Tys Sniffen

I don't have tons of specific experience with this exact situation, but am in a cob house where it gets to 100F in the summer (so far).

basic permie idea: Shade !    get shade over the house, or at least the AC unit.  Some kind of tent, sail, tarp, second roof, something.  You could have something up there tomorrow.  Even one of those sun roof things the vendors use at farmers markets.

basic builders idea: get someone in there and insulate the roof.

basic gardeners idea: grow plants to create shade on the south and top of the house.

I tried to hack another thread, but I'll start one here.

I have radiant tubes in my earthen floor that I used to have hooked to pumps and a propane tankless heater.  I don't like using the electricity for the pumps and all that propane, so I've been thinking about an outside-the-house system that would use a coil of pipe (probably copper, as big as I can get locally, maybe 3/4", 50') and put that coil in a fire.

I think the success of this is going to rely on keeping the coil below the grade of the floor and having an open-to-the-sky "pot" (probably only a 5 gal thing) on the return line.  That way, the hot water will zip uphill through the floor, heat the floor, lose heat, and go back to the return 'pot' that has edges *higher* than the floor grade.  

I can use PEX at a decent distance from the fire, insulate the uphill portion so as not to lose heat, and even have disconnects so I can put it away for the summer.

Basically, I'm making the floor run part of the uphill run of the thermosyphon.

I've attached a quick drawing with what I hope are decent labels.  I'd love to hear from this crowd if you think it could work or what problems you might see.

find someone who can house sit/rent who knows how to live in that situation.  probably someone on here would fit the bill.

was going to make a big post here, decided to search the web first, then found a link to this thread.  so reviving, I hope.

I've been thinking about this for a number of years.  I have radiant tubes in my earthen floor.  I'd plumbed it all into my tankless water heater and a circulation pump.   Turns out, I don't like running that much electricity through the pump in the cold months (short days) when I don't get that much solar.   And I don't like paying the propane man so much.  Oh, and I have a firewood/brush *problem*, I need to constantly get rid of brush and wood.  

So, I don't want to blow myself up, so I'm thinking of an OPEN system - as in, open to the sky.  I'm on a hill, so I can set up some sort of burn place like a patio fire pit below the grade of the floor I'm trying to heat.  

I'm thinking of a copper (vertical) coil, maybe 4" ID, with the top, after some fireproof distance, going to an insulated PEX tube that connects to my floor tube.  This whole distance from coil to start of floor might be 10 meters let's say.   Then the return line would go to a small pot, for lack of a better word, near the fire pit, with a low outlet that goes to the low end of the coil.    The wood fire quickly, powerfully heats the water in the coil, creating the pressure up the coil and through the coil in my floor... heating the floor, cooling the water as it comes out and returns to that open pot relief valve, so there's minimal boil off.   All this happens on the patio or nearby, downhill from the house, probably as I hang out and enjoy the fire, adding water if it boils off.  

I *think* the only possible flaws in my plan are having the level of the water in the pot be just a touch higher than the floor, so that there's always water in the whole system.  And then the question of the water pressure created by the thermosyphon  - will it be enough to push the water all the way through the floor coil and back?

My woodfired hot tub does this all the time, without the detour through a floor.

Very interested to hear this crowds' thoughts.

Hey,

does anyone have suggestions on where to get good plants and creatures for a big lined pond?  I would love to gather cuttings of course, but I don't have other connections in the area, and can't seem to find a local supplier of aquatic plants that has a decent website or will take phone calls.   Tons of aquarium places that can't fathom I have 70,000 gallons to work with.

In my perfect dream, someone on this particular forum would be someone I could visit and learn from, and get cuttings from.  manifesting, I guess!

Michael Cox wrote:Thanks for those pictures, they really help get a sense of what the land is like.

Question - do you NEED to do anything with the mountain side? I there are pressing reason to make changes at all? My feeling is that the flat land is plenty to keep you busy.

