in my "panhandling" thread i made mention of some ideas for condensing
and then adding more relevant topics to this forum.
some other topics that might be interesting
1. with the increasing interest (as evidenced by the tiny house movement) maybe we could add a section with topics relating to this sort of thing? it would appear that there is a rather large movement toward tiny house building and living... and that would seem to me to be an area where taking some of what we have worked so hard on in the past, might well be very relevant and welcome to that community? lets face it, a 6/1 was never able to heat an average home in any but the most temperate climates, but... my bet it one could do famously when it comes to a tiny house?
i for one have had an interest in tiny house living for years, maybe going on 20 years now? has it been that long? how big of a thermal battery would it take to enable a 6/1 or similar beit another modern diesel or a gas engine to heat a tiny house?
i see these things on tv now, a could programs devoted to it are "tiny house hunting" and "tiny house nation" both of which could use more info when it comes to heating/cooling/power for their projects... most have batteries and inverters... but are in my opinion often minimal and not very well thought out... basically a couple pv panels, controller, two batteries and small inverter.
2. control systems: this is something that i for one have been interested in for decades, having built my first solar tracking unit in 1976 for a hot water concentrator. then maybe starting 10 years ago now when my good friend George B. got me started with the bs2 stamp... life went on for me, but i am still avidly interested. i remember thinking, "oh just wait bob, someone will build the system and in a few short years it can be bought off the shelf for penny's on the dollar... only problem is that day really hasn't come! i think there is still a bit gaping hole needing filled with this one.
3. battery tech: looks like our friends over at tesla will end up being a battery company? and they have or were supposed to have a 7kw (daily cycling) hand on the wall battery/inverter system for something around 3grand? maybe that tech is getting close to being a game changer at least in some way? or maybe as part of another storage tech? there may be something there, heaven knows this game could sure use a better battery system.
4. ???
tag your it fellas
bob g
Quote6/1 was never able to heat an average home in any but the most temperate climates, but... my bet it one could do famously when it comes to a tiny house?
I think Tom (Hopland, Calif) runs his hydronic heat from his 6/1, and only has to supplement a little bit from the wood stove. Large house. I'll let him cover his specs.
The Tesla Battery Wall was only a stunt, not practical at all. Was only designed for headlines.
Tiny house is good for a solo that works elsewhere. Otherwise, if a work at home type, the computer usage (even a laptop) is enough over 10 hours, to consume a lot of power. And the fridge. The smaller they get, the less efficient, so that's going to be an impact too.
But, it think a tiny house section would be good, can enough PV and battery get it through the summer & winter ? Tiny means less wall thickness for insulation, or more expensive thin insulation. Lots of factors
Rethunking is often a good idea. Obviously, co-generation is a pretty narrow place of interest based on our traffic here. Here's my two bits per suggestion:
1.) Tiny housing. With a population that's growing old quickly and down-sizing living space may find those people's interest. I'm an Airstream kind of guy but I enjoy watching folks building down.
2.) Let's face it. X-10 is dead so I'm shopping electrical control systems too. OK, this isn't exactly what was suggested but real people trying purchased items is always more interesting to me than YouTube reviews after a weeks use.
3.) Energy storage is the new black. I'm looking for a working system that utilizes one of the say 24 or 27 KW EV car batteries converted to housing off grid use. Tesla is a bit pricey but it got us talking and thinking outside the lead-acid box. I think they're selling down-under.
4.) Heat pump technology has been the silent giant and yet I rarely see much about this progressive technology.
Casey
Thanks for the lead in Mike, our heating situation actually works out to be mostly wood with occasional supplementation from the Lister. With only needing to run the generator around 250 hours per year, it just isn't run enough to contribute much heat. Some thermal solar panels on the roof for hydronic heat are planned for some time in the future.
I like the controls and battery discussions, but you've got to be a bit of a renegade around these parts to live in one. It's illegal to live in an RV and tiny houses are not big enough to be counted as a mobile home. That leaves them in limbo land when looking for a place to site them. My daughter has wanted a tiny home for a long time, however when the reality hits of cleaning out a compost toilet or how to setup a water system she drops the idea.
