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46
General Discussion / So tell me what you know about TEG’s, power inverters and stirling engines
« on: September 05, 2016, 07:20:58 PM »
So got done with the largest four day festival in Indiana, first two days were beautiful, low to mid 70’s, very low humidity, 3 rd day was a little warmer, today (last day) was miserable, high 80’s and humid. Got a lot of smart *ss comments today about not needing anymore heat, just like the other festival we did in June in the same type of weather. However I did have a few that said if I can figure out how to make a stove blow cold air they’d buy it 
I spent considerable amount of time talking to a few of the festival board members and they are good with me having a live burn next year, just have to get the town fire marshall to go along and if he does then usually so does the state fire marshall. May have to rent 3 or 4 spots at $440 a pop but I think it will be worth it.
First thoughts were a stirling engine, they have models that run on hot water, however the power output is even lower than a standard stirling as the temperature differential isn’t high enough with hot water unless you can super cool the cold side (think dry ice). Have a stirling engine running off the hot water coming out of the stove running a small automotive alternator connected to marine battery to even out any variations in alternator output then a power inverter connected to the battery then have a high efficiency window AC unit plugged into the power inverter :thumb:
Another thought is thermal electric generators, have just begun to research those. Would probably still go the battery/inverter/ac route with that as well as the output of those are DC.
I spent considerable amount of time talking to a few of the festival board members and they are good with me having a live burn next year, just have to get the town fire marshall to go along and if he does then usually so does the state fire marshall. May have to rent 3 or 4 spots at $440 a pop but I think it will be worth it.
First thoughts were a stirling engine, they have models that run on hot water, however the power output is even lower than a standard stirling as the temperature differential isn’t high enough with hot water unless you can super cool the cold side (think dry ice). Have a stirling engine running off the hot water coming out of the stove running a small automotive alternator connected to marine battery to even out any variations in alternator output then a power inverter connected to the battery then have a high efficiency window AC unit plugged into the power inverter :thumb:
Another thought is thermal electric generators, have just begun to research those. Would probably still go the battery/inverter/ac route with that as well as the output of those are DC.
47
General Discussion / Worlds smallest political quiz
« on: March 20, 2016, 08:43:44 AM »
Being an election year and all the happy crap that goes with it I give you the Worlds smallest political quiz.
https://www.theadvocates.org/quiz/quiz.php#
Not surprisingly I’m way up in Libertarian country.
https://www.theadvocates.org/quiz/quiz.php#
Not surprisingly I’m way up in Libertarian country.
48
Pools & Hot Tubs / Endless therapeutic pools
« on: March 04, 2016, 10:20:50 AM »
The wife has been in physical therapy using an endless therapeutic pool for a month now which helps tremendously.
Her physical therapist suggests we should have one at home as the wife’s side of the family tends to get pretty severe arthritis by their 60’s.
Anybody have any experience with the endless pools?
Any brand better than the other? I’d go with salt water before chlorine if possible, I’m not a fan of pools anyways from the chlorine.
We’d place it outside, pour an insulated slab for radiant heat, build a gazebo around it, insulate the snot out of that and have the biggest slider windows we can get in the sides for solar gain and probably a few skylights. Run a line off the G400 and heat both the pool and floor. Maybe add a few vacuum tube solar collectors for in the summer so not running the G400 year round.
Her physical therapist suggests we should have one at home as the wife’s side of the family tends to get pretty severe arthritis by their 60’s.
Anybody have any experience with the endless pools?
Any brand better than the other? I’d go with salt water before chlorine if possible, I’m not a fan of pools anyways from the chlorine.
We’d place it outside, pour an insulated slab for radiant heat, build a gazebo around it, insulate the snot out of that and have the biggest slider windows we can get in the sides for solar gain and probably a few skylights. Run a line off the G400 and heat both the pool and floor. Maybe add a few vacuum tube solar collectors for in the summer so not running the G400 year round.
49
Advanced Plumbing / Diagrams of primary/secondary loops
« on: February 25, 2016, 09:31:47 PM »
Had a member who sent me a message asking about primary and secondary loops.
I snapped a few pictures of what I put together downstairs with diagrams.
All elbows are long radius to reduce flow restrictions. Also when purchasing valves make sure they are full port ball valves.
