Andrew Welser

Love me some Red Green!

I'm a man,
but I can change,
If I have to,
I guess.
--Red Green, the mans prayer

Kara Ann wrote:Wow Andrew, thanks for sharing this from the other thread - 45 degrees inside as a baseline through winter - Golly, I have to admit that the thought of that setting for a long time is rough. I am expecting to be transiting out of the little RV into tiny home with a rocket mass heater (warm - yeahhh!  hot water - yeahhhh!) within 6 to 8 weeks.  It sounds like you lived within that setting for much longer. Do you mind if I ask about immune system burden with that ongoing cold environment - certainly you did a lot to keep yourself warm enough, but there is often a biological burden of chilling that suppresses immune response. Do you have any comment to share about health impacts of maintaining in that 45* setting?  And if this is too personal, feel free to decline or skip a response.

I'm in North Texas, so over the 3-4 months of "winter", there were probably only around 6 weeks total (and not consecutive) where the outside temperature stayed low enough for the inside to be down at 45*. I had some health issues during and for a few months following the year-ish I lived there, mainly what felt like back to back sinus infections; but given that it was that cold only a fraction of the year, I mainly attributed the sinus infections to mold and/or other air pollutants encountered from living in an old mobile home; I don't recall the winter months being worse for me health-wise.

John C Daley wrote:I am amazed at the expectation of some people who wish to invert the seasons and refuse to put a jumper on in winter.
No wonder the world has trouble with fuel bills and climate change.

I work HVAC for a campus that has some office space, and every season change we get a few people requesting set-point changes to their office where their heating set-point is higher than their cooling set-point: I.E. they want their office cooled down to 70*f in summer, but heated to 75*f in winter! <shaking my head & facepalm!>

I'd previously posted in the "Staying warm in winter (inside)" thread:

Andrew Welser wrote:
A couple winters back I was by myself in a poorly insulated mobile home, heated only by space heaters.  What worked for me was keeping room temperature very low (but well above freezing for the sake of the plumbing), which ended up around 45*f.

Extra layers of clothing: wearing similar clothing inside as I would for working outside; I'm a big fan of insulated coveralls and long underwear: people who don't work in the elements will wear coats, but often don't add leg layers. Electric blanket to pre-warm the bed. Run a space heater at a high temperature only when changing and showering.

Most of the time that I was inside and not in bed I was on the couch with micro-heaters: a electric heating pad at my back, electric throw blanket in my lap, heat emitter "bulb" in a swing arm lamp over my hands. Depending on what different things you do/places you are inside you could set up different "workstations" with different micro-heaters, or have a space heater that you only run when you're in the kitchen (for example).

All the above will help regardless of what is done to the building: better insulation, weatherstripping, etc will keep the heat inside better so the heater(s) don't have to work as long/hard to maintain the 45* (or whatever you set). The lower the temperature differential (between conditioned and unconditioned space) the less heating is required: so keeping the room temperature low, and just heating the occupant(s) will use less energy.

Mikel Salazar wrote:
Buried waterproofing options:

D) Galvanized steel sheet: not durable enough?

At my work we have some rental mobile homes which are 40-50 years old. at some point in time they were roofed over with corrugated (galvanized) metal roofing. In the last year or 2 we have had to replace some roofing panels due to leaks and rust, likely because of collected leaves (&/or where a falling branch made a dent that holds water). Having seen that, I wouldn't expect treated metal to last more than a decade or 2 underground.

My initial thought was waxed canvas, or something similar, but I have no idea how that would hold up with earth contact.

Looking forward to seeing other replies; I'm hoping to build something similar in the future. I've assumed I'll need to use plastic (pond liner or similar), but being underground away from UV, I'd expect it to last the life of the building.

Christopher Weeks wrote:I'd personally prefer copper.

I was thinking the same, wondering why copper pipe wouldn't qualify, its as "natural" and would need processing from found material just like glass or ceramic would, and it's at least as recyclable or reprocessable for reuse. The solder normally used to join copper pipes and fittings might be more of a toxic gick issue, but whatever sealant is used for glass or ceramic piping would likely also work for copper, with the benefit that copper is more malleable/less fragile than glass or ceramic, so it could easily be drilled for screws or other mechanical fasteners, in addition to the joint sealant.

I handle the sun similarly to Pete, though I'm in Texas. I avoid sunblock, rarely use sunglasses. My normal outside work outfit is long pants, shoes/boots, and light weight button-down shirts. I try to stay in the shade, but if I'll be in direct sun for a while I'll add a wide brimmed hat, and if the shirt is long sleeved I'll roll the sleeves down; I don't like to wear hats unless I'm in the sun, they block the breeze and add an insulation layer that feels like it holds too much heat in. Swimming I'll wear a shirt and a brimmed hat (as much as I can for the hat; doesn't always work) in addition to my swim trunks.

Hannah Medley wrote:And I needed the reminder on deer. We'll have to do some thinking about fence options...

In the "ha-ha fence" thread that was linked in the daily email a few days back some folks were discussing using 2 parallel fences to keep deer out of their gardens: This post and following

Jay Angler wrote:I wonder if it could be made into a ketchup replacement?

Banana ketchup (with bananas instead of tomato) is a relatively common alternative, a banana ketchup recipe might be a good starting point for experimentation with apple butter ketchup; I assume apple butter as the base would arrive at a more comparable consistency, whereas applesauce might end up too runny.

Edit to add: at the bottom of this thread in the "similar threads" there was one discussing "nightshade free ketchup", and one of the posts had a youtube where he makes ketchup from apples: Apple ketchup post

Usually water with a splash of lemon juice or apple cider vinegar, or my own version of electrolite powder, loosely based on the following recipe:

Electrolyte Mix

1 Gallon Water
2tsp Potassium Chloride (No Salt)
2tsp Sodium Bicarbonate (baking soda (not powder))
1tsp Sodium Chloride (Pink Salt)
1tsp Magnesium Sulfate (Food-grade Epsem Salt)

Best served chilled after allowing to mix for 12Hr
--Ike Jones as heard on the Permaculture P.I.M.P.cast Episode #117 @
1:08:40

(Thanks for the reminder, I need to mix up another batch of powder for this summer.)

I'll drink the pickle or sourcraut juice as the jars contents get consumed.