So... maybe a revamp with the theme of "Small Energy Systems" encompassing all forms of micro energy.
The micro cogen URL name can still apply because pretty much all projects that we undertake are a "co-generation" to some other form of energy that we also use.
New Main categories such as...
Power generation from rotating equip:
=======================
--->Diesel
--->gasoline
---->Alternate fuels
--->Micro turbine
---> etc... etc...
--->
--->
Power generation from Solar:
======================
--->PV
--->Battery Banks
--->Grid Tie
--->Charge controllers
--->Dump loads (heating !!)
--->Solar H20 heating
--->pumps
--->Differential temp controllers
Other headings ?
==============
---> ?
Other headings ???
==============
---> ?
I'm sure others will have additional suggestions for topic headings.
my 2Cents,
Veggie
Well . . . on the other headings front put in Consummations Solutions.
The best advances I've made here personally has just been upgrading as absolutely needed the consumers sides.
The new generation LED's have cut my annual lighting energy needs by huge. AND unlike the over-promoted CFL's have the service life's to be worth it.
Same with refrigerators, washing machines here. Vehicles. Tractors. Chainsaws. Etc.
Newer production IC engines saves me at least 1/2 annual fuels buying outs for the same amount of works produced.
Sorry to say: most to get to chat "interchange" are all about the sexy woo-woo Tech.
Or . . . into endless ideas ran-up-flagpoles speculating with no Practical/personal Useing proofing outs.
Wife's high school friend is house staying in the folks house (out guest house) next door for the summer.
She too dreams, and talk-talks of a Tiny House. Or an old bus and doing a conversion.
Does nothing about it. Tells ME what I could do to improve our houses.
I tell her to go get an older RV trailer. Live in that over the course of a Wet PNW winter.
Done it. Condensation. Condensation. Will kick your ass. Give you the-cough.
Now 2x, 3x that lived-in space in a site built cabin with de-humidifying wood heating is quite comfortable. But too old-school; not sexy enough for most Alt's.
No-o-o-o. Not until they re-imagineer the wood stove from two centuries refractory brick lined heavy plate or cast, evolved, available off-the shelf, to a burn-out will kill you make from thin-thin scrap barrels - Rocket Stove.
This same throw out the known Baby's with the using baby-water seems to happen in all Alt's thinking's.
Nature of Alternative approaches it seems. Be very impractical, woo-woo, sexy as the-must-be better. Go back to zero. ONE wheel must better! Woops. Too tipsy, too hard to balance and control.
Whee. Two wheels IS better! But cold and wet carrying a Sweetie too. She complains. Hold tighter to snuggle in warmer, you say. Then comes baby.
Now onto three wheels to have capacity and weather enclosure possibilities. Uhh-ooh. Back to instability. Tipsy-ness. Unsafe. Do Not Kill The Baby, she says.
F-i-a-n-a-l-l-y. Re-evoled to four wheels as the best possible minimum. Gives safety and stability and traction. Full weather protection. Full crash protection possibilities.
Right where very practical Henry Ford, Louis Chevrolet, Walter Chrysler (and other Practical engineers); working from the previous past proven: BEGAN.
Talk-talk, is the cheap buy-in. Proving/Using results is the expensive.
Steve Unruh
To help my suggestions make sense requires some back ground on me. I came unto the slow speed diesel scene when the LEF was down and out and ended up here because it was the only site at the time. I knew there was some relationship of ownership here and the LEF but your other post here is a bit confusing to me because it references owing the LEF, selling it, and still owning it,, at least the way I read it? I am an engine guy, not into Co-gen and barely into generators, just what I need to know to keep my ST heads running during our infrequent outages. While it is a mystery of sorts why some forums take off while others whither and die It is obvious that co-gen has an EXTREMELY limited audience. I dont see tiny house being any different? a fad at best in my opinion. Heck we barely have zoning where I live but they wont allow a person to live in one of those due to the small footage. The LEF is primarily a Lister and Listeroid engine board thus the engine traffic has gone there and has actually increased to the point that it is a viable site ( I think?) However the traffic on the generator and systems forums on the LEF is also very lightbut heavier than here. I think it is also fact that the readership of both sites is basically one set of people? I don have any suggestions for saving this as a stand alone site but with you apparently having some ownership of both sites or at the least some rights left on the LEF why not combine the two sites into one and have one site with high traffic? That is my suggestion and hopefully everything I have said us taken constructively as that is how it is intended.