Ideally if your using a side arm it would be first in your loop as it requires the hottest water, with a flat plate though the heat transfer is more efficient. If I really wanted my domestic hot water first it would have required moving the water heater, the gas line, the vent, changing all the existing domestic plumbing….
Wasn’t worth it.
First picture is of the secondary snow melt loop. Which is actually the last thing on the primary loop as I only need 70-80 degree water to keep the sidewalk snow free and dry most of the time.
Second picture is of the secondary loop to the furnace heat exchanger.
Lastly is a close up of the ball valves with drains for flushing your FPH.
I snapped a few pictures of what I put together downstairs with diagrams.
All elbows are long radius to reduce flow restrictions. Also when purchasing valves make sure they are full port ball valves.
Ideally if your using a side arm it would be first in your loop as it requires the hottest water, with a flat plate though the heat transfer is more efficient. If I really wanted my domestic hot water first it would have required moving the water heater, the gas line, the vent, changing all the existing domestic plumbing….
Wasn’t worth it.
First picture is of the secondary snow melt loop. Which is actually the last thing on the primary loop as I only need 70-80 degree water to keep the sidewalk snow free and dry most of the time.
Second picture is of the secondary loop to the furnace heat exchanger.
Lastly is a close up of the ball valves with drains for flushing your FPH.
50
Advanced Plumbing / The miracle of primary/secondary loops or wished I had done it right before
« on: February 09, 2016, 10:10:04 PM »
So completely replaced my underground line in the fall of 2014, replaced the nominal 1” pex with Logstor, that helped some. Still had a very large delta T when running the snow melt and the house was calling for heat.
Got around the last few weeks and completely replumbed my basement with 1” copper and used long radius elbows where necessary. The old system was 1” pex with everything plumbed in series which had to be cutting flow down.
Have three secondary loops right now, with a fourth in place and capped off for in the future for radiant heat, baseboards, heating a whirlpool tub, etc.
Now with with everything up and running, I have no problems maintaining a consistent 20 degree delta T, using a Taco Delta pump and before it couldn’t keep up. Sometimes seen a 30-35 degree differential or more.
Now for the strange part, the old fan coil was in a existing duct that was set up for a wood furnace we used to use to heat the house. Back draft damper in it and the gas furnace so one or the other or both could run and not interfere with one another. Problem was that duct work used a old belt drive blower, every time I tried to speed it up any it got very noisy, tried changing it once but didn’t help so left it run slow. Running that slow though if it was cold enough in the mornings it may have took 4-5 hours or longer to bring the house from 67 to 72.
The one I was using was a 20x20, the one that I placed in the gas furnace ductwork (the “normal” place) is a 15x24. The old one with the lack of air flow would still pull 20 degrees or more of heat out of the water, the new one pulls a little less than 15 and runs for half as long or less. Had a LOT warmer air out of the ducts with the old one, but you could barely feel any air movement, this old house is just old enough I figure it still loses enough heat that the old set up on a very cold day was just barely adding a little more heat than the house lost.
I still need to add a on delay timer to the furnace fan circuit as it feels like a cold draft when it first starts as the secondary loop pump hasn’t had time to get hot water thru the whole loop yet and warm up the fan coil. The wife has said something about it already so I suppose that is next.
EDIT: Forgot to add I used a generous amount of immersion type mechanical thermometers in the system as well, one at the line coming in, then one after the set of T’s for each secondary loop to track just what pulls how much heat out of the water.
Got around the last few weeks and completely replumbed my basement with 1” copper and used long radius elbows where necessary. The old system was 1” pex with everything plumbed in series which had to be cutting flow down.
Have three secondary loops right now, with a fourth in place and capped off for in the future for radiant heat, baseboards, heating a whirlpool tub, etc.
Now with with everything up and running, I have no problems maintaining a consistent 20 degree delta T, using a Taco Delta pump and before it couldn’t keep up. Sometimes seen a 30-35 degree differential or more.
Now for the strange part, the old fan coil was in a existing duct that was set up for a wood furnace we used to use to heat the house. Back draft damper in it and the gas furnace so one or the other or both could run and not interfere with one another. Problem was that duct work used a old belt drive blower, every time I tried to speed it up any it got very noisy, tried changing it once but didn’t help so left it run slow. Running that slow though if it was cold enough in the mornings it may have took 4-5 hours or longer to bring the house from 67 to 72.
