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 Post subject: Re: Going off the grid
PostPosted: Sun Dec 07, 2014 9:42 pm 
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WWDiesel wrote:
Just a thought,
Once you get it all sorted out and find the root cause, add a hanging bulb float switch connected in series to the control side of the motor contactor in the vault. This would kill the pump if the water level ever comes up in the vault high enough to lay the float on its side and prevent it from running.
We use this setup all the time in below ground equipment vaults housing electrical components at our plant to protect the equipment from being flooded out in case of any leak or busted pipe etc...
:idea:


That's not a bad idea, WWDiesel. I might consult with the pump installer to see how doable that would be. Thanks for taking an interest in our project.

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Last edited by dieselenthusiast on Mon Dec 08, 2014 10:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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 Post subject: Re: Going off the grid
PostPosted: Mon Dec 08, 2014 9:31 pm 
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If you need a wiring diagram for it, let me know and I can draw you one up...
The float switch is a simple rubber bulb that has mercury in it that allows the current to pass through the bulb as long as it is hanging stright down. If any liquid (water) rises up and floats the bulb on its side it will break the circuit and won't allow the pump to run. You wire the float switch in series with the one leg of the control circuit of the pressure switch. Very simple but 100% effective setup to prevent flooding due to any kind of leak in the system....... :idea:

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 Post subject: Re: Going off the grid
PostPosted: Sun Jan 11, 2015 8:02 pm 
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I'm back from my long hiatus. We've been working to finish up the home plans. I will give you a sneak peek of what it's going to look like:

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 Post subject: Re: Going off the grid
PostPosted: Sun Jan 11, 2015 9:40 pm 
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Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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 Post subject: Re: Going off the grid
PostPosted: Sun Jan 11, 2015 10:06 pm 
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That's a beautiful design! The view out the front will be amazing. Can you position the house to get both a great view and efficient heating/cooling due to the direction of the sun? And will you be going geothermal?

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 Post subject: Re: Going off the grid
PostPosted: Tue Jan 13, 2015 9:35 am 
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That looks great.

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 Post subject: Re: Going off the grid
PostPosted: Fri Jan 16, 2015 2:01 am 
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lfhoward wrote:
That's a beautiful design!


Thank you. It's taken a few years to come up with that design. As for the interior, the main floor is fully designed. The loft is nearly finished and the basement is being reworked. The front glass might be reworked, but it's pretty close to being finished. The house as you see it has been fully engineered.

lfhoward wrote:
The view out the front will be amazing. Can you position the house to get both a great view and efficient heating/cooling due to the direction of the sun? And will you be going geothermal?


It was designed to compliment the views while taking into consideration the lay of land and solar positioning. We will not be using geothermal. The primary heat source will be wood.

The main floor will have this stove:

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Blaze King
Heats 1,500 – 3,000 Square Feet
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4.32 Cubic Foot Firebox
Max Heat Input 703,390 BTUs
88% LHV Efficiency (82% HHV)
51,582 BTU's/h constant output for 12 hours
Burn Time Up to 40 hours on low
Maximum Log Size 23"
EPA Emissions 1.76 gr/hour

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 Post subject: Re: Going off the grid
PostPosted: Thu Jan 22, 2015 12:48 am 
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dieselenthusiast wrote:
I'm back from my long hiatus. We've been working to finish up the home plans. I will give you a sneak peek of what it's going to look like:

Image


:shock: Beautiful design! Any idea when you'll start building?

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 Post subject: Re: Going off the grid
PostPosted: Sun Jan 25, 2015 12:39 am 
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Bmxer524 wrote:
:shock: Beautiful design!

Again, thank you.
Bmxer524 wrote:
:Any idea when you'll start building?

