Blackbelt
11-08-2010, 11:00 AM
One of my salesmen(and friend) lives in rural Ohio. He has always been pretty good about trying to "stay off the grid" as much as possible. He also loves to work on things(like cars).
He recently sent me some pictures of a few things he has done at his place. First of all, he built several "solar heaters" Here are a few pictures of them, along with his explanation:
Here are the pics of my homemade solar heaters that I slide into the windows each fall. There are three south facing windows and these put out over 100 degrees each inside and use no electricity. The air gets warmed up on the top chamber and rises into the house. Cold air is pulled through an opening on the bottom ( inside ) and it keeps circulating when the sun is out
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v103/davepenn/11210download120.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v103/davepenn/11210download122.jpg
He also has a wood stove, so he very seldom has to fire up his furnace.
In addition, he put a solar panel on the roof of his barn/workshop. He wired up 12V lights, and even used a recycled beer can as a reflector
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v103/davepenn/11210download113.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v103/davepenn/11210download114.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v103/davepenn/11210download115.jpg
For the final picture, i will let him explain:
How many times do you need just a small bucket of water to rinse something off or just your hands?
Another way of using up stuff laying around to screw the utilities......
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v103/davepenn/11210download118.jpg
In the picture of the solar panel, that is the nose of his red smart fortwo peaking out of the barn...
He recently sent me some pictures of a few things he has done at his place. First of all, he built several "solar heaters" Here are a few pictures of them, along with his explanation:
Here are the pics of my homemade solar heaters that I slide into the windows each fall. There are three south facing windows and these put out over 100 degrees each inside and use no electricity. The air gets warmed up on the top chamber and rises into the house. Cold air is pulled through an opening on the bottom ( inside ) and it keeps circulating when the sun is out
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v103/davepenn/11210download120.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v103/davepenn/11210download122.jpg
He also has a wood stove, so he very seldom has to fire up his furnace.
In addition, he put a solar panel on the roof of his barn/workshop. He wired up 12V lights, and even used a recycled beer can as a reflector
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v103/davepenn/11210download113.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v103/davepenn/11210download114.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v103/davepenn/11210download115.jpg
For the final picture, i will let him explain:
How many times do you need just a small bucket of water to rinse something off or just your hands?
Another way of using up stuff laying around to screw the utilities......
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v103/davepenn/11210download118.jpg
In the picture of the solar panel, that is the nose of his red smart fortwo peaking out of the barn...