I have done it with and without worms with out issues. I have also seen it done both ways in books and in person.
I have never done testing between the 2 ways, but I do have an opinion on this that others might not agree on.
***Edit. Adding as I missed some stuff.
You want a fungal dominated compost. IMO you will want a lot of browns and some manure to jump start it. You will also need to keep the pile moist and have great air flow.
My raised beds.
4 layers of cinderblocks.
The bottom cinderblock is below the surface. You end up with a stable 24" high 8" wide place to sit.
The inside was filled with logs, hay, and lots compost.
I have not had heat issues from the light gray block.
Path ways are set up to be able to drive a golf cart and a sub compact tractor between them.
Hydrant from the well is located in the center. Less than 50' of hose to reach everything.
David Baillie wrote: I totally hear you. I do find the general quality of posters here is higher then the norm and the admins take a more active role then you usually find.
thomas rubino wrote:Hi Jack;
Thanks for the reply.
Interesting you have no BMS. Being from a vehicle I assume this is a higher-voltage battery?
I had not given any thought to building my own lithium bank and not installing a BMS.
What kind of maintenance/upkeep do you need to perform?
Please do your own research as I'm going off of memory.
Each pack is about 7.6 volts and around 40 amp hours. You have to do a lot of math on the voltages and looking at what inviters or what ever you are going to use will be able to handle. 7 packs in series works for most 48 volt systems I think.
I have 2 sets of batteries (on different breakers) and every other month I pull the buss bars off and test the voltages on each cell. If it is needed I will pull the pack apart and rebuild it paralleling different packs together. I also have a few spare packs if needed for replacements. I only had 2 pull each pack apart twice once I started to use them. I feel this should be done any time you have batteries in parallel, but most people do not until you kill a group of cells or batteries.
I was able to get 2 full Nissan Leaf battery packs for under $3,200 total at the time. At the time the information on using the batteries for solar was lacking I might have around 60 hours of work and fooling around to get the one up and running. Took about 20 hours to get the other batter pack up and running. I think I have around $700 in a box of bolts, threaded rods, nuts, drill bits, copper bars, and 2 custom batter holders.
thomas rubino wrote:Hi David;
I very much wanted to try lithium batteries.
I was willing to take extra steps to do so.
With what I learned about the lithium BMS unit, for now, I'll stick with lead acid.
Maybe batteries will have improved when my AGMs wear out again.
The best battery for you is biased off your system and how it is used at the end of the day. I never used AGM's for my power system, but use them for starting batteries.
I did not go with a BMS on my system, but I'm also on used batteries. It is no longer set and forget like I'm told you can do with BMS systems, but to me it's not that much more work.
Unless something changes I think a lot of people will be going to used batteries for off grid and hybrid systems in the next few years.
Jack Adam wrote:I went with Nissan Leaf batteries. I have hydro and solar.
With out knowing the details about your system It's hard to say a lot.
Hi Jack,
Did you ever post about your system? What controller are you using? I have a thread here: https://permies.com/t/206893/Solar-Projects-good-bad-cutting Where I would love to see the system or a link to it if you've already posted...
Cheers,. David Baillie
I'm using an older Outback controller on my hydro.
I tend to not over share on the internet due to issues I have run into in the past from over sharing on a chat forum years ago.
Jack Adam wrote:I did a quick search for them at the 2 big box stores where I live and looked at a mix of vented / unvented and NG / propane gas logs looking at the specifications pages and did not see anything about a power connection. When looking at the inserts most were just the box that the logs went into. The fan and log set were a different product. Are we looking at the same stuff?
Ah! Yes, they are different items entirely. I have not seen fire logs before. Mine is a high efficiency engineered insert with its own heat exchanger, and a combined exhaust chimney and external air intake installed in the old chimney flue. Essentially it's a furnace with a sealed glass door and fake ceramic logs so you can see the fire. Installed cost was about $5,000 CAD.
I have seen those a few times, but they are not popular where I'm at in the USA.
Jack Adam wrote:Most NG and propane wall heaters and fire place logs will work with out power.
I think it depends on the design. Many fireplace inserts now use electric igniters and flame sensors that rely on electricity to the control board. Old ones, or the model that I deliberately installed, have a pilot light and thermocouple that doesn't require external power.
I did not know they were making them like that now. Who would think it would be smart to put a 120 volt power box in a fireplace?
After looking at the wall hung units there was a mix of units that called for power, but unsure if it was just for the fan in the unit. I did not know these had fans now.
I did a quick search for them at the 2 big box stores where I live and looked at a mix of vented / unvented and NG / propane gas logs looking at the specifications pages and did not see anything about a power connection. When looking at the inserts most were just the box that the logs went into. The fan and log set were a different product. Are we looking at the same stuff?