The one I was using was a 20x20, the one that I placed in the gas furnace ductwork (the “normal” place) is a 15x24. The old one with the lack of air flow would still pull 20 degrees or more of heat out of the water, the new one pulls a little less than 15 and runs for half as long or less. Had a LOT warmer air out of the ducts with the old one, but you could barely feel any air movement, this old house is just old enough I figure it still loses enough heat that the old set up on a very cold day was just barely adding a little more heat than the house lost.
I still need to add a on delay timer to the furnace fan circuit as it feels like a cold draft when it first starts as the secondary loop pump hasn’t had time to get hot water thru the whole loop yet and warm up the fan coil. The wife has said something about it already so I suppose that is next.
EDIT: Forgot to add I used a generous amount of immersion type mechanical thermometers in the system as well, one at the line coming in, then one after the set of T’s for each secondary loop to track just what pulls how much heat out of the water.
51
Plumbing / Turbo brush
« on: January 30, 2016, 08:32:12 AM »
So I picked up a Power Duece Brush Tool for my latest project, chuck it in my 18 volt frill and makes cleaning fittings a breeze. A few times on cleaning the pipe you may have to wobble it around a bit as it may miss a spot or two, but for less than 15 bucks at Menards it was money well spent.
https://www.menards.com/main/plumbing/plumbing-tools/plumbing-hand-tools/deburring-tools-parts/1-turbo-tube-brush/p-1444446381707-c-8607.htm?tid=-1110098729076515606
https://e2x3s6i4.ssl.hwcdn.net/main/items/media/WEILE003/Prod_Tech_Spec/PowerDeuceLiterature.pdf
https://www.menards.com/main/plumbing/plumbing-tools/plumbing-hand-tools/deburring-tools-parts/1-turbo-tube-brush/p-1444446381707-c-8607.htm?tid=-1110098729076515606
https://e2x3s6i4.ssl.hwcdn.net/main/items/media/WEILE003/Prod_Tech_Spec/PowerDeuceLiterature.pdf
52
Plumbing / To Propress or not to Propress
« on: January 30, 2016, 08:24:42 AM »
So almost done with the basement replumbing, all 1” copper, primary/secondary loops, one 20 plate for the DHW and another flat plate for the snowmelt, secondary loop to the furnace and back, and several T’s that are capped off for future radiant or baseboards, used almost 80 foot of pipe and untold fittings, have T’s with temp gauges in strategic spots to measure heat load, lots and lots and lots of joints to sweat.
So was wondering if anybody has ever used the Propress copper fittings and are they worth the extra cost, from what I seen anywhere from a few dollars more per fitting to twice as much per fitting plus the cost of the tool.
A few distinct advantages I see is no risk of fire from a propane torch or messing with flux constantly, one drawback I see unless they make a tool for it is you need to remove the little burr on the outside of the pipe that a pipe cutter usually leaves, I’m guessing a file.
So was wondering if anybody has ever used the Propress copper fittings and are they worth the extra cost, from what I seen anywhere from a few dollars more per fitting to twice as much per fitting plus the cost of the tool.
A few distinct advantages I see is no risk of fire from a propane torch or messing with flux constantly, one drawback I see unless they make a tool for it is you need to remove the little burr on the outside of the pipe that a pipe cutter usually leaves, I’m guessing a file.
53
Electronics / MOVED: Proper pump selection
« on: January 25, 2016, 07:55:26 PM »
This topic has been moved to Plumbing.
http://outdoorwoodfurnaceinfo.com/forum/index.php?topic=6739.0
http://outdoorwoodfurnaceinfo.com/forum/index.php?topic=6739.0
54
Electronics / MOVED: Remote monitoring / Data logging
« on: January 25, 2016, 07:22:43 PM »
This topic has been moved to Advanced Electronics.
http://outdoorwoodfurnaceinfo.com/forum/index.php?topic=8187.0
http://outdoorwoodfurnaceinfo.com/forum/index.php?topic=8187.0
55
Electronics / MOVED: Anyone running an x300 for monitoring??