Butch
Mr. Dream here,
I find the changes in life-styles to be really interesting. I live in a nice turn of the 80's house in South Kona about nine months out of the year. "What a nice view" I hear and often reply "Let me set my pick down and take a look". The other three months I live in a 384 foot apartment. I've thought about the two places and it seems that I only use about 400 feet of the much larger rambler when I'm here. As the population grows we are simply going to have to down size our individual footprints. Getting this site to pick up interested parties in that arena might be challenging. One of the things I really like about this site and LEF are the "Back to the Future" approaches to problem solving. I'm still dreamy eyed about the exhaust powered vent tower that pulls air across the radiator. (I'd like to use the big word but I can't find it.) I guess that may be part of my interest in electric vehicles and all of their "innovations". Hub wheels and the like were innovations at the end of the 19th century and "not" at the beginning of the 21st.
I know! Let's do a survey. Let's find out what all the people that have left more than two or three posts are doing with their spare time now rather than contributing to Microcogen? We still probably have like minds. Joan and I'll be watching something about solar roofs and electric vehicles and there's a place that looks much like ours with a bearded genius at work. I'll comment "Joan, you must start leaning into that razor more often." I can write this stuff when she's out of town. Maybe they've found something so butt-kicking interesting that they don't have time for their old friends anymore. We can hope.
Casey
Maybe an open section where all ideas are welcome but watched close the good ones move to its own place and let them continue to grow some times the wildest thought turns into something big and very use full if nothing else brake the boredom. Tom T
the LEF was bought, never sold, and has been running along just fine under Ade' capable handling for quite some time now.
for the record there were a few of the LEF members who contributed part of the purchase price for the forum, the balance i floated myself back at a time when money was much easier for me to get my hands on.
my goal in all this is to simply let the LEF continue doing what it is doing, and my interest is only in protecting the content prior to the purchase of the forum, or very close to that date.
because i personally have not put much time into the LEF since this forum came about, i really don't have the same connection to the post purchase content of the LEF. it just doesn't seem right to lay claim or some claim to post purchase content just because of having some monetary skin in the game.
the original goal was to combine the two forums into one, and then sorting out things as best we could. after some time we could condense and split the discussion to fit both sides of the group in such a way that everyone would feel comfortable and play well together.
the only problem with that dream was (well actually a couple of problems) came down to ...
1. trying to get both forums combined was going to be a bit of a struggle, one of which my understanding was we could do it, but the reality was apparently much more difficult that first anticipated. probably what should have been done was to put out the bucks needed to hire an expert to do the deed... it just never got to that point and the longer we waited the more difficult it became.
2. no matter how well we did it, and how well it was planned and implemented, lets face it, you can't make everyone happy.. and it became clear to me that trying to do so was going to result in even more friction... waiting for things to calm down only made things that much more difficult from a tech view point.
so....
at this point, the way i see it comes down to the following
1. is there enough interest to put out the effort to redefine the forum?
2. is there enough interest or bluntly enough folks that feel that we have something here worth continuing?
