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Old 06-15-2009, 03:51 PM
 
Location: Somewhere over the rainbow in "OZ "
24,768 posts, read 28,523,474 times
Reputation: 32865

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Old 06-16-2009, 01:18 AM
 
Location: Appalachian Mountains, SW Virginia
1 posts, read 6,142 times
Reputation: 10
Lisa... do you give tours? I live somewhat nearby and would love to see your project. I built several passive solar houses in Boone many years ago, and I'm thinking to make some PV panels myself for this place.
~darius (from Dave's Garden)
 
Old 06-16-2009, 06:11 AM
 
Location: Sunset Mountain
1,384 posts, read 3,178,891 times
Reputation: 1404
I seemed to miss some of last winter's posts. I wish we could turn this forum into named chapters like a picture book to go re read your progress.

I only saw the fireplace in the living room, but surely you have other sources of heat for the home. Did it get very cold? We just moved back to NH from Texas and Illinois and we rent a house. Mike and I share the home w/ his mum, and this winter we moved downstairs. There was an addition to the home added which is our living room, but there is no heating in those two rooms. We got a fireplace, but it doesn't put out much heat to warm the rooms. If we're here this next season, we might have to close off that room as we got over 6 feet of snow this past winter.

You are so very brave!
we're going to our first "green" wedding in August. I plan on telling the groom who works with my husband about your posts here as they haven't planned to buy a house yet, see what they think of green living!
 
Old 06-16-2009, 06:18 AM
 
Location: Largo, Fl, Sparta, TN
315 posts, read 1,006,377 times
Reputation: 217
Lisa, once again a great post. I am learning so much from you posts. And its so funny your pictures of your projects usually have some sort of picture of the view you have and it just takes my breath away. It is just like I am looking at a postcard. I am going to try to rep you again but every time I try it won't let me.
 
Old 06-16-2009, 08:02 AM
 
Location: Where the sun likes to shine!!
20,548 posts, read 30,394,464 times
Reputation: 88950
piperspal- It's always a good day when we don't fall off of something. I was pulling a branch pretty hard yesterday and it snapped. Of course I fell right on my butt and didn't bounce, lol. Ouch. It seems like I lost some of my old padding back there.


Josh- I'm glad you learned something new. This solar stuff is very confusing to me. I told Mike to make a big cheat cheat for me. I need a "Kiss" book, lol.


Kygman- Glad you are so agreeable. I'll keep writing every Monday although some of the updates might be shorter.


Tinman- Thank you so much for your concern and the links that you provided about venting. Mike is actually ordering some things today but we have to wait for the West coast to wake up, lol.


Tinman and PaulNKS- We do have grounding rods in. I just didn't get a picture before they were buried. We have one next to the house and one next to the building. Both rods are connected to the electrical boxes and also the charge controllers.


Solar4me- Thank you for writing in. Yes Mike and I are aware of the temperature changes and the effects on the batteries. Our batteries did great last winter and they were outside. If we need to insulate the box I'm sure Mike will get around to it. Mike also moved the battery bank away from the house for safety reasons and also for the batteries to be closer to all the controllers.

I found a great article that you might enjoy about batteries.
Solar Power 101: Batteries by Jeffrey Yago, P.E., CEM Issue #87


2footalligator- Welcome to the Mike and Lisa world. I am sorry to say that at this time we don't do tours. Actually we don't let too many people in, lol. Good luck with making your own panels. I have noticed that they have dropped quite a bit in price since last spring.


Katlakat- Sorry. I know it's hard to go back and find some old info.

Yes our fireplace was our only source of heat. We had no trouble keeping warm. The house because it is 10 inch thick concrete and also a berm house stayed about 58 degrees. We only had to use the fireplace to keep the chill out. We left it off at night. We bought a non vented propane fireplace which was a mistake. Our house is virtually air tight which is not good for propane. We didn't realize how much humidity the fireplace would throw off into the house. This year we will change it out for either a wood burner or a small vented gas heater.

On the flip side we don't need any A/C which is very cool.

Have fun at your first "green" wedding. What exactly is a green wedding? I would think that would mean "no" wedding and just going to a Justice Of The Peace, lol. That would be the greenest.


vacation bound- Thanks for writing in. I do try to get a view shot whenever I can in case you all get tired of looking at Mike and I, lol.
 
Old 06-16-2009, 04:03 PM
 
Location: Somewhere over the rainbow in "OZ "
24,768 posts, read 28,523,474 times
Reputation: 32865
How's the taters in the garden..... and the pole beans.
 
Old 06-18-2009, 04:00 PM
 
12 posts, read 73,804 times
Reputation: 37
very intresting thread and very hard working people........my congradulations on a very intresting thread


couple of thoughts for what they are worth

you might want to consider tie downs for your storage containers even though they are heavy (i have several) high winds can move or roll them

2ndly.....safty....please please please dont go into unbraced trenches over 4' deep such as your picture showing you working on the foundation drainage next to the retaining wall......that is extremely unsafe and very deadly

Hate to lose the author to this great thread


This is my first post...mostly because of the trench safty situation
 
Old 06-18-2009, 04:13 PM
 
Location: Where the sun likes to shine!!
20,548 posts, read 30,394,464 times
Reputation: 88950
ttazzman- Thank you so much for writing in. We will keep that in mind for the containers. Our winds have seemed to disappear in this area so we might not need the tie downs. But thank you for the suggestion.

Believe me I thought about the wall collapsing every second I was in there. Thank you for your concern and I will be careful. I don't want to lose the author either.
 
Old 06-18-2009, 05:09 PM
 
1,292 posts, read 5,001,959 times
Reputation: 1209
Mobile homes are heavy too....but they still get blown around. Anchoring those containers in a similar fashion to mobile homes would be a good idea....
 
Old 06-18-2009, 05:21 PM
 
25 posts, read 84,036 times
Reputation: 20
YL,

Umm, not to be difficult, but I have to agree with ttazzman on the tie downs. I completely missed that they weren't there. I know that area. But the time the winds come up and you realize you should have had them it will be too late to put them in place. I would hate to see you lose the entire power array do to a tornado or severe storm.
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