Solar Food

Jim's been modifying a design on a solar powered food dehydrator.

The black metal at the base of the machine is set to a 45 degree angle. It collects the sun's energy and turns it into heat, while the polycarbonate window traps the heat in the machine.

Air vents in the base of the unit allow the heated air to rise...

and dehydrate the food on the racks.

Adjust the temperature with these screen vents

Temperatures can reach up to 180 degrees so it is important but easy to monitor the progress with thermometers at the base of the racks and at the top of the unit. With this knowledge, the racks can be jockeyed according to how the food is progressing.

So, with proper placement in the sun, this unit can turn five pounds of freshly picked apples into dehydrated apples in just 9 hours...without the use of electricity!

Jim plans on adding wheels and handpoles to allow for better mobility. There will be more updates on this fascinating project to come.

Solar Plumbing

Ryan has been working on building a homemade solar drain back tank. This unit allows a non-toxic antifreeze to drain out of the solar panel during down times. If the antifreeze is not circulated properly, it could become corrosive and destroy the panel.

This is what he had to use.

He started with a five gallon bucket with an epoxy coating the interior. He drilled a hole in the top and bottom and removed the handle.

He then took a 1/2" bulkhead fitting and affixed it to the bottom of the bucket through the hole.

Then he cut two pieces of pink foam insulation and drilled similar holes in the center of them.

He used a spray foam to glue the foam to the top and bottom of the bucket, allowing for the tee fitting to stick through.

He wrapped the entire unit in a fiberglass insulation...

And finally encircled the unit with an aluminum sheet casing for a nice finish.

Ryan could have gone online and got a similar pre-constructed unit for nearly $400. However, after purchasing $40 worth of materials from the local hardware store and a half-day of work, HUG has a solar drain back tank of their very own at less than 10% of the cost of buying online.

Now that's buying local!

Retrofit - Week 14

Well, we are now into week 14 of my 12 week project. Not unusual. While things are taking longer, there seems to be a comforting pattern that things are ending up better in many cases than I had anticipated. The bathroom is looking great. The siding is looking great. The bedrooms are coming together and will soon look great.

After the siding, we are into the interior finishing stages with the windows and the remaining trims. We can see the lights at the end of the tunnel and I'll have to install many of them.

The most visible progress is the siding. All the green siding is complete. The East, West, South, and North Walls, and all three sides of the porch. Crisp!

South side in progress this week.

North Side complete.

However, there is still some caulking and sealing to accomplish. Diligent Mike is taking that on. Good man.

Not Pictured: The red shingles and sunburst because they are still not delivered due to snafus beyond our control. Next week, hopefully.

The Bathroom took shape last week starting with the sanding and clear coating of the floor. Then we could put in the vanity and the cabinet doors. Sweet. Todo: Baseboards, baseboard heater, toilet, countertop, sink, shower plumbing, shower tile, recirculating shower function, lights, outlets, mirror, toilet paper holder, shower curtain rod and curtain. Plus the laundry machines, shelves, trim, lights. In short, you'll see this topic pop up again.

The delayed siding gave us a chance to put the stoops together. Still needs real deck boards instead of old plywood, but it sure feels like an improvement already.

And Shawn put up the wall between the bedrooms upstairs as well as the wall above the chimney brick. This allowed me to spend the weekend wiring light boxes and outlets. Hopefully a good inspection will clear the path for the sheetrockers to hang, mud, and prime this week.

Here is a picture of the West door with the first layer of the polycarb side lights installed.

On the utility front, this here water heater has been converted to a hot water storage tank for my heat pump with the help of a couple hard to find fittings in place of the elements. We have also spent some time this week figuring out the drain plumbing for the recirculating shower. Once that looks photogenic, I'll get you a picture.

Retrofit - Week 13

13 weeks already??? At least we got excellent weather for this week so we could make bang-up progress on the siding.

Big news this week:

-Siding (how ex-siding!)

One thing slowing down the work is learning how to do the siding with a drainage gap behind it. We're making the gap with furring strips made from black, 4mm, twin wall polycarbonate. Here the picture shows aluminum window screen that will keep insects from inhabiting the space behind the siding.

-Chimney

-East Side

-West Side

-Windows sealed in a flurry of late night paint ladies and ready to install. Guess I don't have any pictures from this week.

-Bathroom sheetrock and painting

-Built the bathroom vanity per Amber's specs. This high class, custom unit has aged-cedar trim made from the boards from the wall, so this will match perfectly. The shelves will be used for baskets and the center space will have a curtain.

And the bead-board paneling is used on the cabinet doors above the toilets, and the panel below the edge of the tub. Can't wait to see it all in place.

-Basement Door and West door and North door, and the door between the kitchen and the porch was made to work nicely. The West door still needs the side-lights placed in.

-Chimney work - the cap on the brick section is complete! And more news: Just today, we got the flue liners in place.

-More exhaust ducting

-Living room beam stained

And late, breaking, news: Bathroom floor sanded and sealed (Pictures coming next week)

Barn raising a hoop house for 10/10/10

Creating new space for RREAL

RREAL factory addition