I completely agree with this.  Unless you intend to do some sort of commercial growing, I think your flat (which already has fruit trees??) will be plenty.  

Further, now that I've scrolled and seen the photos of the hillside, that doesn't look like much of a hill to me at all.  (a lot of my [unusable] land is steeper than a staircase.  That hill looks like a pleasant slope, easy for animals to wander around.  

and I also agree with the wild pig worries.  Build everything pig proof.

Looks like a great opportunity.

John C Daley wrote:Some more details of the whole system would be good to see.Some initial thoughts;
- If you capture water in large tanks, 20,000L it tends to clean it self a lot.
- Irrigation disc filters come in a range of gap sizes and can be washed clean
- Have you thought of a pressure pump system being in place between a tank and the house plumbing?

How much water do you capture from the roofs now?
And what size is the storage tank now?
regards

happy to provide details, though I don't actually think they contribute to the in-line filter conversation:

I do capture water in tanks like that (5000g/20kL)
I will try and learn more about 'disc filters'
I have thought about presssurizing, but with my gravity feed, I don't need any power to get water, and thus I like it, even if it's just 23psi
I have different kinds of water catching... I have a car port with a maybe 15m x 15m roof, and my house has 180sm or so. how much I collect depends on the rainfall.
I have 30,000 gallons (120,000L) of tank storage now.

Hey,

with my well and rainwater collection, I have a typical 'whole house' filtration system on my not-very-high-psi gravity fed system.  I think at the house I end up with about 22psi.

The filtration system I have is a GE in-line buy-a-new-filter every 3 months, and I definitely need it.  (we then use a Berkey on our drinking water)

Of course I want a washable/permanent solution, rather than have this disposable one.  

I've found some products, but I doubt they fit in the housing I have in place, so I'm probably looking at a whole new one, but I'd like to ask, if anyone has experience:

best product recommendation for a washable/permanent filter that does at least down to 10 microns?  

do you think it would be a BAD idea to do TWO filtration housings?  maybe a 50 micron washable one above a 5 micron replaceable one?

So, part of the problem of my own making is that the chicken coop is too close to the veg garden...  and I made the coop out of scrounged chicken wire, which the rats can get through.   I've set up motion cameras and know my coop gets a dozen or more visitors per night.  

And they've moved on to the garden as well.  Cantaloupes still on the vine, with a small hole chewed through, and then completely emptied from the inside!  nothing but skin left.  Tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers gone.  bean sprouts chewed off and carried away.  etc.

Without building a complete cage out of hardware cloth (1/4" screen) that includes a roof... and the garden is in about the only place it can be.  so is the coop. I'm not sure what to do.  

No, I can't really do cats.  The current dog would eat them, and I'm allergic, and I don't want another creature to be responsible for.

So I'm trying to figure out about maybe doing some sort of (solar powered) electric fencing that would keep out rats.  I'm thinking of a band of 1/4" screen that's electrified (24" wide) along the ground, and then probably plastic deer fencing on top.   I seem to be running into problems with the way typical electric fencing needs to be grounded - while my idea basically NEEDS to be along the ground, or they'll simply go under.  

Anyone have good solutions, or experience with using electric fencing for rodents?

Tys

John C Daley wrote:I have no idea why cardboard is needed.
I lay the tyres down in columns, screw them together horizontally with roof screws.
Then I fill the wall with any scrap, I have used bottles , rocks and soil.
At the top I have made a mud mixture that can be formed into a water draining cap. The addition of lime or cement in the cap helps.

Am I clear in my description.
Tyres laid in the brick pattern are ok, but on a short wall you get lots of half tyre requirements which is not practical.
I have taken my walls up 6 feet.

I see how if you do columns you wouldn't have to worry about the half ends and the holes as they lay across each other.  I also like how you use trash to fill it up.  I've already started my project, so I won't be going the column route, but how do you deal with the meet points - where each column touches the next - isn't that a very thin point, possibly letting in air and weather?