compare different designs. I am pleased and think that these

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1116817314166346772005-05-22T19:48:00.001-07:002005-05-22T20:11:04.140-07:00

There are new posts that are part of a conversation about automatic solar tracking that involves machine shop work. It is also interesting here because this is all running well on solar power. I use a big true sine wave inverter. It's an Outback 3500 watt that feeds into one of their 120 to 240 volt transformers. The 240 feeds the well pump and the machine shop. In the shop I use either the fake

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1116816480848827922005-05-22T19:48:00.000-07:002005-05-22T19:48:00.850-07:00

This post relates to a comment someone made about making a gizmo to automatically orient the panels towards the sun. Here's the setup I assembled on my cnc milling machine to make the gears needed to do this. The vice is not needed here. It didn't get in the way so I didn't move it. The rotary table with lathe chuck is a manual unit. I removed the handle, made a coupler and attached a big

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1116815990546897082005-05-22T19:39:00.000-07:002005-05-22T20:11:57.540-07:00

This post is for a comment someone made on an earlier post about making a gizmo controlling the orientation of the PV panels. Here's a couple of gears I made quite a while ago as part of this. I will use an AVR butterfly MCU to control the servo motors.  

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1116815152051625012005-05-22T19:23:00.001-07:002005-05-22T19:25:52.056-07:00

I've been working on making some solar water heaters. They are based on the Mother Earth inline collector. Issue 67 from 1981 has it. It's free to download their back issues. Pictures follow in reverse order of progress.

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1116814984087614952005-05-22T19:23:00.000-07:002005-05-22T19:23:04.090-07:00

Here's the business end. I need to seal the tubes.  

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1116814880106266002005-05-22T19:21:00.000-07:002005-05-22T19:21:20.110-07:00

I painted the back of the base and everything else I could find flat black exterior. The end caps are scrap 1/2" PVC that I cadded and CNC machined to nice curves. Lowes sells UV rated clear polycarbonate sheeting for roofing. They also have the white gasket with matching profile. The profile is siliconed to the PVC endcaps. The sheeting is siliconed and stainless steel screwed to the edge of the

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1116813906451957822005-05-22T19:05:00.000-07:002005-05-22T19:05:06.456-07:00

Here the collectors are stapled to the copper tubing and everything is in place. Some of the collectors were later rotated so everything was flat and looked neat. I also used 4 conduit hangers to attach the tubing to the base. This is not in any of these images.  

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1116813649391976422005-05-22T19:00:00.000-07:002005-05-22T19:01:54.616-07:00

A 1' * 8' * 3/4' piece of pine shelving is the base. I like the kind that's made of small strips glued up. It costs less and seems more sustainable. No need to kill giant, older trees when you can make it from pine weeds. There is some foam with aluminum backing acting as insulation liquid nailed to the pine. It is grooved it to accept copper pipes. The old fridge makes a decent work bench.  

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1116813249253856672005-05-22T18:54:00.000-07:002005-05-22T18:54:09.256-07:00

Here's two squares cut and half stapled together. I had to use 1/4" HD staples and I had to sharpen them. This was easy on a grinder. I did a whole brick of them at a time so it took maybe 10 seconds/100 staples. This thing get placed on the copper tubing and stapled on the other side. There are 30 of these on each 8 foot * 1 foot collector.  

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1116813040781563432005-05-22T18:50:00.000-07:002005-05-22T18:50:40.783-07:00

First I cut a bunch of aluminum flashing to 6 * 5.5 squares then made this fixture to bend them.  

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1116812792984612762005-05-22T18:25:00.000-07:002005-05-22T18:46:32.986-07:00

It's been fun. Real sense of independence. Each time I hear about energy policy or de-regulation or re-regulation I'm stoked. It is about much more than saving money. That's what everyone wants to know. "How much will I save?" "What did it cost?" I tell them about 1/2 a cheap SUV, but it doesn't eat gas and fart greenhouse effect. Instead it makes something you need and it adds value to every

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1114795833057062992005-04-29T10:28:00.000-07:002005-04-30T09:35:52.226-07:00

I just typed a very long post explaining that I've left the grid. I hit the wrong button, ignored the caution and it's all gone. Bummer. I'll do it again soon.

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1112980525177767972005-04-08T10:01:00.000-07:002005-04-08T10:21:03.766-07:00

Last week I started washing clothes with solar energy. It only involved running an extension cord to my washer and trying it out. It's nothing big other than reminding me that all of this is possible(getting off the grid without adopting a tepee lifestyle). The attitude I got since I was a kid from just being alive and observing others is that if solar energy were possible then everybody would

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1111688279494818082005-03-24T10:10:00.000-08:002005-03-25T11:30:05.330-08:00

I put a meter on the Haier HSE10WNAWW refrigerator. From 12:30 yesterday to 1:10 today it used 0.44 kWhrs. That's 0.428/day * 365 = 156 kwHr/yr. Quite a bit less than the 320 it's energy star rated for. I do have it on a 3 of 7 setting. At 4 orange juice was too cold to drink quickly and the yogurt cup made my hand ache. 3 is not warm and is a realistic setting. During the winter I'd

