Garage door issue.

Here we see further indications of our seals not being complete on this door.  Paul and I went on to design and fabricate some seals to fix this.   In the process of installing, I lifted on the garage door manually causing enough slack in the cables to allow the whole thing to go SPROING.  We figured about that time that we were barking up the wrong tree trying to make our own door with custom mechanics.  We will soon be testing our next idea of buying a professional door and adding a significant amount of quilting to the inside.

Hugnet for methane tanks

Jeff is installing Hugnet sensors on the anaerobic digester tanks.

Greenhouse heat

Dave is hooking up the air manifold that will help temper the
greenhouse on the cob cottage. When the sun is overheating the air, the hottest air will be blown through tubes under the floor. At night, the massive warm floor will keep the greenhouse warmer.

Arc08 progress

Ryan is placing three tanks that will become the methane digester. If all goes well, it will provide cooking fuel while cleaning our sewage.

Mill training

Wayne is pointing out features on the mill while the shop employees look on.

Solar defrosted sewer vent.

When it gets real cold in the dead of winter, it is not uncommon to for rooftop vents to frost over, causing gurgley pipes and sewer smells. We are trying out a trick we just learned...

First cut the top of the vent pipe at a 45 degree angle, with the open part facing south.

Then paint it black.

The frost will have a hard time trying to bridge that longer gap...

...and the sun (that tends to be bright on the coldest days) will heat up the pipe and melt any frost away.

New Blank Controller Board

The new bare controller board. These boards are currently being built so we should have working boards soon.
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Sent from my Android phone with K-9. Please excuse my brevity.

Plugged solar panel.

Wayne is attempting to unclog a solar panel that got some silicone into the wrong spot.  We had another panel spring a leak.  The two part glue should prevent this.

Mess of tubes.

This percolating mess of tubes is the result of a day's experimenting on the solar panels.  We have characterized the fill up time, flow rates, and drainback times.  We have also identified a panel that is almost entirely clogged.

Water flow test

To see how much resistance a 60' 0.170 id tube has at 5 psi head.

Wayne's solar barrel

We are testing the solar panels on the ARC with this setup first to answer some basic performance questions.

Installing Hugnet conduits in the SPARC

Wayne's SIP cutter

Lee weather station logging

Lee's weather station 2

Lee and his weather station

Weather stations need paint.

Wayne lathing

Here he is making an o-ring sealed package for a solar tracking circuit.

Wayne working on new manifold spreader.

Weather station coming together

Small chips

The tiny black dots on the green boards are analog to digital converters for reading sensors. I had to send the chips off to Martek Electronics (http://www.martekmn.com) to have them soldered onto the green boards after I proved incapable of doing it.
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Sent from my Android phone with K-9. Please excuse my brevity.

HARC

Pressure rating drip valves

37 PSI and holding

Exponential progess

One panel yesterday, two today!  And it's only noon!

First panel on arc

And boy is Wayne proud.

Solar testing tank

Lee is plumbing up the solar testing tank.

Happy caulk

Mike was trying out the new air power and higher leverage caulking guns.

New glue tests

Mike is testing 2 types of glue he is familiar with.  We'll do more next week, too.

Mechanical doohickeys!

Wayne has made some very mechanical looking doohickeys today to helt the garage doors open easier.

Wayne using our lathe for the first time ever.

Jeff making sensor cables for solar panels.

Testing for leaks

We are pressure testing the panels we assembled for the ARC last week.  There are a few leaks. 

Mike's table knife

Solar assembly pics

We're putting together the panels for the ARC.

Marlin making mounting

Marlin is pictured here making the mounting rails

Sheet processor

Here we see the sheet cutter, aka the Table Saw of Death being used to do the rough cutting for the ARC solar panels.  This afternoon we'll be doing the fine cutting and then we can start assembling.  Note, this was a two person job, but I was taking the picture.

Solar panel mounting mock up

This is the mock up of how the panels will go on the wall.  The entire system is proving a bit unwieldly, but still workable.  The real challenge is trying to make the spacing and sizing of the panels look like it was all planned to fit around the windows and in the spaces provided.

Our cousins down south

This video is a succinct statement of many of the same goals we have.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ozX_nt5A4o

In order to accomplish the same goals up in our much colder climate, we
have to do a few things differently. I would really enjoy a road trip
down there for a visit and some knowledge sharing, though.

Started up the Solar Heat Storage

Today I started up the West half of the solar panels. The heat is going
in to the bottom half that is currently about 60. My goal is to see it
hit 80 to 85 down there by the end of October. Warm days and low autumn
sun should help. Now I just need to remember to check the filters.

The East half will be fired up next week after we replace the filters
and add foam stoppers on the upper half of the heat storage tubes.

Gas meter turned pump

Paul is taking apart a gas meter to learn about making low pressure, low volume pump from it.

Last minutes on Grant

It's Saturday morning and we're just finishing hundreds of hours of work
on a proposal for a DOE grant to work on our solar panels. YAY! It's in!

Solar panel mounting brainstorm

Solar panel mounting drawing

Bee Swarm

There is no real nest under there, just bees swarming around a queen leaving.

Ben wiring the AC unit