It's really hard to say. The bank will finance 80% of the estimated completed appraisal. The problem is that the total cost to build the home will exceed the appraisal. In other words, it will cost more to build than what the home will be worth in today's economy. The vast majority of the banks will not finance a home construction loan in our area since we are in a non-marketable (very rural) geographic location. Historically, the people who built homes here were those who wanted a second home. During the economic downturn, guess which homes got foreclosed on or sold cheap? The aforementioned chain of events really hurt the market and the appraisals. And to complicate matters, the appraisers don't take into consideration landscape, views, character, quality, or the condition of the well. They sit in their offices from afar and make decisions based on square footage. Just to give you an idea, we have approximately $70,000 cash into the land, well, septic, driveway, and electric. My guess is that we are still $50,000 cash short.

We can sock away $25,000 per year, so based on my calculations, we should be able to build in two more years unless the bank changes their lending policy.

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 Post subject: Re: Going off the grid
PostPosted: Fri Feb 06, 2015 12:10 am 
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I spent most of the fall building hive stands for our bees. The goal is to move away from cinder blocks.

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We had a pretty good harvest for the first year.

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Last edited by dieselenthusiast on Tue May 05, 2015 9:55 pm, edited 3 times in total.

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 Post subject: Re: Going off the grid
PostPosted: Fri Feb 06, 2015 12:16 am 
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Nice going, dieselenthusiast! :D

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 Post subject: Re: Going off the grid
PostPosted: Sun Feb 08, 2015 10:16 pm 
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profdlp wrote:
Nice going, dieselenthusiast! :D


Thanks!

We went out to the property today to inspect the bee hives. So far, all the hives are looking good. Due to unseasonably warm weather, most of the snow is melted. The remaining snow patches are just a few inches deep. If the weather stays warm, I think we'll be able to drive out on the property by the middle of March. I'm ready to start working on the property again.

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 Post subject: Re: Going off the grid
PostPosted: Sat Mar 21, 2015 7:41 pm 
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As predicted, I was able to drive on the property today (mid March). It's still a little wet, but I avoided the soggy areas and kept the ruts to a minimum. I raked and hauled off the pine duff around this big ponderosa. Then I spent most of the afternoon trimming branches.

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 Post subject: Re: Going off the grid
PostPosted: Sat Mar 21, 2015 8:27 pm 
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That's a lot of raking! :shock:

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 Post subject: Re: Going off the grid
PostPosted: Sat Mar 21, 2015 9:56 pm 
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profdlp wrote:
That's a lot of raking! :shock:

There have been a few times that I've raked 3 - 4 loads of that stuff in one day. It's back breaking work, so I try to rotate my chores. That's why I switched to using the pole saw for the remainder of the afternoon. Tomorrow I will start selecting rocks to place around the driveway culverts. Plus, if I don't switch things up, the work begins to get boring.

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 Post subject: Re: Going off the grid
PostPosted: Mon Mar 23, 2015 11:55 am 
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So far, we've had good moisture this winter. Here's a picture of the stream coming off the mountain. It's been flowing continuously since January. It flows right into a nearby lake.

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 Post subject: Re: Going off the grid
PostPosted: Mon Apr 06, 2015 11:22 pm 
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We pulled more stumps today. Here was the toughest one.

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I'm hoping to plant some nectar producing plants in this area.

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 Post subject: Re: Going off the grid
PostPosted: Tue Apr 07, 2015 3:11 am 
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Looks like that took some work. I'm sure the bees will appreciate the nectar, though. :D

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 Post subject: Re: Going off the grid
PostPosted: Fri Apr 10, 2015 11:32 pm 
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profdlp wrote:
Looks like that took some work. I'm sure the bees will appreciate the nectar, though. :D


We pulled stumps for 3.5 hours before a hydraulic hose went bad. We still have a few more hours left to finish. In the mean time, I've been building more hive stands and installing more bees!

Image

Image

Image

Image

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 Post subject: Re: Going off the grid
PostPosted: Sat Apr 11, 2015 2:39 am 
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Do you open the box of bees inside their new home, or do they just naturally go for it?

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