3. is there roughly 9 people that would put up 20 bucks a year, or 18 that would put up 10, or 36 that would invest 5bucks?
hell i would put up the first 50 bucks and i am on a very fixed income and have only a small fraction of the time i would like to spend on the forum.... but i still think that it would be worth that to me to continue for another year, especially if we get enough other support to not only pay the freight but also help to take over some parts of the ongoing management of the forum, things like vetting new applicants, working on restructuring, archiving, and whatever?
but i have to be honest guys, as much as i would hate to see it happen, i just am not in a place where i can see myself floating the full cost of the annual cost of the forum.
ok fine, i will go one better, i will put up the first 75 bucks, "if" we get enough folks to come up with the 100.
it would be worth that to me to have a place to come just to be surrounded by folks that have proven to be "how should i say it".... "THINKING INDIVIDUALS"
i don't know what y'alls experience is, but i find that sort of individual in short supply around this part of the world... seems like most folks are happy do just sit on their arse, drink beer, watch the boobtube and do little to nothing to expand their minds... i guess maybe it makes their head hurt to do so? (i digress... )
i also know many of our members have moved on to other interests in their lives, however maybe we could get a few back if we make some changes? i don't know...
its up to you guys...
tag your it.
bob g
give me an address to send pay pal to for forum support
My ignorance of how things like these forums work is obvious. I figured you could just combine them like ingredients in a mixing bowl and call the resulting soup whatever you wish ??? ??? This is why I best stick to engine innards and away from things electronic.
hey playdiesel.... don't feel like the lone ranger... i too am ignorant of things such as these... :)
and a lot of other things too! :0
as for an address
i will post it up on the thread in announcements
thanks guys
bob g
Hey ALL, try this. . . .
on the L.H. corner of the home page open up "more stats"
Look this over to see who has been pulling the heavy weight of starting topics; answering inquiries and such. Look at which topics have generated the most reads interest and such.
Some fellows been pulling the boat are gone now. Some: we know the reasons for.
And do not deceive yourself that quantity ever replaces quality!
Example; my Aus friend Robert Windt (nakedmechanic) only had five posts responses. But he did have quality in those from real-world propane and even methane conversions of working/loaded IC engines. Spark ignition, and Compression ignition.
He died. Why so quiet since 2012.
Another friend I encouraged(sponsored) here was Ukranian AlexseyA. He had the keys to Soviet era wet wood capable wood gasifer systems. Quiet for a long time now. Either endeavor disappointing in his own country. Or ate up in the last years Unkranian/Russian dust-ups.
And others gone quiet just disgusted with a personal offence tipping point, "I do not need this shit".
????? you may ask?
I live in a 1906 house remodeled 1940's then 1990's UP to 1300 square feet. Next door we have retained the folkes "new" built nin 1959 1500 square foot house.
Either of theses can, and have accommodated handily 4-6 person families.
So I am very irritated with the Tiny House'ers who say that I am a typical greedy, selfish, resource hogging, white, male entitled American. Only two of these even begin to be true. Wife an I earned and paid for theses house with decades of working, bloods and sweats. The Real Estate Agents, Banks, Title, Mortgage companies, and Investors Groups all hate us as no longer spin-trapped into their flipping-for-their-profits cycles.
I would never participate in a Tiny-House new Green-spin stylish fooo-paw, yuk. One cylinder engines MUST always be better? NOT.
Or a "better" McMansion to be flipped-for-profit fooo-paw, yukking up. 10 cylinders just must be "more bad" than eight! 12 cylinders better/badder yet! 16 cylinders!! Reasonable sense? NOT.
Back when this forum was sponsoring a fight-it-out section I was one of the ones saying; eliminate this "bread and circuses" or I am gone. I am not entertained by others miseries. Disgusting.
We each choose where we go. Where we stay. And Where we participate.
Sometimes Life interferes. Ha! The guy I wanted to take over my moderator-ship here recently got married. SWMBO's have an influence on participation too.
(I'm supposed to be 2 y.o. Godchild sitting right now. Not keyboarding. Opps! Gotton too quiet. Mischief's afoot for sure.) Bye for now.
Regards
Edit add. The breaking glass sound pulled me off was the child playing with my Wife's ambiance candles.
Sigh. And I've worked for years on wood-for-electricity to NEVER have to use dangerous, sooty, combustion lighting again! S.U.
