Andrew Welser

I am very interested in building a rocket heater; given my cooling biased climate (Texas) and current housing (an RV), a mass heater doesn't make sense to me, what I'd be inclined to do would be a rocket water heater with a large insulated heat storage tank and an air coil (or radiant floor/ceiling if/when I build). In my current location I don't have much outside space for a rocket water heater and storage tank, but still considering building something here since pumps and a fan would be a lot easier to run off a battery backup and/or generator than the electric heat I'm currently stuck using.

Thinking of doing similar (with a super large insulated storage tank also fed by solar and heat pump) if/when I ever get to build.

Gray Henon wrote:You may have a refrigerant leak and/or the interior coils are icing up.  Can you get to the interior unit and remove a panel to check the coils?  They might be dirty as well.

A few things that might indicate low refrigerant:
-Icing up (like Gray mentioned), either on the interior coil and/or the larger line between the inside and outside units.
-Feel the air blowing out of your outside unit, does it feel warm/hot, more-so than just outside air being blown? If not, then there's minimal heat being removed from the house, often indicating low refrigerant (assuming everything else is working properly).

Can you access ductwork in the attic or crawlspace, has something come loose or has a critter made a hole allowing air into an unconditioned space?

Check/clean both outside and inside coils (if accessible). Outside can just be a strong stream of water through the grill/louvers (the stronger the better, as long as you're not bending fins), assuming there's not leaves caught up against the coils. Inside can be tricky to impossible to access depending on the ductwork and air handler; you'll want to get at the upstream side of the coil, if there's buildup scrape it off with a plastic bristled brush in the directions of the fins.

If the unit is running but not cooling well then the thermostat is probably not the issue, unless it's badly located (blown on by a vent) causing it to cycle off and on.

randal cranor wrote:

Joylynn Hardesty wrote:
“I'm gonna take a shit.” Really? Whose shit are you taking? And why would you want it? Ewww!

Howdy,

"Don't pack noshit...Don't take no shit"

Ismo is sh*t; no, wait, I mean THE sh*t!!

I rode for a number of years, usually to work and then for a ride out of the city through the countryside after work. Then I got married, had kids, changed jobs... I still have the bike, but it's sat long enough that it needs a good bit of work to get it roadworthy.

D Daniels wrote:
My question is....might aircrete make a good scab splint for my weakened uprights on my snow roof?

I was thinking, go up about 6-8 ft of the 12 ft overall height..., it would turn the lower section of the undersized juniper poles into less then gorgeous grey concrete pillars, but aesthetics is not the primary concern, as long as it will hold it all in place : )

....thought that hit me today was to maybe build a 12 inch+ split form, as in a lined and hinged sonotube and wrap them around the pole, (pour aircrete in about a foot high each pour, let cure {how long}? btwn pours) so as not to compress the bubbles out, idea is to use this as a cast for old weakened/notched upright juniper poles that support a snow roof, these poles are inside the drip line in a relatively dry area in SW Oregon, I just need the lateral strength so the weakened poles do not want to buckle, the former owners removed a full length deck that ran the 60 ft of singlewide, under the snowroof.. the poles were deeply notched to cut in the deck edges with this weak point being about 30 inches up from the ground, , I just bought the place 3 months ago, the deck was apparently removed 4? yrs ago, and these uprights have been listing and bowing a bit since, if we get a heavy snow I am going to be nervous to say the least..

I'd be very hesitant to use aircrete for anything more structural than holding up more aircrete. Rather than cement/concrete, my first inclination for your situation would be to attach some more boards to reinforce the posts; second would be to wrap the poles in wire mesh and coat them in ferrocement, rather than using forms and poured concrete.

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.