« on: January 25, 2016, 07:20:36 PM »
This topic has been moved to Advanced Electronics.
http://outdoorwoodfurnaceinfo.com/forum/index.php?topic=8391.0
http://outdoorwoodfurnaceinfo.com/forum/index.php?topic=8391.0
56
Plumbing / MOVED: Elegant Copper Manifolds by Slimjim
« on: January 25, 2016, 04:10:06 PM »
This topic has been moved to Advanced Plumbing.
http://outdoorwoodfurnaceinfo.com/forum/index.php?topic=8334.0
http://outdoorwoodfurnaceinfo.com/forum/index.php?topic=8334.0
57
Site Suggestions / New sections
« on: January 25, 2016, 04:05:35 PM »
I’m going to create a few new sub forums.
Mainly an “Advanced Plumbing” and “Advanced Electronics” to make it a little easier to find stuff later on.
If anybody sees a post that you think qualifies for the “Advanced” please fell free to message me or another mod to move it to the appropriate section.
Mainly an “Advanced Plumbing” and “Advanced Electronics” to make it a little easier to find stuff later on.
If anybody sees a post that you think qualifies for the “Advanced” please fell free to message me or another mod to move it to the appropriate section.
58
General Discussion / Largest continuously flying US flag in the country
« on: January 13, 2016, 09:21:54 PM »
So I went to the Fort Wayne farm show today, just one annex of the Fort Wayne War Coliseum is larger than the farm show in Indianapolis. Wrote out a half a dozen or better quotes on a G series, commiserated with a few folks on making a wrong first choice, etc.
But on the way to the show right on US30 running thru Fort Wayne has to be the largest US Flag I’ve ever seen. The pole itself is 232 feet tall, the flag is 50x80 foot, the pole is 43 inches in diameter at the base and the base itself has 400,000 lbs. of reinforced concrete in it.
We swung into a shopping mall parking lot across the street and snapped a picture, unfortunately I forgot the video function on my iPhone is almost as good as the JVC HDD camcorder I have, with the light wind we had at the time it was out in all it’s glory with just a light ripple to the fabric, the wife and I both agreed that if we turned around and drove the 90 minutes back home it was time well spent.
In the picture it’s not trick of the camera angle as the flag pole is almost aligned with the front of the car dealership building, its just that big. It’s a Dodge dealer BTW. The light pole in the picture is in the same parking lot we are in, the flag is clear across the parking lot and on the other side of a four lane highway.
http://www.glenbrookdodgechryslerjeep.com/dealership/our-flag.htm
But on the way to the show right on US30 running thru Fort Wayne has to be the largest US Flag I’ve ever seen. The pole itself is 232 feet tall, the flag is 50x80 foot, the pole is 43 inches in diameter at the base and the base itself has 400,000 lbs. of reinforced concrete in it.
We swung into a shopping mall parking lot across the street and snapped a picture, unfortunately I forgot the video function on my iPhone is almost as good as the JVC HDD camcorder I have, with the light wind we had at the time it was out in all it’s glory with just a light ripple to the fabric, the wife and I both agreed that if we turned around and drove the 90 minutes back home it was time well spent.
In the picture it’s not trick of the camera angle as the flag pole is almost aligned with the front of the car dealership building, its just that big. It’s a Dodge dealer BTW.
The light pole in the picture is in the same parking lot we are in, the flag is clear across the parking lot and on the other side of a four lane highway.http://www.glenbrookdodgechryslerjeep.com/dealership/our-flag.htm
59
New Member activation / New member registration
« on: January 10, 2016, 09:37:44 PM »
To all new members registering, please include your brand and model, I’ll check members awaiting activation several times a week and if I see a brand and model in the profile I’ll go ahead and manually activate your account.
If you’re researching different brands then use “looking” or “researching” for the brand and I’ll activate your account.
Be sure to check back often, more than likely you won’t get the email saying your account has been activated.
If you’re researching different brands then use “looking” or “researching” for the brand and I’ll activate your account.
Be sure to check back often, more than likely you won’t get the email saying your account has been activated.
60
New Member activation / Previous members I have manually activated
« on: January 10, 2016, 12:26:17 AM »
Several members I’ve had to activate there accounts manually, if you are one of them please let me know if you checked your spam and if the activation email wasn’t their, maybe check to see if your spam filter is set to delete all spam automatically.