SteveU,
Do not think your post will inhibit me for one moment. I shall go forward looking for misguided humor, delivering incompetent snap opinions and just missing the entire meaning of the thread. And I too truly enjoy the contributions by the members that have obviously worked for NASA or some other gifted people organizations. (I would have included MENSA but anyone that will pay money to belong to a smart persons club has just flunked the smart persons club most important test. {One of my favorite jokes.})
Casey
Good MENZA joke:
"Why insisting all this talk about a woman's time of the month, eh? It's natural. It occurs. Ain'cha figured out where babies come from yet?! That ain't Smart at all."
S.U.
As for people getting mad and taking their stick and ball and going home all a person has to remember, is who we are, independent thinkers, individuals who look out for themselves . That in itself leads to squabbles when gathered in one area.
Back to traffic
with fuel dropping back into the $2 range I am a bit surprised that cogen has made a comeback? Not many off grid types locally but the ones I do know about invested in solar and wind when fuel got too high for the budget. The equipment still runs even though fuel has dropped and from what I gather they dont miss fooling with the engine.
Now me being the engine nut I am will much enjoy fooling with the engine each day and burning all sorts of whatever can be found for free or cheap,,,when I retire that is.
Dreamer Alert!
I've been hanging out around YouTube U. There are some people there with pretty nice credentials that believe, yes brothers and sisters - believe!, that in less than 5 years internal combustion engine production for automobiles will be in the minority. This implies quite a change in all facets of transportation and travel.
While LF and Microcogen have a lot of space about the past shouldn't we spend some of our time looking to the future of more than 90 days? The Nissan Leaf with their battery sharing device is a form of co-generation. Ok, co-utilization. I'm shopping for a wrecked Leaf right now that could serve as my solar storage unit and chicken coop or remote hoarding unit. Is it Denmark that is working towards 15% of their energy (electric and heat) from biomass? I really believe that the next few years are going to be extraordinary.
Casey
Have you ever considered that gas prices are only really important if you pay attention?
Hello;
Will try this again. Just typed for 3 minutes and the screen went away. Only got interested in slow speed diesels generating power about 10 years ago. I am now 66 and it looks like interest is disappearing. I guess that I secretly hoped the world would come to an end and I would be the last guy with power. It makes me sad when I come to this web site and most of the most recent posts are years old. I will keep plugging along and thank goodness that stuff on the internet never goes away.
I also monkey with old ford flathead stuff and the alternative power people are not as arrogant as the car guys, though it does thrust it's ugly head up from time to time. I like my Listers and Changfas and will have them till I check out. We live in a beautiful place in the country in the Pacific Northwest and at my age I think my wife and I may still move to a more remote area to finish up. I'm guessing that most of you folks are closer to my age than youngsters.
I wish there were some young kids who would get interested in alt power. It would be fun to encourage them. I will always check in here from time to time and wish you all the best. Not interested in living in a tiny house though. Take Care. Stevem
In Denmark currently has 14 pct of it's energy from biomass.
http://energinet.dk/EN/KLIMA-OG-MILJOE/Miljoerapportering/VE-produktion/Sider/Biomasse.aspx
I'm slightly amazed. I can remember reading a bit about biomass energy production on this and LEF and thinking "These guys are drinking too much kool aid. So I'm going over to our Methane, Producer Gas, Propane, etc. section and starting a thread entitled "BIOMASS"
http://www.microcogen.info/index.php?topic=3540.0 (http://www.microcogen.info/index.php?topic=3540.0)
Any interest?
Casey
Look, I am seriously building my shed for co-gen. Finally!! I watched the conversations here, took note of the good ideas and watched how things turned out over time.
I took me close to what? Ten years? Maybe I am just a slow learner. Anyway I wanted to be sure what I was getting into. And now I know that going full Cogen with the state of
"things" as they are now is not a viable choice for me. I will continue to watch and probably copy what someone else has done, unless I have a huge unexpected brain fart and trip over some unbelievable discovery, not likely!
I will run a quite limited setup with a 'roid and a Changfoid 1115 recovering waste coolant and exhaust heat to supplement the Tarm wood boiler.