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1111552975786931542005-03-22T20:42:00.000-08:002005-03-22T20:46:41.206-08:00

Someone mentioned that the compressor from the old fridge makes a nice air compressor. Even though it was a hog, it uses less energy to run than my small shop air compressor. I use the air while machining parts nightly and it has a very small tank. What would be cool is to get the regulator and switch from the small air compressor set, the compressor from the fridge and then a large tank to

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1111376692425251292005-03-20T18:42:00.000-08:002005-03-20T19:44:52.426-08:00

We've been agonizing over what to do about a refrigerator for a while. There's the $2000 sunfrosts that only eat approx 150 kilowatt hours/year. One would work great even with a modest solar budget(I mean watts, not dollars). The home stores mostly have 400-800 kWhr units. Our 15 year old GE was taking 1100 kWhr's each year. That's $550 worth of electricity since we bought the place 5 years

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1108477066175493482005-02-15T05:48:00.000-08:002005-02-15T06:17:46.176-08:00

Is there a law that you have to keep a mail box? Do I care? I already feel guilt about junk that I toss that could be recycled with a bit more effort. Then there's the stuff I dump into the recycling bin that I doubt ever gets recycled. The steady stream of lacquered paper and plastic windowed garbage that arrives in the mail box hits me at least two ways. One is that it is frequently disguised

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1108315091921109962005-02-13T09:18:00.000-08:002005-02-13T09:18:11.920-08:00

What a sweet little rough green snake I found trying to get some sun on a slightly chilly day. Not shown here, it was clinging tightly to my warm hand and I had to gently pry it off to set it free.  

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1108314887381539322005-02-13T09:14:00.000-08:002005-02-13T09:14:47.380-08:00

The second solar array. These panels pack about 10% more power than the first 4. I expect good things from them when they have a proper mount. As it is I've seen combined powers of over 1000 watts and am pleased.  

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1108314742163355652005-02-13T09:12:00.000-08:002005-02-13T09:56:09.383-08:00

The aluminum structure I machined to hold the panels. The wood part is temp.

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1108314673292226042005-02-13T09:11:00.000-08:002005-02-13T09:11:13.293-08:00

Here's my first solar array. It does 550 watts with clear skys. 400's is more typical. 20-200 if it's overcast. 

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1108314568268517952005-02-13T09:04:00.000-08:002005-02-13T09:19:42.000-08:00

The fuel in the line is pink. I've been mixing more dyed kerosene than I should. I need to get out to Piedmont Biofuels to get some more B100.There are two valves so I can switch between the main tank and a small 1 gallon unit on the porch. I hope to try straight veggie oil sometime.

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1108313979884275702005-02-13T08:59:00.001-08:002005-02-13T08:59:39.883-08:00

fuel line/exhaust 

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1108313956812758152005-02-13T08:59:00.000-08:002005-02-13T08:59:16.813-08:00

What you see on most of this is temp. I like to get things running and then refine them. I rarely am satisfied on the first attempt so I see no reason to go too far. Better to contemplate weakness and learn and improve. I wish I followed this more. There's much that is undone because I was too much a freak about getting it just right to ever start. This needs some hangers and a junction so that

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1108313175460177342005-02-13T08:46:00.000-08:002005-02-13T10:09:31.476-08:00

Here's the 300 gallon tank. I dug a 60-70 foot trench 1 1/2 feet deep from it to the house. I plan on gardening above it. When I get a biodiesel walking tractor I don't want the tiller to get into the conduit.

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1108312955494265262005-02-13T08:37:00.001-08:002005-02-13T08:42:35.493-08:00

I've been removing the ceiling tiles. Hot air collected above them and did little to keep me warm. Lowes sells a harbor breeze brand fan that's greenstar rated. It uses only 8 watts on low. It does a great job of keeping the room evenly heated. It runs off solar, of course. Weather in the back room is still in the low 60's when it's cold. That's ok for now.

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1108312630527903572005-02-13T08:37:00.000-08:002005-02-13T08:37:10.526-08:00

8 watt ceiling fan to spread the warmth 

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1108312453022125732005-02-13T08:34:00.000-08:002005-02-13T08:34:13.023-08:00

Here's the alt energy corner in my house. It's not wise to have the heat so close to anything other than the wall. BUT, it doesn't even get WARM on the sides. I mean nothing. All of the heat is blown out the front. I will be moving this to a better spot soon. 

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1108312240562275602005-02-13T08:30:00.000-08:002005-02-13T08:30:40.563-08:00

Misc images of heater running on biodiesel and solar power parts 

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1108311222509993932005-02-13T08:13:00.000-08:002005-02-13T08:13:42.510-08:00

carbon crud in the burner 

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10809788.post-1108307340125998552005-02-13T06:51:00.000-08:002005-02-13T10:42:59.613-08:00

I've been doing all kinds of talking about biodiesel home heating and solar electricity, but when it gets to putting it on the web after I've been asked many times I never get around to it. This blog format seems like the easy way to go so it will now happen.First, here's the home heater that I am asked about occasionally. It's a Toyotomi OM-22. It is designed for #1 and #2 fuel oil(untaxed

Bill Knightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06966046234395679292noreply@blogger.com17