Winter Wonderland

Latest Accomplishments

Drinking Water Filter Installed – I had been saving this for a rainy day so during a nice drizzly morning, I finished what I had started a couple months earlier. This is a 0.5 micron filter and is downstream of the 3 micron whole-house filter.

Ozone Generator Refinements – The first version (0.1) of the ozone generator only ran while the sun was shining. Also, the air dryer was pretty skimpy, and the ozone generator plates were unnecessarily energized 100% of the time. The 1.0 version has a larger air dryer made from an old water filter canister filled with silica gel. There is also a battery to extend run time past sundown and a cycle timer to regulate the amount of ozone by switching the generator plates on and off. Click the following picture to read the labels.

Larger Inverter Installed – The old inverter was only 400 Watt and it had developed a nasty squeal because the cooling fan was going out. I had a brand new 1KW unit sitting around so I made some new cables and installed it. While I was at it, I topped up the cells with distilled water and cleaned off the accumulated corrosion salts. Now, we can drain the battery faster ;-)

Solar Site Survey – I’ve taken the time to make a preliminary survey of the site where I plan to locate my PV array. Mainly I wanted to know if the cabin would present any interference. I pieced together a simple survey instrument from stuff I purchased at Harbor Freight Tools. To make sure I knew where South was, I did the solar noon measurement first. Then proceeding from East to West in 5 degree increments, I measured the elevation angle of the nearest tree in the line of sight. This was a first-pass measurement and did not include the north-of-east and north-of-west swing of the Summer sun. As you can see, I have many trees to cut. I’ll use some of them to terrace our future vegetable garden.

Repaired Bath House Shower – As mentioned in an earlier post, the bath house pipes were inadvertently left full of water and a hard freeze did its work. I went ahead and plumbed the piping into the main water line adding a shut-off valve and a filter. The interior damage afforded the opportunity to do a little rearranging to accommodate a piece of wood on which to mount both the shower head and a more convenient shower shut-off (because the shower head leaks). Also, I added hot and cold water stubs for a future basin.

Lovely Snowfall

This is by far the most snow I have seen here since owning the property. I am sorry I missed it. These pictures (and the Turkey tracks below) were taken the last day of February, several days after the actual show storm. That’s my brother Allen on the right. He came up for a visit from southern Florida where they just don’t get this kind of beauty.

Re-Thinking Again

I have discovered the error of my thinking. The ozone distribution pump I built and installed in the large water storage tank works too well! It sucks the sediment off the bottom of the tank and thoroughly stirs it into the water. For this system to work, I would have to go several days without water while I waited for it to settle enough that my filters were not instantly clogged. In short, I’ve got more work to do.
The plan is now to use the large storage tank for just that – storage of clean processed water – and not treatment. I am constructing a small building on top of the rock above the storage tank to house my water treatment system. This system will consist of eight 50 gallon plastic barrels, the ozone generator, and the solar power panels to run it. Each barrel will have separate fill and drain connections as well as individual ozone distribution pumps.

Using this system I can produce 400 gallons of clean potable water every three or four days. I am hopeful that 100 gallons a day will be ample for two persons. At any point in time, I should have about 1000 gallons of water in reserve should we experience drought or company. :-)
For other uses, such as watering the garden or washing the tractor, I will use water straight from the well.

New Developments

As you may know, the Federal Government is offering an attractive incentive for installing certain alternative energy systems including solar electric. The incentive is 30% of the total cost of a system (including labor) taken directly off your tax liability. This program ends December 31, 2016 meaning the system has to be installed and operational by that time. I have known about this for a couple of years but was unaware of the fact that the credit can be spread across multiple tax years. Duh!! Well, while I had been planning on installing a system early in 2016, now I realize I have to do it NOW in order to fully realize the tax benefit. So, I have two major projects to complete before the end of this year.

Since we are expecting company in June and July, I had wanted to get the water system up and running before then. Good thing I just got laid off again! Starting April 1^st, I’ll be bustin’ hump in the woods to finish the water treatment plant as well as preparing the site for the solar electric.

