I have been living off grid here in western mass for 12 years. I have to agree on many points rolls batteries are the best mine are 11+ years and going strong hope to get 15 not bad for my starter set.I have a prosine inverter as well reliable but power hungry want to buy a mastervolt to replace it.I run water pumps fans and a couple small apps off DC everything else AC fridge TV computer and lights no air cond.I do have a quiet Yamaha backup generator to charge batteries when they hit 50% I only use it occasionally mainly in winter.I do recommend a mppt charge controller I now use a TriStar mppt. Keeping distilled water in my 2v ks plate rolls is extremely important I do use a power vented homebuilt battery box.I have 1400 watts of solar panels but want to add more. Battery bank is 880 ah at 24v.I had a 1000 watt windmill but it was a complete pain in the *** and failed multiple times and then the custom electronics on it failed and company went belly up so I gave up on wind for now hydro is hopefully in the future as I have a good size stream with plenty of drop only problem 2000ft of thick wire needed. One other issue is code. When I built I had issues with code and I was forced to hire electrician to install service he did not know what he was doing on DC systems so I did everything and he watched. So if you need to get inspected know the building code welding cable is not code. I know the code is a joke when applied to solar off grid systems so avoid permits if you can I can't here at my house but I do at the Maine camp which has a small system 200 watts .sorry for the long ramble go off grid it is easy and you won't regret it I just wish I could get better than satellite internet.
Mark
Mark
Leds are even less power hungry than CCLs. We had a 2x8w CCL fixture in the kitchen, and changed it for a 2x3w one, that gives off at least as much light. The entire fixture with leds was about 300kr and the CCLs were 100kr/ea...
The CCLs also contains a lot of mercury. Have you seen the official guidelines on how to handle a broken CCL tube/bulb?
They're way over the top cautious...
Btw - here's an addition I made to the cabin last summer. Kitchen counter with sink, a 12V pantry pump from the boat section of the local "Biltema" warehouse, a 20 litre tank under it and space for a propane fridge. It works well, except for the pantry pump being tloo powerful. I need to add a restrictor on the hose. It's probably meant for a much longer hose from the pump to the tap. If I try to use it when I'm charging the battery, I have to be careful not to splatter water around ;D
As we carry the water inside and has a traditional outhouse, we don't run afoul of the building codes, and we can take the gray water outside, without needing a full septic tank installation.
Johan-Kr
The CCLs also contains a lot of mercury. Have you seen the official guidelines on how to handle a broken CCL tube/bulb?
They're way over the top cautious...Btw - here's an addition I made to the cabin last summer. Kitchen counter with sink, a 12V pantry pump from the boat section of the local "Biltema" warehouse, a 20 litre tank under it and space for a propane fridge. It works well, except for the pantry pump being tloo powerful. I need to add a restrictor on the hose. It's probably meant for a much longer hose from the pump to the tap. If I try to use it when I'm charging the battery, I have to be careful not to splatter water around ;D
As we carry the water inside and has a traditional outhouse, we don't run afoul of the building codes, and we can take the gray water outside, without needing a full septic tank installation.
Johan-Kr
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You can do AC hydro on small scale directly at 110/220. Code wire for 200A is not very flexible to say the least, but all the solar energy businesses that I have seen sell the welding cable I would check to see what the low voltage rules are. We had the state (same one) over rule the local inspector on an unrelated issue.
I used to have a place in Cheshire BTW.
About the AC fans - I bought this one Nippon AC/DC Fan With LED Light | Supersavings.lk and tested a few weeks ago and works for 5 hours on full speed. It has a Lead-Acid battery as far as I could tell. So a few of these, wall mounted, would suffice.
Anyone have any experience with alternative cooling systems - evaporation systems and so on? I had excellent results with a backwards mounted exhaust fan to bring in cool air from outside at night. By the way I don't plan to ever use a traditional Air Conditioning system. They are addictive.
Opie thanks you for all the interesting replies so far.
Heres an alternative I found on Google
Why is Breezair Unique? Breezair units feature advanced technology and a range of unique and clever design features...[col=200]
"A Breezair Icon series evaporative air conditioner uses up to 90% less electricity than refrigerated units (including split systems and reverse cycle air conditioning) and up to 40% less electricity than conventional ducted evaporative air conditioning systems (without an inverter)."
Anyone have any experience with alternative cooling systems - evaporation systems and so on? I had excellent results with a backwards mounted exhaust fan to bring in cool air from outside at night. By the way I don't plan to ever use a traditional Air Conditioning system. They are addictive.
