Icu4dzs
Super Self-Sufficient
- Joined
- May 7, 2010
- Messages
- 1,388
- Reaction score
- 59
- Points
- 208
Hello all,
It has been a while since I kept a journal here. I was having some difficulty with a few less than desirable people who felt it was their business to attempt to censor what I wrote because it exposed not only their inadequacy but their despicable behavior.
Since then I managed to move on. I did have to have the journal pulled down because a woman with evil intent was attempting to cause me problems and I decided to just get it down rather than have to take her to court. I despise that kind of nonsense but I know what she was up to was no good.
Since I last wrote things have moved forward on the farm. All the buildings now have steel roof so I am no longer worried about leaking roofs and water damage to my buildings. Not much work has been done on the canning shed but then I have been quite busy with work and that has kept me about 100 miles away from home for about 4 days a week. That is now over so I can be home more often and just work one or two weekends as I need.
I did manage to continue my approach to self-sufficiency and my dog, Buddy is being himself, but not the least helpful. He is such a demanding soul. He would play "fetch the stick 24/7/365 if I could do it...which I can not. My right arm can't throw overhand since an injury in Viet Nam when I had to throw some frags one night to protect my patients. I had been instructed on the "proper way to throw them" but I don't think the enemy was willing to wait till I had "assumed the position" so I threw them as hard as I could and I hurt my rotator cuff. Now I can't throw a baseball without pain...which is a bummer because I used to have a pretty good arm as a kid. All that is in the past now but Buddy still wants to chase that stick...so I try.
Monday was interesting. I went to see my friend who is for all intents and purposes the 21st century blacksmith (in a way) because he makes things out of steel (he calls it IRON). I had told him several months ago about wanting to make a rocket stove big enough to heat my metal shop which has about 900 square feet (roughly 30 x 30) I gave him a copy of the plans that ZeroFossilFuel drew up and photographed of his shop heater which was similar to the "rocket mass heater" but somewhat more sophisticated in some areas of design. He liked the idea but because he has sold his farm, he is getting out of the "making things" business and has been spending all his time, taking things apart and getting rid of all that he has collected over his life time so he can live in town. This was NOT a happy thing for him but his heart is giving him difficulty so his wife put her foot down. He still goes to the shop every day but is working to dissolve his entire life of working with steel...an activity that clearly "breaks his heart" from a different perspective.
At any rate, when I got there he showed me a piece of 6" square steel tubing that was 1/4" thick and about six feet long. He suggested I try making one of the rocket stoves out of that before I started cutting up 20 foot lengths of 5" square steel tubing. 1/4" thick steel is not going to "burn through" in MY lifetime...you can bet on that.
I did a couple of quick calculations and told him how long to make the cuts since he has a power hack saw that cuts accurately on the 45* angle. We cut that tubing into three pieces each on the 45* and stood them up to look like the "J" of a rocket mass heater. The cuts were amazingly accurate so we welded them together and I took it home.
So today, I set this monster up. (yes, it weighs nearly 100 pounds but I was able to lift it a short distance) I put it up on top of a pedestal I made out of concrete blocks and supported it with some more concrete blocks. I took some paper and a few small dry pieces of 2x4 that were cut off at the corners and put them into it. I lit the paper and the wood began to burn but for quite a while the fire was coming back toward the short part of the "J" not going up the long side. I spent a little more time on it and before too long, I had this thing buring like the Rocket stove it is designed to be. I have an infra-red thermometer and places on the pipes were greater than 500*. The thermometer only goes up to 500* and I know that the one part where the long side of the "J" goes up was at least 497* in one spot.
I surmised that the problem with getting the combustion chamber to draw the fire in was that the temperature of the tubing was still quite cool...in relative terms (it was about 80*F in the shop today.) No problem with it though after I got the entire tubing hotter. In fact, I was able to put a 5" log in the combustion chamber and it burned beautifully. I was amazed that I was able to put such a large piece of wood into the chamber but that is why I made it out of 6" tubing.
I got a hot water heater tank which is about 17" in diameter for the outside of the heater and found some chimney flu that is 8" square for surrounding the upright which will be filled with the insulating material (either vermiculite or perlite). When I cover this thing with the water heater tank, it will be rather large so I have to put it in one place and then leave it there. My guess is that with the 900 sq. ft floor space and the 20 foot high ceiling (think quonset hut) I am convinced that this thing will be able to heat my shop so I can work in it during the winter. I am somewhat concerned about clean out because of how long I need to keep a fire going while I work in there but I do believe it will overcome much of the -25*F on those days and the average 17*F on the other days. I will see what it takes. Surely there will be enough heat to work but I don't know what will happen when I leave at night unless I put a really big log in it and do what I can to control the loss of sparks, etc to prevent a fire. I think I can do it but when it gets that hot, the wood will burn faster than I'd like. O well, the proof will come this winter for sure.
The other good news (at least to me) was the find I made on his scrap pile. There was a 6 gallon Surge Bucket milker just sitting there waiting to be sent to the scrap yard which I immediately grabbed and offered more than the scrap price. I cleaned it and did a little work on it to be sure it would function and all I need now is to create -12.5 lbs pressure and it will milk my beautiful Buttercup!...I am soooooo happy.
I did call the company who sells parts for it and ordered some new inflators and repair parts for the "mechanism". I was so glad to talk to the lady on the phone because she owns/milks cows and was able to be very helpful with what I needed. I can't wait to see it work but then I am NOT ready to milk just yet. I need to be able to be home 7 days a week and not miss a milking. Buttercup deserves good treatment as do all my animals.