Wildlife

As always, I am happy to report the presence of wildlife. It signals an attractive place to live. Below are:

• Turkey tracks in snow. I counted at least 11 distinct trails. Looks like a good size flock. I’ve never seen more than 2 or 3 at a time before.

• Turkey Vulture. This is the second time I’ve seen this one. The first time, there were two of them in the same spot. I’m wondering if there is a nest nearby.

• Woodcock. Amber tells me this is a very shy woodland cousin of the sandpiper. She’s jealous that I’ve seen one.

Year-End Closeout

Well, the year is nearly over. Here is a summary of what has been happening since mid-October...

Kitchen Sink Faucets Installed

Now if I only had water in the pipes :-(  The little tap on the right is for drinking water. It has its own 0.5 micron activated charcoal filter.

Figuring out how to treat my well water has been a struggle. As I mentioned in my post, Hot Showers On-Demand, I had discovered the power of oxygen to rid my water of iron. Well, I kept looking for a solution along the lines of this new discovery and finally discovered the incredible oxidizing power of ozone (O₃). Ozone is a kind of super active oxygen that has the power to oxidize not only the free metals in my water but also algae, bacteria, cysts, viruses, and simple organic matter. It also has the wonderful feature of a short half-life. This means that within minutes, the ozone has broken down into simple atmospheric oxygen.

I ordered a bunch of stuff and have been experimenting with a system that I will share with you in a future post.

Firewood Cut and Split

A Summer storm had brought down a nice size Hickory tree so I decided it was time to start gathering firewood. Carolyn and I moved all of the old firewood up onto the porch and stacked the newly cut Hickory on pressure treated 4x4 scraps.

I cut down and cut up a couple more dead trees from out in front of the cabin.  How do you like my new hand-powered log splitter?  It is slower than using a splitting maul but a heck of a lot easier on my back.

Clean Tank and Install Ozone Circulator

Cleaning the tank was not fun. I used a 50/50 mixture of water and chlorine bleach with a sponge to wipe down all interior surfaces. I probably should have had a fan or blower pushing fresh air inside but I was in a hurry. And gasping for air made me go even faster.

This funny looking device is my ozone circulator. It consists of an array of 6 lengths of  1/2-inch PVC each about 2 feet long. At the lower end of each tube is a 1-1/2 to 1/2 PVC reducer which makes an inverted funnel shape. Inside the reducer is an aquarium air stone; the O₃ is bubbled through it. As the bubbles rise, they carry with them water from the lower part of the tank and circulate it upward. With all 6 stones bubbling with 15 psi, this array should be pumping about 20 gallons per minute.

The array is suspended from 20# monofiliment about 6" above the tank floor.

Access for the ozone (and for fill water) is through a 2" opening in the top of the tank.

Set Up Power for Ozone Generator

I took the 45 watt panels I was using for the cabin and added to them another set I had stored in the attic. This should be adequate for the O₃ generator and small air pump that will circulate the ozone inside the water tank.

The O₃ generator works really well but the small aquarium pump I was using for circulation was not strong enough to overcome the water pressure when the tank was full. I have another one on order.

Install New Solar for Cabin

Since I took the solar panels for the O₃ generator, I had to replace them to keep the battery bank for the cabin charged. Instead of 45 watts, I now have 200 watts charging the batteries. Fire up that radio, Carolyn! We've got juice to spare!

Repair Broken Pipes

I was so proud of having a hot water shower! Now I have to re-plumb this part of the RW water system. I had drained down the water line that supplied the shower in preparation for Winter but I totally forgot that there was an isolation valve inside the bathhouse that should have been opened. You live, things go wrong, you correct, you learn. This weekend I'll begin the corrections.

Everything but the Kitchen Sink - Faucet that is

Finally, I am done with the plumbing under the cabin (except for insulating the hot water pipe). Next is purchasing and installing a faucet.

Then all I have to do is get some water in that storage tank!