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76

General Discussion / Re: So tell me what you know about TEG’s, power inverters and stirling engines

« on: September 08, 2016, 07:52:05 PM »

Thanks for posting the animations.  There is no reason the AC unit in the link provided would not work, but its such a simple design that it could be easily made.  It is basically a motorized ice box.  A wooden box with a bunch of ice, radiator, small water pump, and fan courtesy of the Stirling engine and voila,
modern AC with old world charm.

I am a big fan of Mr. Petes You Tube machining videos.  He has done several on hot air engines.  I attached one that he happened to post a couple months ago, in case you have not seen it yet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tipPFgOxMho

77

General Discussion / Re: So tell me what you know about TEG’s, power inverters and stirling engines

« on: September 08, 2016, 08:30:55 AM »

If you can get it to work, it would demonstrate what you can do with energy and should stir up some interest. 
Any hot air engines I have seen work best when they are direct fired and pump water.  The energy input is high grade and the water helps produce the temp difference.  As you have pointed out, using a hot water input you would need something with a low temp to create the delta T and get half decent efficiency.  This might appear inconsistent as you are using something cold to eventually produce something cool.  You could use ambient air, and have the engine coupled to a fan.  On a hot day it would feel like AC (LOL)
I had never heard of TEGs and had to run to Wikipedia.  Interesting that the design has been around for almost 200 years.  A huge stumbling block would be their very low efficiency - stated at around 5%.  Factor in a loss in the alternator, slight loss in the battery and a somewhat larger loss in the inverter and you would need a large TEG to power a room sized AC.
One thing you could consider is a hot water absorption refrigeration system.  Proven design, been around forever, they once sat in central cooling plants everywhere (but less so now).  They are mechanically simple but thermodynamically they are a bit complicated.  I do not know if small demonstration units exist and I have no idea how easy it would be to build a small custom unit.
I am not sure if any of this has been helpful, but if I stumble on anything that could be useful I will be sure to post it here.

78

General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: Anti-freeze pricing?

« on: September 01, 2016, 08:34:08 PM »

Another question, does anti-freeze testers for cars give an accurate reading when testing glycol in a HVAC system?

I’ve seen it both ways, some say yep, others claim nope.

I believe it depends; As the glycols are different , ethylene (car) and propylene (HVAC) - the hydrometer style tester will read one or the other but not both i.e. you need the correct style hydrometer depending on the type of glycol, but the refractory style tester will read either type of glycol.  I have used the refractory style and I don't really like them.  I found them difficult to read but maybe that's just me.

79

General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: Winter 16/17

« on: September 01, 2016, 08:03:58 PM »

Interesting map.  Any idea of what the weather is up to for that empty void located directly due north?

80

General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: Weather

« on: March 03, 2016, 07:15:04 AM »

Yesterday there was 14 inches of new snow and minus 20 C.  This a.m. it was -28.  The dog didn't enjoy his morning walk which is weird given that he grew up as a puppy living wild and free is Moosonee.  (actually Attawapiskat but I have a hard time pronouncing 5 syllable words).
Next week the weather turns mild and might be able to tap some maple trees.

81

Equipment / Re: Predator Engines

« on: March 01, 2016, 10:07:03 PM »

I rebuilt a nearly 50 year old Kohler 10 HP  that was heavily used on a Ford riding tractor, and re-purposed it for my log splitter. It starts and runs great.  It cost a bit more than buying a new chicom, but the upside is that this brute of an engine will likely be around for another 50 years.  The downside is that the fuel economy is worse than new ones but no big deal for what it now does.

82

General Discussion / Re: Test your American Knowledge

« on: March 01, 2016, 09:52:56 PM »

Well I thought I would give it a try and got 20/25 which I thought wasn't bad at all.

83

General Discussion / Re: Ouch

« on: February 26, 2016, 08:25:23 PM »

That's why I drive mine "till the doors fall off.  As Red Green says, fourth class driving beats first class walking.

84

General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: Temp display in the house

« on: February 22, 2016, 06:25:12 AM »

I have a digital system which uses an organic binary on/off pulse.....
when the cat is "on" the heat register - fire is good
when the cat is "off" the heat register - add wood

85

Equipment / Re: Nother broken chain!!! :bash:

« on: February 21, 2016, 12:28:31 PM »

I don't know if a worn sprocket could cause a chain to break, but Stihl (at least in my manual) recommends replacing the sprocket every 2nd chain. 

