Tim Burke

Hi Michael

I think the flags idea that has been implemented is very different from what I'm suggesting as far as the results go. I wasn't able to find the information i was looking for.

Thanks though.

I have a suggestion on how to improve the permies forum site. You probably already considered this but I'll give it a try anyway. I was looking for information on chicken coop designs and was overwhelmed with the number of topics under chickens. I did a search and didn't find what i was looking for. My suggestion is to put another layer or two of categories under chickens. Maybe one on chicken feed, chicken fencing, chicken coops, breeds, disease, paddock systems, other systems, etc. I'm guessing you get the idea. While this has its down sides it seems like it might be helpful.

Another idea is to have a rating system where users rate the "value" of the post and people could sort through the site by rating. So if someone is in a hurry they may narrow their results to only 5 star rated post/replies so they are not overwhelmed with 100,000 pages of posts/replies.

Another idea is to have "flaggs". People would have a certain number of flags they could attach to a post to "categorize it". For example if someone is talking about chicken stuff but is perhaps providing valuable information on a variety of categories they would check box all of the "categories" that are relevant. Someone searching for information on certain categories would then be able to significantly narrow their results based on the checkboxes they select. Implementation on the database side i believe would be simple enough but I'm not sure the posts are stored in a database like I'm thinking of.

I thought of having posts expire but I'm sure someone out there has posted some great information on chicken coop design issues and maybe links to really good designs that I could use to build one but maybe its 10 years old. Some of the best information is quite old.

I hope i helped.

Thanks

Tim Burke

Hi Bob

Thanks for the feedback. You make an excellent point. A contract is only as good as the company and if the company went under the contract would go away (at least I suspect that's how it works). Also it is new technology but none of the components are especially new or unreliable. Do you have any suggestions other than sell the plans? How would i get much money from the plans? I'm not doing this to get rich but I would at least like to make enough to pay for my work.

Thanks

Tim

Hi Allen.

Thanks for the welcome and information. I will be looking at all of that. The unit I have designed is very proprietary, sorry but I won't be providing any information on how it works. My plan is to have any major servicing paid for in advance and for the product to have a 40 year warranty, but be designed to operate for more than 70 years. This is a critical aspect of a unit that is designed to enable reliable off the grid living. The owner/operator would need to do minor maintenance which would be dumping ash that collects in a bucket, cleaning fire tubes out once a month and cleaning air filters once every six months. Other than that the unit would require no maintenance. It would provide the things I already posted. The gas would be "wood gas" and would be stored in a conventional way under low pressure. It should be noted that using wood gas for cooking is more dangerous than using methane (aka natural gas), or biogas and precautions would have to be taken, most notably carbon monoxide detectors and ventilation during cooking. Also the unit is extremely different than other units on the market. It is a pure gassifier with new gas cleanup technology. It also enables the production of biochar if wanted for soil amendments among other things. Another benefit is that the unit is capable for running for weeks at a time without any additional fuel input. So if someone was sick or left for a few weeks it would provide everything they needed without any work. The unit could be integrated with solar hot water and other electricity generation as well as well systems integration. The idea setup would integrate all these systems and be custom engineered for the home size, climate, etc. This unit is designed for climates like alaska, canada, etc. It would not be competitive in sunny climates where there is little heat demand and where heat demand can be met primarily with solar hot water and passive solar.

Please let me know how much you think something like this would be worth.

Thanks for your time.

Hello

I'm a mechanical engineer that has designed a product that uses cut wood to provide hot water for space heat, hot potable water, cooking fuel and electricity. It requires very little work to use unlike wood stoves and boilers/hydronic heaters. The operation is simple, put wood in, close the door and leave it alone for days at a time. It will provide the right amount of energy to meet demand automatically. It is high efficiency under all operating conditions and loads unlike wood stoves which tend to either run inefficiently or too hot. It enables a home to go off the grid with minimal work and super high reliability using the least expensive energy source available, cut wood. However, it is expensive but the cost will be very dependent on the number of sales so I'm trying to get an idea of how much people would be willing to spend for such an appliance. Keep in mind this is really only economical for someone that is off the grid and paying a lot for fuels like diesel, propane, and fuel oil.

Please let me know what you think and how much it would be worth to you.