Phil Stevens

Concrete has pretty miserable performance once you get anywhere above the boiling point of water. Three main things happen, all of them destructive: Thermal stress, which causes cracking and deformation from uneven heating; steam buildup and explosive pressure release, which lead to spalling and catastrophic failure of bearing masses; and thermal decomposition of the portland cement matrix itself, which breaks down the crystalline "glue" holding everything together and turns it to useless powder.

Firebricks and refractory materials are used in these things for a reason.

And even then the storage longevity of cut wood is finite, especially in places where there are lots of things that eat firewood. If I leave some species too long (as in more than a year) the borers turn half of it to powdery frass. But on a system level, standing timber is a superb asset.

I am honoured to be in such illustrious company. Let's do this.

I've got a new sunny day dump load at my place: a 2 kW motor that drives a big grunty mincer that I'm using to crush biochar. I just ran it for an hour and it barely made a dent in all the excess power that was being generated.

I've got a box of cheap lager in the carport that I keep solely for making batter.

Another place to get lots of free batteries is all around us. Disposable vapes have surprisingly good lithium batteries that are usually still in mint condition when they get chucked out a car window and land in the ditch. Check out Big Clive:



There are many videos showing how to make a power bank from these cells. If you've got some time on your hands and a source of these things (I'd suggest paying a bounty to some local tenagers) you would have a cool little project.

Hi Timothy - Chives might tolerate a little less light than other herbs, but in all honesty I would encourage you to get something like this:

LED strip grow light - $10

One or two of these would augment the weak winter sun and help you grow the herb of your choice.

I'm really interested in the possibilities offered by steam injection, both as a combustion modifier and thermal control. The commercial pyrolysis technology that impresses me the most was invented in Canada and requires high moisture in the feedstock because of what I gather must be similar factors:

BET PRD biochar production

I can't get the page to load. Anyone able to grab the PDF and email it to me? Send me a PM if you can help a brother out.

You can get LED grow lights that are a combo of red and blue emitters and one or two of these will make up for weak winter sunlight and short, cloudy days. Most herbs do best in full sun, so having a little assistance will increase both the quantity and quality an indoor plant produces.