My long-winded point is that what I have accomplished thus far has been made possible by what I have learned here. Without the combined knowledge of the members here
I would still be pouring gas into a flathead screaming 3600 rpm Briggs and hoping it ran out of gas before it ran out of oil and siezed!
I do have to admit that much of the discussions are way over my head, but I am hanging in.
Ron
O.K.
Want to change the whole tone of the microcogen?
Insist on DOing MICRO CO Genrating working on a daily use basis.
MICRO means small at a personal use/family use . . . or at largest a community/church/village personal touch size organization.
CO means using the waste process heats of the electrical generating process meaningfully. Not just blowing them off into the air, wasted away.
This is incredibly easy to to anymore with a relitivly cheap get-going, buy-in commitment.
One. Go get one of the been in service now for almost ten years now suitcase inverter engine generator units.
Honda, Yamaha, Generac, Harbor Freight Predator, now Firman and others. $1,000 USD to as low as ~$320 USD.
These units right out of the box are at least 40% to as high as 50% fuel-in to kW out conversion efficient.
The Honda EU2000i (and EU20i 240volt) are the most widespread worldwide available and work-use proven. So have the most extensive offered up now add-on accessories.
US/Canada E-Bay offerings now for at least three different 3/4" and 1" NPT exhaust extension add-on stubs. Some with the exhaust flex hose.
Two different US/Canadian E-Bay offered up end unit hot air exhaust collector/flex tubing kits.
The plastic suitcase unit sound damping enclosure directs ALL inverter/AC generator/engine heat out the one end.
Two. Dual kit up your unit. Let the engine flywheel fan just naturally blow this heated air for space heating or drying purposes. Washed cloths drying!
Exhaust wrap insulate the hot engine exhaust out to a water exchange for domestic hot water. Yeah. Need a little DC r.v. pump there for assured flow and pressure delivery. Hey. These unit DO have a separate low wattage DC output too.
You will now have achieves at least 60% to 70% co-generation use of the grams of fuel fed into the unit.
And doing this with 21st century world-class 90% efficient PM magnet generating. Doing this with 21st century digital controlling.
Other fuels that gasoline/petrol?
Different sources offer up propane and natural gas fueling conversions for the HONDA and Yamaha units.
Honda themselves have for Japan domestic markets butane canister fueled units. In the India/Pakistan markets, kerosene/carburetor fueled units. "It's just nut and bolts"
Charcoalman Gary Gillmore has converted and been vidioed/witness loaded running his 125cc 1st Gen H.F. Predator inveter unit on both charcoal gas and wood gas.
Ha! I use my Honda and Yamaha inverter units to usable dry winter 60% wet picked up fuel wood while they Grid-down generate for me. Plenty of space heating and domestic hot water in my always in-use, eat amost anything, 72% efficient QuadraFire woodstove.
See. It's easy once you just take a gitter'done attitude.
Produce/generate FIRST. Improve as you go.
This should give the I-Made-This itch scratching.
For you " I can do better than anyone else's - I am a modern smarty types"; you are hopeless to convince of anything reasonable.
Idealist's suck. Never achieve usability. Just churn up hot jabber air.
J-I-C Steve Unruh
Steve,
Are you capturing heat from your Inverter Generator exhaust?
If you are, I would love to see a picture or an explanation of how you connected to the muffler.
I am considering the same thing.
Veggie
Hey Mr veggie
Always realize that the better/more complete the combustion process the wetter the exhaust will be.
The inverter/AC generator/engine surface hot blown air is dry.
For now I am just placing an expanded metal screened basket with wood chunks in-front and above the blow out end of the inverter unit. O.K. for this.
For actual washed wet cloths drying it needs a rectangular metal adapter bolted on the blow out end feeding into a 5-6" flex drier hose. This could be fed into an actual tumbling drum cloths drier. The inverter output driving the controls and drum motor. Have to go inside the drier if electrical heated to split into the 120 volt circuits. Gas driers I think easy?