I have a Low Head Stream Engine (LH1000). I get anywhere from 700 to 1,000 watts at 800 to 1000 gallons a minute with 26" of drop at 60 volts. It did take some work to set up, but all hydro has a high start up cost IMO if done right. We also have solar.
Our larger loads are set wired up to the grid with a lot of the convent items in life. The important things are set as an "off grid power system" in our house, pottery, and shop. At the time grid tie would of not been worth it to us. When the power goes out part of the time we do not notice right away.
Where I am at you have to find a custom home builder to get anything under 1,200 sqf unless your having a few houses / buildings done at the same time. I'm sure their is an upcharge for going smaller.
I got a NRCS grant for building a compost barn and 200 hard wood trees mixed in with 100 pine trees. They help put in 2 box culvert crossings over a stream on my property and putting in dry hydrants for the fire department, this had grants from 4 different organizations and was full of red tape.
I have done a few "studies / feild days" with a local ag collage that I'm about 45 minutes away from. I have turned down a lot of their studies due to different details in the studies.
-I did a study where they gave me 75 American Chestnut trees and provided most of the labor for planting 300 trees from NRCS in a agroforestry type setup. In 15 years they have sent out a teams 7 times to survey the trees. I have a few restrictions about cutting trees for the next 5 years and they say they want to collect seeds for a study down the road.
-They planted a few wide strips of wild flowers between the trees they planted. They put down lime in the spring and harvested some seeds that fall. I was not able to use the land during that time.
-They did a soil test study where they planted a seed mix and I was only allowed to run chickens, but I had to keep my chicken trailers, feed, and waters one 1 side of the lanes so they could test the other side of the lane. This was a 2 year study.
-There was a lime study they did where we split the cost of lime and they spread it. They used a few different types of lime and a few of the plots they mixed in a different type of rock dust. They did soil test for 24 month.
Dan Fish wrote:
One time I had a canister that I believe the regulator had gone bad. It had about a quarter of liquid in it still but wouldn't let more that a trickle of fuel out. This was in the spring so not too cold. Shaking it up did help and laying it over too but it wasn't worth all that. I just exchanged it at the grocery store.
That sounds like the safety device in the regulator. If it gets to much flow at any point their is a plug that will move plugging up the flow, it has a spring that pushes hold back the flow. Turning off the valve on the tank for 30seconds should give it time to reset. I have seen it where people have taken the regulator off the tank and beat the regulator on the side of the tank to reset it.
LPG (propane) boils at -42°C or –44°F, becoming gas vapor. LPG stays liquid because it is under pressure in a gas cylinder. If the tank is in 0*F location as more vapor is formed it chills the remaining liquid in the tank. The tank acks like a heat sink.
Butane becomes vapor around 32*F. IMO the butane blocks the propane from turning into a vapor and most of it will vaporize first. I had issues with this when I used gas kilns years ago.
I found some info in other forums about not having a high pressure regulator at the tank can increase the amount of oils that come out of the hose lowering the amount of flow over time. It also lowers the chance of the over flow protection in the tank valve from moving. The heater that your using should have a filter when using a hose.
Are you talking about the "vaporization rate" of how fast the LPG boils off into propane. At 0*f a 20 pound tank should be able to produce around 36,000 btu an hour.
Their are charts if you search for them on the internet. I think most charts are for a tank 50% full.
The amount of butane mixed in the propane when it gets compressed into LPG makes a difference, but goes to far down the rabbit hole.
If you do not have a regulator at the tank the hose will not last as long. I have read about the issues, but not sure why off the top of my head.
I use the back of my hand or my cheek to see if the item is cooler that it should be to tell how dry it is.
Natural clay can be very hard to work with and every place has a slightly different formulation of clay. My last clay pit was 100' from one side to the other produces similar, but different qualities.
Processing the clay is very important. Most people wet process, but on a smaller scale dry processing works well also.
Doing test fires is important as each batch will vitrify at a different temp.
The fit between the clay and the glaze is also important. With the right fit you can take a frozen pot out of the deep freezer and poor boiling water into it with out issues, this test is hard to pass.
Most pit fired items (sounds like that you did) do not get to the temp where they are vitrified. Pit fired and raku pottery are for decoration only and normally get some kind of wax on them.
Burnished pottery that is wood fired can be used for some cooking, but my understanding is they are fragile. These firings are an art on how they are stacked, where the fuel is placed, and the piles are covered in broken pottery to form a type of kiln (not the only way).
Even with "dry" pottery it still is damp and the water boils off at 100*c. Depending on thickness, how item were made, and finish it can take an hour + to boil off all the water.
Around 580*c is when the quartz crystallizes. IMO this would be the coldest you could get away with if you had a lower fire clay, but would still not be vitrified.
Their is to much science involved and a lot of testing of everything to get it all into a few post. When you deal with wild dug clay you start off not knowing any properties of what you dug so lots of testing to even get to the science part. Every mix of clay with vitrify at a different temp.
I feel that you gave us a lack of information with out telling us what you plan to use the wood for.