Opie thanks you for all the interesting replies so far.
Heres an alternative I found on Google
Why is Breezair Unique? Breezair units feature advanced technology and a range of unique and clever design features...[col=200]
"A Breezair Icon series evaporative air conditioner uses up to 90% less electricity than refrigerated units (including split systems and reverse cycle air conditioning) and up to 40% less electricity than conventional ducted evaporative air conditioning systems (without an inverter)."
An evaporation system will rely on the humidity of your area. The lower the level of humidity, the better it works..
I helped a friend install a small version of this just for 1 room. Our average ground temperature in this area is 54 degrees F. It works rather well. Much better than nothing..
http://mb-soft.com/solar/saving.html
I helped a friend install a small version of this just for 1 room. Our average ground temperature in this area is 54 degrees F. It works rather well. Much better than nothing..
http://mb-soft.com/solar/saving.html
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Swamp coolers work well in arid climates, but do raise the humidity of the home. This is welcome in arid climates, but not in most areas. If you live in an area like las vegas or arizona and have a plentiful and cheap supply of water, it can be useful, but watch out for legionella.
This system for cooling air is likely to cause condensation and mold growth in the pipes in most climates and won't be healthy. If instead of air, you pump water through the pipes, and run the water through a heat exchanger/fan arrangement you can get the cooling without the problems.
I have heard of people using the water from a well to irrigate their lawn, but by passing it first through a cooling coil they were able to partially cool and dehumidify their house.
Perhaps Ideal for cooling would be a solar thermal powered absorption chiller
We have about 80% humidity here, this graph illustrates the climate nicely. The about the underground cooling system is interesting, actually even the outside air is cooler at night, because our houses are covered with asbestos roofing (soon to be banned) and radiates heat back into the house. Hoping solar panels will cut the radiation down, and so will insulating reflective material.
Colombo Climate Colombo Temperatures Colombo Weather Averages
Colombo Climate Colombo Temperatures Colombo Weather Averages
We didn't use the closed system that uses the inside air and cycles it through the pipes. We pull fresh outside air into the tube. Left plenty of slope for condensation to run out away from the house. Every now and then he pours a bucket of water/bleach solution down the pipe to stop mold growth..
At the end of the run, (80') a TEE was installed. The through opening is left open and buried in gravel. The 90 degree opening connects to a pipe that exits the ground ~3' with a fine screen box connected to it to keep bugs and critters out..
The pipe is buried 4' under ground. A ditch witch made the project easy..
His wife built an above ground planter around the pipe with a trellis that encloses all sides and the top. She plants morning glories in the planter and the trellis gets full of vines and flowers just about the time he starts using it. The plants cool the air before it enters the pipe and keeps the inlet shady..
At the end of the run, (80') a TEE was installed. The through opening is left open and buried in gravel. The 90 degree opening connects to a pipe that exits the ground ~3' with a fine screen box connected to it to keep bugs and critters out..
The pipe is buried 4' under ground. A ditch witch made the project easy..
His wife built an above ground planter around the pipe with a trellis that encloses all sides and the top. She plants morning glories in the planter and the trellis gets full of vines and flowers just about the time he starts using it. The plants cool the air before it enters the pipe and keeps the inlet shady..
Cooling systems can be a part of the greater eco-friendly house. I never realized how many of these are in use.
The picture with the open pipe is similar to the system you installed?
https://desertcommunity.wordpress.com/2013/03/03/underground-tubes-for-passive-cooling/
Some commercial systems:
Over one million GSHP systems installed even though they are buried underground : Energetic Building
How Geothermal Works - Nehemiah Mechanicals - Nehemiah Mechanicals
The picture with the open pipe is similar to the system you installed?
https://desertcommunity.wordpress.com/2013/03/03/underground-tubes-for-passive-cooling/
Some commercial systems:
Over one million GSHP systems installed even though they are buried underground : Energetic Building
How Geothermal Works - Nehemiah Mechanicals - Nehemiah Mechanicals
The first guy is asking the right questions the CFM of air cooled from 95 to 56 in a 10' run of PVC would be minuscule. He mentioned someone essentially making a "mini-cave" probably with some portland cement and soil. Better, but you still need a lot of cave using passive cooling.
Waterfront buildings here use SS pipe and heat exchangers from Boston Harbor, the perfect setup lots of transfer (fluid to fluid) and colder than frost line temp.
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