A separate exhaust/muffler stub out getting the "wet" hot engine exhaust out of this "dry" hot stream would be needed. Same exhuat splitting out would be need to use the blown air for shop, chicken house heating.
I've looked at many E-Bay offered up pictured solutions now. Could not find a direct-able link to post up.
Net search up Honda EU2000i accessories. Look at the pictured, put up. Go from there. Some of the prices asking are stiff . . I'd make up my own. Realize this could be done to any of the suitcase inverter generators, not just the Honda.
Many now doing this for on-board marine and other enclosed applications.
I myself may never farm the actual exhaust for water heating. We are set up for direct wood on this already.
I think Mobile Bob did somewhere here describe his engine exhaust to water heat exchange design.
These gasoline inverter units exhaust is so soot clean I think a boned out heat exchanger out of a natural gas tankless water heater should work Ok.
Regards
J-I-C Steve Unruh
Hello again, had to go away, babies it seems takes up a lot of time...
So glad to see the new sections.
I am 48. I cant speak for millenials. As far as tiny homes they fill a yearning no different then the vw van, hippie commune, Nearing homesteading, Shaker colony, or longing for Thoreau's cabin of earlier times. When life gets hard and troubling people want out. The financial picture for Millenials SUCKS and they know it. I think the tiny home movement will mature into just smaller more affordable homes. The smaller home trend is picking up too. My township just shrank minimum size dwelling to 650 sq ft. We live in a 1300sq ft well insulated home that was originally off grid. Even on grid now we only use about 7 kw of electricity. When we were hardcore we used 3kw. When we were off grid I scoured the internet looking for small or micro power solutions. What I found was this place. I've learned a great deal from it and the brain trust here could rebuild the electrical world for the better. What made me go away for the most part is what you consider "small" and "micro" I consider HUGE. With a smaller better insulated house loads shrink. The Site's emphasis on industrial diesels and antiques 1/4 ton beasts was very intimidating. I follow Steve U. 's work with the inverter generators and that is where the future is if you want to attract some fresh blood. A project under a few thousand, meet all your electrical need on less then 15 amp at 110ac. Charge a bank. Convert an off the shelf genny to run on propane, do some simple heat recycling. Just some ideas.
Im trying to play with some of those concepts myself
Best regards, David Baillie
Here are my rudimentary ideas in motion pardon the mess: A scrapped inverter generator with bad carb. a propane regulator from a scrapper genny, 10 ft of 3/4 inch hydronic finned copper tubing, a welded on 3/4 inch pipe fitting. True micro cogeneration
these last few years have been insanely busy for me, and i long for the day that i have more time to "do" what i am most
passionate about, microcogen being if not the top off the list very close.
one of the things most interesting to me of late is the tiny house movement, having lived for a couple years or so in a micro apartment, many lessons were learned. at least for me i proved to myself that i don't really need much space to be comfortable, now having a wife adds to the minimum requirement but really not that much.
what is interesting when we accept a tiny house as possible, is the fact that the energy requirements to sustain the place go way way down, and we can still be quite comfortable.
when the power requirements go down the first costs also go down, and also shear weight (and complexity in some ways) also are reduced.
with the advent of the inverter generators coming about over the last decade or so, and their cost coming down as well it just amazes me the possibilities that abound that simply were not possible for the average joe 40-50 years ago when the back to the earth movement really got started... remember inverters back in the 70's? dreadful things that were about as reliable as a worn out yugo and as as expensive as a good used car!
now even the cheapest inverters are a quantum leap more reliable and pennies on the dollar of what they were not that long ago.
what i am driving at is this, at no time in the past has it been easier to actually get back to the ground, go offgrid, and do it for far less than ever before and actually be relatively comfortable.
myself i find that fascinating as all get out! if the crap hits the fan i know i could actually get out and put together something where my wife and i could not only survive but actually thrive and do it comfortably,, even with each year coming with reduced physical capability.
when i started with the s195 i was thinking along the lines of maybe 750-900sq/ft of living space, i think know the 195 while having a part, likely is too big! the 175 microgen i started working on a while back is likely all i would really need if the place was designed properly using some of the stuff that has come available even over the last 5 years of so.
