The"Tech tree".

[kmccune]

Yeah It doesn't rain everyday in Pennsylvania. Sometimes it snows. My solar panels were under a foot of snow February before last.

When it gets cold around here,I boil water and cook beans on the little "Defender" wood stove, sort of a "twofur"( my flashing never leaks on my chimney either)

 

[kmccune]

Here is an example of a person riding a bike to do local errands.

Why not run some goats? Yes, they produce some methane, but they also work for free 24/7 and produce A1 level BBQ for free, without gas or diesel, plus they are cute and fun to be around. I was encouraged to share a new local review from someone who is using an ebike to run local errands instead of a car.



debbie davison

1 review

a day ago
New



Yes! Yes! Rick is amazing! I had my husband”s bike converted to an e-bike last year and have been jealous ever since. Brought it in for a tune up and Rick had a pink, woman’s, Dutch-style bike just waiting to be converted! Light weight and comfy so I said yes to it! (So many others I have tried are just too big, heavy and bulky) Just days later I am enjoying riding all over Petaluma with ease! Rick even made custom colored paint to match my pink bike and cover the black cable straps… now that’s perfection and going the extra mile! I know I have a one-of-a-kind, custom-made-for-me-bike!! Honestly, word of mouth is his business model, so I’m shouting loud…. PEDALUMA FOR YOUR E-BIKE NEEDS!!!!
View attachment 116829

Two troubles with Goats( otherwise marvelous,) you need to make sure they have water, and Bears love to chow down on them. One of my acquaintances lost His favorite Goat to a bear attack.

I want to look into a big battery backup but a portable battery and inverter packaged with 4 panel looks like a minimum starter for off grid electric power. @Solarcabin did a video on it somewhere.

Do not diss the LA battery bank till you do research, LA can last for decades if properly sized the trick is to not overwork these things, it may take a good bit more of this type of battery( Iron Edison good bet as well)initially . Lithium batteries are very good( of course lead acid has seen some dramatic increases in the past year( scalping again) 96% recycle rate, not bad eh?)For all their glory and benefit the Lithium batteries have some nasty quirks as do any "accumulators.

 

[indianajo]

Let me add this basswood and Locust do not have to "trash trees Locust given a little time will produce superlative firewood and

What happens to trash trees when a scrub lot is sold, is they bulldoze the lot into a pile then burn them. Wonder how many BTU that chews up? Certainly causes erosion from destroying the land surface. This land is not flat.
Firewood is free around here. Sits on the curb endlessly unless people cut it up small enough and put it in trash cans for the city to haul to the dump. I think I lose more heat opening the door to feed my wood stove than I gain by burning the wood. If you store the wood inside your house is full of insects as bark beatles & termites. Termites in a wood house, how natural!
My natural gas heat is blackout proof. No electricity required. I don't think there has been a natural gas failure in living memory in this county.
As far as backup power, those 20 ah 40 v LiFePo4 batteries @ batteryclearancewarehouse are US made & apparently good. Military surplus, BAE systems. $70+$50 freight. The case is garbage, pvc plastic that broke the ends off in shipment. It is costing me ~$50 each to package them to ride the bicycle. A stack of those would make a good solar or wind energy storage bank. OTOH I haven't seen any 32-44 vdc to 120 vac inverters.

 

[Art Deco]

What happens to trash trees when a scrub lot is sold, is they bulldoze the lot into a pile then burn them. Wonder how many BTU that chews up? Certainly causes erosion from destroying the land surface. This land is not flat.
Firewood is free around here. Sits on the curb endlessly unless people cut it up small enough and put it in trash cans for the city to haul to the dump. I think I lose more heat opening the door to feed my wood stove than I gain by burning the wood. If you store the wood inside your house is full of insects as bark beatles & termites. Termites in a wood house, how natural!
My natural gas heat is blackout proof. No electricity required. I don't think there has been a natural gas failure in living memory in this cou@Indnty.
As far as backup power, those 20 ah 40 v LiFePo4 batteries @ batteryclearancewarhouse are US made & apparently good. Military surplus, BAE systems. The case is garbage, pvc plastic that broke the ends off in shipment. It is costing me ~$50 each to package them to ride the bicycle. A stack of those would make a good solar or wind energy storage bank. OTOH I haven't seen any 32-44 vdc to 120 vac inverters.

Lots to unpack there @indianajo . Thanks.

 

[dodgeman]

I’ve been cutting firewood the last few days. I had a decent sized hickory to close to the house the was dying and had a pro drop it for me. It’s a different kind of exercise than biking but definitely burns some calories.

We live outside of town, the power does go off at times so it’s great backup heat. We switched from propane to geothermal a few years ago. The only reason it was cost effective was the big tax breaks. Going by memory but it was a $20,000 system that cost around $13,000 after the tax break.

 

[kmccune]

Cool, one of my younger brothers put in a geothermal closed-loop Heat pump system, I helped Him install the ground loop, very happy with it so far. Hickory smells very good burning.

 

[dodgeman]

They directional bored my ground loop in. They also shot the lines into my basement into a hole they dug in the floor that was about 1 foot square.