Hard wood grows slower.
Soft wood grows faster.
They both have their uses.
Were picky about giving money and most of the time we do our research before giving. IMO their are to many non profits that only a small % makes it to the cause. I know I look at things differently as a small business owner. I do not want to get to deep into this, but I could.
We do have a list of semi local (60 miles) places that I help out.
I will also do nice things randomly to people we run into that are in need when were out and about.
Most Heat pump water heater can be set up for 120 volts with a 15 amp breaker (you will need to research them). You can also set them up with the 220 volt heating elements when larger amounts of hot water are needed. When using them with only the heat pump (120) they are slow, run on 120 volts, put out cold air into the room, and dehumidify the air.
If you have a very cheap heat source like a rocket mass heater then the bit of heat the heat pump will use will not be noticed.
Tankless hot water heaters have issues unless you have great water. Even with the best water you will need maintenance every 6 months to keep them working efficiently. If you get a tankless water heater that is rated at 7.5 GPM at a 35° temp rise, but your winter time water temp is 52* their is a good chance you will be let down.
I found where the group of coffee drinkers would congregate on Saturday mornings. It was the small engine repair shop / saw shop. I stopped in a bunch of Saturdays to get a new saw blade or to get a few blades sharpened. I also took half a pound cake that I got my wife to make to drop off. Let me tell you they would notice when I walked in and did not have cake. I took some time, but I was able get to know a few of the key people and the word spread around the town.
Supporting the community also helps to get known. Shopping local cost more sometimes, but worth it in the long run. Do not use the local stores just when you forgot something.
I'm now the "funeral bean guy". Just give me a text when there is a death in the family and I will set up a time to drop off a pot of my funeral baked beans in one of my bean crooks.
At my pottery I have a full kitchen to use, but the only thing I cook with is my Air Fryer. IMO size matters with Air Fryers. If it's for 1 or 2 people the regular ones I see all the time would be fine, but for more than 2 people I would get a double door one that has 2 or 3 shelfs.
An oven is a huge heat sink that gives off heat for an hour after you turn it off. The air fryer is much smaller and is much less of a heat sink. Due to this IMO their much better when your running the AC.
I will spend all my time in my pottery building up inventory for a late spring firing. Heat is from our Garn wood boiler so I'll be making the trip twice a day to load up for a batch firing. I have a mix of daylight LED lighting, but I like the lighting hitting me from the sides. I do have a TV that will play lots of documentaries and lots of music.
Hot German Potato Salad if it's being made fresh for a meal.
It has, bacon, chopped onions, a bit of flour, sugar, salt, celery seed, black pepper, distilled white vinegar, and hard boiled eggs.
I like a mustard potato salad if it is be put in a refrigerator.
Solar kilns are great, but you need to make sure the temp dose not get to high in the kiln it will create a "shell like layer" (case hardening) that will trap the moisture on the inner layers of the wood.
Smaller splits and shorter lengths will dry faster.
I'm sure someone could strip the ISO off the phone and reprogram it to do that, but your still stuck with only having a USB port for communication. A second board would be needed that had a small CPU on it to transfer info to and from the phone.
Even with soldering wires to the phone I'm sure it dose not have the IO needed to read the 2 or 3 inputs you would need and be able to run 3 or 4 relays.
The builder for my house did not like me, but I got 100% of the house I wanted. At the time I was living in the pottery that he had already built on the property and I would walk the job site 3 times a day every day. Being a 3 minute walk away there was no point putting off any issues and I was all about fixing stuff on the spot.
We had a lot of issues with our design fighting what we need, want, efficient, and being wheelchair friendly.
I takes a lot more up front thinking to a house design to get something that you can age into and still have a good usable house.
I currently have a 5 way cover drop that is 4 to 8" tall on the beds. My plan was to crimp them in the spring and top off the beds. Am I better off doing it now or in the spring?
Most of my leaves have already been mulched up and mixed with wood chips and the left overs from sending 4 lambs to camp freezer.
So mixing in some clay into the topping mix is not going to hurt me in the long run like I thought It would.
When we started we did not have great soils and a kid in a wheelchair so I have a lot of raised beds. After 4 years our soils are better, but not that good.
4 years ago I filled the raised beds with logs, fresh wood chips, and 4" of compost.
2 years ago I mixed 50 / 50 compost and a fungal dominant compost and put down about 4".
I need to add about 3 to 4" of something this spring.
We do keep something planted in the beds year round.
I have had a few issues from the large amount of compost we use, but have been able to overcome the issues.
I do not have much top soil, but have tons of clay. I will have about 10 square yards of compost and 5 square yards of a fungal dominant compost that I can pull from to fill the beds. I don't mind buying something to add, but do not know what to buy.
The tank needs to breath as the gas changes temps. They do make caps that have absorbent silica gel in them to help keep the tank from breathing in moisture.