ah to be 25 again! i sure as hell would do things so much more differently... and in that respect i think the millenials have an advantage that is far greater than they might really understand, if they are not student of history.
i recall coming of age in the early 70's and determined to carve out my place in the world, the rat race, the treadmill or whatever the hell it was back then.. big house, cars, wife, kids, tv's etc... never enough of anything and for what? was i really happy? if so i don't recall so maybe it wasn't that happy?
so many times i see on tv villages in africa or some other 3rd world country, momma, pappa, 10 kid all living in a mud hut
(relatively speaking) and what the heck? they all seem happy as long as the hut's roof doesn't leak too bad, if they have clean water, and enough to eat? not a blade of grass to have to mow, momma at home raising the kids and dad home on time every day if not working at or around home and around all the time.... and everyone is happy?
so what is the common theme there? small? sustainable? simple?
it all comes down to what really is important in life? big house, big car, acres of grass to mow? a boat? ???
maybe not?
i think this forum is still highly relevant, i think the time is coming that more of these millenial's will decide to drop out, much like so many did in the 60's and go small, and when that wave hit's there will be a demand for information...
sure would have been nice to have had a copy of thoreau's "walden", the hardware we have available to us today, and this forum back in '74!
i would be a multimillionaire by now! or at least feel like one! :)
bob g
Hey Bob, what were the specs on the microgen 175? your minimum square footage probably matches how I would like to end up. We have a 5 1/2 year old and a 3 year old kicking around so space is still cherished. I am resisting rebuilding bigger thinking we are good. Its hard because there are so few voices of reason telling you NOT to do more. Finding a sane voice on financial matters or realistic expectations is hard often treated as pariahs or doomers by society. Bankers, food retailers, entertainment industries are all quite willing to offer advice and its being taken; completely nuts. If you followed through on their "advice" you would have a mortgage on a big house, two car loans, a line of credit for Mutual funds, would eat 6000 calories a day and be parked 12 hours a day watching tv while facebooking about it...
Sanity will make a comeback. Give them something to latch on to.
Best Regards, David Baillie
I was cruzing YouTube and saw this tiny house builder and I think he is doing it right.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwnS23L0ID8&t=97s (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwnS23L0ID8&t=97s)
Casey
Point of interest:
Men create their sperm almost fresh as needed.
Women bring eggs out of storage as surely as the moon circles the earth. And they clean out the growing area weather it's needed or not. More motivated house keepers right out of the cradle.
With the green energy and electrification push, I think grid problems like have been plaguing South Africa for 15 years are going to be appearing across states in the US. Im moving to an off grid property myself so wont have the comfort of utility power but that utility power is going to be less reliable and faulting out more frequently as time goes on because no-one seems to be adding to base load power generation.
When the big snow storm or ice storm, or wind storm comes through its going to take the renewables offline for the utilities (self preservation mode and for photovoltaic buried by snow or ice). I had power taken out 3x this past year by a single tree that dropped various parts of its structure onto power lines in stages. Its pretty much done now but plenty more that could do the same waiting in the wings.
The EPA has killed the old slow speed diesels and driven up the price of modern diesels to crazy levels. Today one is looking at $7k+ for a small diesel generator, open frame. Add fuel tank and enclosure and the price goes up. I have scoured craigslist and marketplace listings for diesel engines for years and was able to score a 6kW Deutz 3 cylinder generator from a lighting plant (needs a different governor) and a 2 cylinder Kubota Mini engine (used) so I have something to work with.
I will definitely be doing heat recovery from the Deutz system and the shop I will start building next year in Colorado will have a radiant heat system in the shop floor. So I have a large area that will need heating and Im sure I will be running the generator often enough to keep the batteries happy. Speaking of which, I am going to need a 48V battery pack. I am thinking about buying Tesla battery moodules, the ones I saw were 48V. Does anyone have feedback ? I dont think I am going to bother with lead acid at this point.