 

[kmccune]

Bubba's was put in with a 312 Cat excavator, buried around five feet into the ground if memory serves me correctly, the Plumbing group charged the system with several gallons of "Brine", the pipe looked like very heavy duty PE.

 

[PedalUma]

Back to goats for a moment. I just saw a video of goats that fall over when they get excited. Some people will have a dog with them. They sure are cute. Here you can see baby goats climbing a protection dog.

 

[ChezCheese:)]

Tennessee fainting goats, they're called. And you might wonder why anyone would breed for sudden fainting. Apparently, their muscles seize up, and that's why they fall over. This seizing, may work kinda like isotonic exercise, because it builds up their muscles. And what are muscles, but meat. Thus they are raised as meat goats.

Now you know!

 

[PedalUma]

I also heard that fainting goats can be placed one or two into a herd as a sacrifice for a bear or mountain lion attack. Why would the gods make goats out of yummy meat, if they did not intend for us to eat them? They would make a savory pastery from rock if that were the case.
The photo is of Lobster Mac and not Algerian Meatballs. Same idea but with claws.

 

[Art Deco]

When it gets cold around here,I boil water and cook beans on the little "Defender" wood stove, sort of a "twofur"( my flashing never leaks on my chimney either)

"Defender" that was a Vermont Castings stove from a long time ago IIRC. Maybe 50 years ago, even? Mine ( modern soapstone) wouldn't boil water for a long, long time. It might evaporate first.



Boils 2 mugs in 6 minutes on 1300 watts. I need my coffee now.

 

[Art Deco]

Two troubles with Goats( otherwise marvelous,) you need to make sure they have water, and Bears love to chow down on them. One of my acquaintances lost His favorite Goat to a bear attack.

Do not diss the LA battery bank till you do research, LA can last for decades if properly sized the trick is to not overwork these things, it may take a good bit more of this type of battery( Iron Edison good bet as well)initially . Lithium batteries are very good( of course lead acid has seen some dramatic increases in the past year( scalping again) 96% recycle rate, not bad eh?)For all their glory and benefit the Lithium batteries have some nasty quirks as do any "accumulators.

The pair of lead acid deep cycles in my campervan were seven years old when I bought my van and still had some life left, but they were probably plugged in to 110 power most of their lives, and I replaced them with a pair of 70 pound agm batteries. I will usually be plugged in to 110 power also, just like a backup battery on solar. Should go a decade if the van holds together.

 

[Art Deco]

I know all about it. I have heated with wood, in other houses, for years. I just feel that it isn't appropriate when living close to others in town.

I cleaned it all up again. But I will wait until April for the glass door and chimney . Will run the heat pump this season and a bit in high summer for a/c

 

[JRA]

"Defender" that was a Vermont Castings stove from a long time ago IIRC. Maybe 50 years ago, even? Mine ( modern soapstone) wouldn't boil water for a long, long time. It might evaporate first.

View attachment 117577

Boils 2 mugs in 6 minutes on 1300 watts. I need my coffee now.

I believe it was actually called "Defiant". I had one.

 

[Art Deco]

View attachment 117439I’ve been cutting firewood the last few days. I had a decent sized hickory to close to the house the was dying and had a pro drop it for me. It’s a different kind of exercise than biking but definitely burns some calories.

We live outside of town, the power does go off at times so it’s great backup heat. We switched from propane to geothermal a few years ago. The only reason it was cost effective was the big tax breaks. Going by memory but it was a $20,000 system that cost around $13,000 after the tax break.

My solar panels and heat pumps also only made sense b/c of a tax break at the time. The insulation and stuff would pay for itself all alone, but it would take a long time with electric baseboards and a cheap water heater.

 

[Art Deco]

Sort of on the topic of electric transportation rather than electric heating and cooking...no infrastructure required?

Thank @Prairie Dog for the video

 

[PedalUma]

Regarding boomerangs I make one for kids that does not use airfoils. It is totally flat and has three arms. It works solely on the principles of a gyroscope. These come back perfectly every time. I was thinking that Bolas would entangle drones. For smaller drones you could shoot mini bolas from a slingshot. Like when your daughter is sun bathing and a drone flies over the fence.

 

[kmccune]

I also heard that fainting goats can be placed one or two into a herd as a sacrifice for a bear or mountain lion attack. Why would the gods make goats out of yummy meat, if they did not intend for us to eat them? They would make a savory pastery from rock if that were the case.
The photo is of Lobster Mac and not Algerian Meatballs. Same idea but with claws.
View attachment 117447

I saw a video( can't find it now) of a black bear climbing into a pig pen for a bite of pork,it attacked the first pig ineffectually, a small black pig charged out and took the Bear on- the bear capitulated and left( sort of what Putin should do) I do believe they were Vietnamese Pot Belly pigs ( pork might be the "other white meat" sure wasn't yellow)

 

[kmccune]

I believe it was actually called "Defiant". I had one.

I have a little backup stove sold by TSC, it is called 'Defender" Vogelzang had its name on it.