More later...
It has been a while since I kept a journal here. I was having some difficulty with a few less than desirable people who felt it was their business to attempt to censor what I wrote because it exposed not only their inadequacy but their despicable behavior.
Since then I managed to move on. I did have to have the journal pulled down because a woman with evil intent was attempting to cause me problems and I decided to just get it down rather than have to take her to court. I despise that kind of nonsense but I know what she was up to was no good.
Since I last wrote things have moved forward on the farm. All the buildings now have steel roof so I am no longer worried about leaking roofs and water damage to my buildings. Not much work has been done on the canning shed but then I have been quite busy with work and that has kept me about 100 miles away from home for about 4 days a week. That is now over so I can be home more often and just work one or two weekends as I need.
I did manage to continue my approach to self-sufficiency and my dog, Buddy is being himself, but not the least helpful. He is such a demanding soul. He would play "fetch the stick 24/7/365 if I could do it...which I can not. My right arm can't throw overhand since an injury in Viet Nam when I had to throw some frags one night to protect my patients. I had been instructed on the "proper way to throw them" but I don't think the enemy was willing to wait till I had "assumed the position" so I threw them as hard as I could and I hurt my rotator cuff. Now I can't throw a baseball without pain...which is a bummer because I used to have a pretty good arm as a kid. All that is in the past now but Buddy still wants to chase that stick...so I try.
Monday was interesting. I went to see my friend who is for all intents and purposes the 21st century blacksmith (in a way) because he makes things out of steel (he calls it IRON). I had told him several months ago about wanting to make a rocket stove big enough to heat my metal shop which has about 900 square feet (roughly 30 x 30) I gave him a copy of the plans that ZeroFossilFuel drew up and photographed of his shop heater which was similar to the "rocket mass heater" but somewhat more sophisticated in some areas of design. He liked the idea but because he has sold his farm, he is getting out of the "making things" business and has been spending all his time, taking things apart and getting rid of all that he has collected over his life time so he can live in town. This was NOT a happy thing for him but his heart is giving him difficulty so his wife put her foot down. He still goes to the shop every day but is working to dissolve his entire life of working with steel...an activity that clearly "breaks his heart" from a different perspective.
At any rate, when I got there he showed me a piece of 6" square steel tubing that was 1/4" thick and about six feet long. He suggested I try making one of the rocket stoves out of that before I started cutting up 20 foot lengths of 5" square steel tubing. 1/4" thick steel is not going to "burn through" in MY lifetime...you can bet on that.
I did a couple of quick calculations and told him how long to make the cuts since he has a power hack saw that cuts accurately on the 45* angle. We cut that tubing into three pieces each on the 45* and stood them up to look like the "J" of a rocket mass heater. The cuts were amazingly accurate so we welded them together and I took it home.
So today, I set this monster up. (yes, it weighs nearly 100 pounds but I was able to lift it a short distance) I put it up on top of a pedestal I made out of concrete blocks and supported it with some more concrete blocks. I took some paper and a few small dry pieces of 2x4 that were cut off at the corners and put them into it. I lit the paper and the wood began to burn but for quite a while the fire was coming back toward the short part of the "J" not going up the long side. I spent a little more time on it and before too long, I had this thing buring like the Rocket stove it is designed to be. I have an infra-red thermometer and places on the pipes were greater than 500*. The thermometer only goes up to 500* and I know that the one part where the long side of the "J" goes up was at least 497* in one spot.
I surmised that the problem with getting the combustion chamber to draw the fire in was that the temperature of the tubing was still quite cool...in relative terms (it was about 80*F in the shop today.) No problem with it though after I got the entire tubing hotter. In fact, I was able to put a 5" log in the combustion chamber and it burned beautifully. I was amazed that I was able to put such a large piece of wood into the chamber but that is why I made it out of 6" tubing.
I got a hot water heater tank which is about 17" in diameter for the outside of the heater and found some chimney flu that is 8" square for surrounding the upright which will be filled with the insulating material (either vermiculite or perlite). When I cover this thing with the water heater tank, it will be rather large so I have to put it in one place and then leave it there. My guess is that with the 900 sq. ft floor space and the 20 foot high ceiling (think quonset hut) I am convinced that this thing will be able to heat my shop so I can work in it during the winter. I am somewhat concerned about clean out because of how long I need to keep a fire going while I work in there but I do believe it will overcome much of the -25*F on those days and the average 17*F on the other days. I will see what it takes. Surely there will be enough heat to work but I don't know what will happen when I leave at night unless I put a really big log in it and do what I can to control the loss of sparks, etc to prevent a fire. I think I can do it but when it gets that hot, the wood will burn faster than I'd like. O well, the proof will come this winter for sure.
The other good news (at least to me) was the find I made on his scrap pile. There was a 6 gallon Surge Bucket milker just sitting there waiting to be sent to the scrap yard which I immediately grabbed and offered more than the scrap price. I cleaned it and did a little work on it to be sure it would function and all I need now is to create -12.5 lbs pressure and it will milk my beautiful Buttercup!...I am soooooo happy.
I did call the company who sells parts for it and ordered some new inflators and repair parts for the "mechanism". I was so glad to talk to the lady on the phone because she owns/milks cows and was able to be very helpful with what I needed. I can't wait to see it work but then I am NOT ready to milk just yet. I need to be able to be home 7 days a week and not miss a milking. Buttercup deserves good treatment as do all my animals.
More later...
