Discovering my freedom in Minnesota

[BillSchiller]

Steve, thanks for your input.
I see the plug you are referring to. FYI, I have 80’ of PEX tubing in the floor. Are you suggesting the pump from the engine is strong enough to push the coolant all the wat through or are you thinking I should get an auxiliary pump with pwm to control the flow?
Also, where do you propose to return the coolant back to the engine?

[SteveUnruh]

Yes BillS I am sure that the belt driven engine water pump would be strong enough to flow through your slab pex. Think about it and the pump when the thermostat opens has to be able to massive flow through the radiator core.
Look at heater return line on all of your current vehicles and equipment’s.
Return lines NEVER into the lower radiator. Always into the lower block/water pump radiator return. Look and there even may be a plug down there.

Take the fellows too hot for pex seriously. Plastic and pex failures with neighbors and families systems why I have insisted on old style sweated jointed copper piping in all of my systems. Learning to sweat/solder copper piping is actually fun. Brazing metals is fun too. Stick and MIG welding is either work or blinding boring. TIG is back to two hands and one foot challenging fun again.

Anything you add for control beyond just a manual flow valve will get complicated to design; WILL sooner or later have system failures requiring pin-point diagnosis and specialty parts replacing.
I do not know the force water furnace flow control valves they are referring to.
What you choose to use DO invest in a spare set-aside components!!
Pretend if you do not have it on-hand, or could make it, that it does not exist.

You raising chickens now and freezing them to NOT have to be dependent on the drive-to, meat market counters.
Imho, DIY energy making should be the same.
Especially if you are out Rural, off-grid.
Keep you systems, simple, robust and easy to repair. Make no hesitation sacrificing the great gods of idealism’s, and perfectionism’s to achieve this.
Gasoline chainsaws are wonderful. Electric chainsaws are good too. Swede/bow-saw backs them up.
But Always Have A Good Sharp Worked Proven AXE.
Steve Unruh

[rustyold36]

Nice power plant Bill. What Is the fuel consumption of something like that at half load supposed to be?

[Wallace]

Not the J series I thought it might be.
Probably from japan ,maybe Kubota.

Good unit from the looks of it.
Those Japanese industrial engines are among the finest.

Jim and Bill are showing two different generators I found confusing.
Green one is an Onan of the 60s vintage, other I can not be sure of.

[rustyold36]

Wallace my 15.0 JC is a 1974. I believe Bill’s is a 10 KW with a Perkins diesel.

[BillSchiller]

This is what I’ve been up to.
I received a stack of rough cut lumber from a neighbor who thought it was Black Ash. It turns out not even a 1/4 of it is Ash and the rest is Poplar. I decided to use the Ash on the floor and the Poplar on the ceiling.
Sized up the room for some plumbing. Because the well doesn’t run under ground into the house, I chose to use a 55 gallon Stainless Steel drum as a reservoir. I can fill it from the well right outside from a switch in the house. I will have an overflow spill outlet outside for when the tank is full. When the well is shut off, the outside water will drain back into the well casing so it doesn’t freeze.
The SS barrel will have a RV pump mounted underneath to pressurize the system and pumps 3 gallons a minute. I have a propane on demand water heater. We will still have an outhouse because I don’t want a septic tank as of yet.

[rustyold36]

Looking good Bill .I like the Idea of a reservoir.in the house . A few years back I switched to a smaller pressure tank on my well to keep a more consistent pressure but now I don’t have the volume I want between my larger generator runs.

[Carl]

Those RV pumps are very good, but will fail at some point. It might be good to have a spare on hand.

[BillSchiller]

Yes, as Steve says, have a spare on the shelf. I have that spare.
The other way I look at it is, we have lived without the system I am setting up for a year now. For us to go back to what we are doing now isn’t a problem.

[dbaillie]

Nice bill. Here in cottage country drain back systems are popular for waterfront homes. We used a similar system to yours for the first 4 years. One 12 volt pump to fill the tank another to preasurize the house.
Best regards, David Baillie

[Bobmac]

Nice job Bill, I like how you installed it. Simple.
Bob

[wd_breeden]

The belt-driven Par pumps are more durable but, they cost a bunch. You should be able to find one cheap on C/L
They’re also quieter.

[BillSchiller]

It’s been a long couple of weeks. I took a stack of old rough cut lumber, planed, sanded and ripped them to dimensions for the floor walls and ceiling so I would be ready to install some pseudo plumbing. We found this old claw foot tub for $90 and refinished it. It still needs another coat but got to cold outside to paint.
For the last year we have been hauling water in 5 gallons at a time for all our needs. Now we can fill up 55 gallons at a time. The 2" inlet has a built in overflow protection outside. Our house will maintain only a grey water system emptying buckets from under the sink. The bathtub will drain into a 55 gallon barrel outside that will have wheels or skids mounted to drain around the property.
The water is pressurized with a 120 volt RV pump and automatically shuts off. A pump is needed for the flow sensors in the on demand propane water heater. We have a mini clothes washer that will fit under the 55 gallon drum in the picture.
Still much more work to do.

[BillSchiller]

Here’s the water hookup and overflow protection. It’s an 1 1/2" going through the wall and the pipe extending upward is 3/4"

[BillSchiller]

Here’s a video of how it works. The tub and laundry drains need to be installed yet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uGG_VHLBhQ

[don_mannes]

So does the wood burning stove in the main part of the house have enough umph to heat the addition too? Do you have to leave the door open or did you cut vent registers high and low between the rooms?

[Carl]

That looks real cozy and efficient. I’ve have the same water heater as you for 3 or 4 years, works good. Keep a spare set of batteries.

[BillSchiller]

If I leave the door open, the heat distributes fine…so far. I may have a different story for you when it’s -30. I do have a plan B. Last year I bought a ventless fish house heater and it will be placed in the new area with a CO detector.

[Chris]

What’s the brand/model of that water heater? I’ve been looking at the Ecotemp L5 which looks very similar.

[BillSchiller]

Hi Chris, It’s a Marey GA10LP. It does say “Made in China” and I haven’t received great results so far with such products. I bought this last Fall, so hopefully it will be a good product.