86

General Discussion / Re: Sanded and Finished Floor Project

« on: February 21, 2016, 08:27:02 AM »

Those floors look pretty awesome.  I also live in an old farm house (nothing works but the owner).  Ugly carpeting is way beyond its "best before".  I will have to pull it up and see whats under there. 

87

Equipment / Re: Important lesson

« on: February 21, 2016, 08:16:42 AM »

Hi Roger

I have a 2920 Kubota, which I believe is quite a bit smaller than your JD. It weighs maybe 2500 lbs soaking wet (with implements).  I have forks on the 3 pt, and it will lift most logs, except for stuff bigger than 24 inch dia.  I move the logs to the block pile, and buck them up while still elevated.  Just started doing this last fall and I wish I had thought of it earlier.

88

General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: What is your heat loss from OWB?

« on: February 21, 2016, 06:53:01 AM »

My insulated pipe name is Insul-Seal 4 inch pipe with R-value 15 they advertise that loose 3 degree on a run between 80-100ft.  The pex tubing inside my insulated pipe is 1inch   My heat exchanger is a 80 Plate Water to Water Brazed Plate Heat Exchanger.  I do have a side arm on my water heater that the return water goes through.  Pump is a Grundfos UPS26-99FC which is a 1/6HP and 0-33GPM of flow.  I'd add pictures of my set-up but they must be to large haven't figured out how to do it yet.   And now I took my heat gun out to recheck all my readings and that doesn't work either!  So I will have to wait to give you all accurate readings.  But this will give you start on what i'm running.

The 3 degree temperature loss is about average... but lets put this in perspective.  If your pump is actually flowing 20 gpm (after accounting for friction losses) then you are losing 60 BTU per minute to the ground.  This works out to 16 million BTU for a 6 month heating season.  A cord of maple has 20 million BTU's in it.  Your stove is perhaps 50% efficient -although maybe it is more.  So each year you lose the equivalent of 1 to 1 1/2 cords of wood - just to the ground.  It sounds like a lot - but this is probably average for all of us who have an OWB.

Willie PM'd me and helped me sort through some of my calculations.  Seemed I had a brain cramp.  Heat loss in BTU's is based on temperature loss x flow in pounds.  So looking at the original post again, the heat loss in BTU per minute would be 3 x 20 x 8.3 (pounds in  a gallon).  Rounding off a bit, this would equal 500 BTU/minute or 700,000 BTU/day. At 50% stove efficiency, this could equal two cords of wood per month.   It is possible the flow is less than 20 gpm, this could be easily calculated with a pail and watch at the boiler return.
All systems will loose some heat to the ground -just the way it is.  My temp gauges, which are Ashcroft industrial, show no temp diff, but the stated accuracy on them is plus/minus 3%.  My pump spec's at over 20 gpm, but actual flow is 7 gpm.  Regardless, from my 7 cord annual consumption, I am sure I loose between one and two cords to the ground.

89

General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: What is your heat loss from OWB?

« on: February 15, 2016, 10:29:04 PM »

My insulated pipe name is Insul-Seal 4 inch pipe with R-value 15 they advertise that loose 3 degree on a run between 80-100ft.  The pex tubing inside my insulated pipe is 1inch   My heat exchanger is a 80 Plate Water to Water Brazed Plate Heat Exchanger.  I do have a side arm on my water heater that the return water goes through.  Pump is a Grundfos UPS26-99FC which is a 1/6HP and 0-33GPM of flow.  I'd add pictures of my set-up but they must be to large haven't figured out how to do it yet.   And now I took my heat gun out to recheck all my readings and that doesn't work either!  So I will have to wait to give you all accurate readings.  But this will give you start on what i'm running.

The 3 degree temperature loss is about average... but lets put this in perspective.  If your pump is actually flowing 20 gpm (after accounting for friction losses) then you are losing 60 BTU per minute to the ground.  This works out to 16 million BTU for a 6 month heating season.  A cord of maple has 20 million BTU's in it.  Your stove is perhaps 50% efficient -although maybe it is more.  So each year you lose the equivalent of 1 to 1 1/2 cords of wood - just to the ground.  It sounds like a lot - but this is probably average for all of us who have an OWB.

90

Fire Wood / Re: Whats properly seasoned wood?

« on: February 13, 2016, 11:20:04 AM »

I once bought a load of logs for a wood stove in the house, blocked and split them, then elected not to use that stove.  I didn't burn that wood until 10 years later when I built and installed the outdoor stove I use now.  It was dry to say the least but not rotten.  I thought it burnt fine.