Livin' off THE GRID

[jaqeboy]

Not sure how much alt. energy stuff will be there, but there's a Going Green Expo in Boston this weekend. Several of us are going down to it.

The website: http://goinggreenexpos.com/Attendee/AttendeesBoston.html

PS: you can get in free by saying the secret password at the door: "The River is green" (FM 92.5, "The River" is co-sponsoring the event)

[Free libertarian]

 We haven't used our generator for weeks now, this sunny weather sure helps make electricity and dry the mud holes out here in the sticks.

Unfortunately we don't make enough to power a high wattage heat lamp, and still have enough for other "treats" like lights, a small tv and a laptop.
So the day old chicks I'll be getting in a few weeks will need other means of keeping warm until they feather out.  Maybe I'll keep them under my arms? Nah, pants? Nope, already some type of pecker down there... hmmm, so how will I keep them warm? 
 
I'm trying to come up with my own breed of hen that will readily hatch their own chicks out and nurture them.  Most of the commercial layers these days have been breed to lay eggs and aren't very good moms.
I had one hen that defied the odds a few years ago and she actually 'home schooled" her chicks, she's long gone but I still have a rooster from that brood. Funny thing is, he's gentle unlike many roosters.
His dad ruled the roost and his brother "Second String" always bullied him, so "Third String" had to roost way up in the rafters of the hen house away from the hens and hardly ever, uh "got any". Moral of the story, dad and brother got eaten by a fox in their macho attempt to protect the women folk and meek old Third String now gets all he wants.  There's a moral in there somewhere for the testosterone crowd I think.     

Anyhow, the point of this post is, until I have a mothering hen, I'm looking for information on nonelectric sources of consistent warmth suitable to use in a brooder box for 20 baby chicks or so.  Has anyone ever used the old kerosene fired brooders?  Know where I could get one cheap to keep my chicks warm?  As every country boy knows, chicks like it hot ( about 90* until their feathers come in) and yes I'm getting too old to keep doing double entendre jokes effectively.

 
     


   
   
 

[KBCraig]

I don't have any advice about a brooder, but Old English game hens are excellent mothers.

[Riddler]

We haven't used our generator for weeks now, this sunny weather sure helps make electricity and dry the mud holes out here in the sticks.

Unfortunately we don't make enough to power a high wattage heat lamp, and still have enough for other "treats" like lights, a small tv and a laptop.
So the day old chicks I'll be getting in a few weeks will need other means of keeping warm until they feather out.  Maybe I'll keep them under my arms? Nah, pants? Nope, already some type of pecker down there... hmmm, so how will I keep them warm? 
 
I'm trying to come up with my own breed of hen that will readily hatch their own chicks out and nurture them.  Most of the commercial layers these days have been breed to lay eggs and aren't very good moms.
I had one hen that defied the odds a few years ago and she actually 'home schooled" her chicks, she's long gone but I still have a rooster from that brood. Funny thing is, he's gentle unlike many roosters.
His dad ruled the roost and his brother "Second String" always bullied him, so "Third String" had to roost way up in the rafters of the hen house away from the hens and hardly ever, uh "got any". Moral of the story, dad and brother got eaten by a fox in their macho attempt to protect the women folk and meek old Third String now gets all he wants.  There's a moral in there somewhere for the testosterone crowd I think.     

Anyhow, the point of this post is, until I have a mothering hen, I'm looking for information on nonelectric sources of consistent warmth suitable to use in a brooder box for 20 baby chicks or so.  Has anyone ever used the old kerosene fired brooders?  Know where I could get one cheap to keep my chicks warm?  As every country boy knows, chicks like it hot ( about 90* until their feathers come in) and yes I'm getting too old to keep doing double entendre jokes effectively.

do you have a solar hot water system at the house?

[Free libertarian]

 ...we sort of had a solar hot water system last year. It was a very rudimentary set up for warming several flat black spray painted 1 gallon water jugs. It did work for using our camp shower (3 gallons only needed per "shower" ) and washing up.
However due to intense pressure from the Missus, I have been directed to come up with a better system.
  This year I am gathering supplies to hook up a 30 gallon plastic barrel in a glassed in enclosure.
  It's possible that the enclosure will produce inside heat temperatures over 150 degrees on really hot days.

Last years cheapo hastily made plastic covered setup broke two thermometers that registered as high as 125* F .  The whole idea is to face it in good sun exposure, glaze it so as not to lose heat to the atmosphere, paint the storage device (barrel) black and employ reflective material on the walls and floor to get as much light intensity on the barrel as possible. Think of the inside of a car and how hot the dash gets...sort of the same theory.

The solar water heater I intend to build is known as a "batch heater" and is probably the simplest type.
Other types use a network of copper tubing and retail for big bucks...hence my home grown attempt.

Last year at Solar Fest in Vermont several older but functional heaters were for sale cheap, unfortunately they wouldn't fit in my car.  I'm not a Solar expert, but sometimes play one on TV. 
If anyone is close to Grafton, I'm willing to show people how our Solar electric is set up and give my two cents worth on what to expect price wise etc.   

[LotharSNL]

Have any of you considered one of the Earthship designs?  Know of any in NH already?  I've been considering the idea of an Earthship subdivision, completely off grid, but I'm not certain how well they'd hold up in NH.  Most of the ones I've seen are in New Mexico (I think).  I believe I came across one in Canada on the net, but it wasn't finished.

[John Edward Mercier]

You'd have to do the math to see if thermal mass or superinsulation has the best results.
NH is nicknamed the Granite State for a reason... so depending on property building an earthship structure might mean 'importing' soil. There is a local home earth sheltered home, and even my superinsulated uses earth berming to protect against winter gusts. Also a cordwood home (another type of thermal mass) could work well, since the area has log homes.
Really a lot of choices dependent on desires, skills, and resources.

[reteo]

Have any of the mad scientists inventors on this forum tried using Stirling Engines in a solar generating capacity?

[Lloyd Danforth]

I've seen models.  I've never seen them do any work.  I don't know if a big one would run anything useful.

[reteo]

I've been considering making a few, putting the hot side in a box with four mirrored sides, a glass top, and a black-painted metal bottom; the idea is to use the greenhouse effect in order to generate sufficient heat to get some decent performance, and to do this in multiples in order to generate electricity in parallel.

Of course, I don't know if it'd be a waste of time or not, but thought if someone else had tried this, it might help me figure out if I'm just running after another perpetual-motion impossibility.

[John Edward Mercier]

Since you'd be turning solar into mechanical energy... it wouldn't be a perpetual-motion machine.
The question would be how efficiently it can be done?

[reteo]

Since you'd be turning solar into mechanical energy... it wouldn't be a perpetual-motion machine.

Poor choice of words on my part.  I was referring to its feasibility as a generator; Its principles seem sound enough, but the question would be, with its friction-sensitivity, how likely would such a device work with home-shop-fabricated parts, whose precision does not approach the levels of professional fabrication facilities?

[jaqeboy]

A company in Western Mass is working on an integrated Stirling Engine/Generator product intended for large plant use where there is a lot of waste heat. I'll see if I can find their site. I know one of the prinicples and I know last I talked to them, some of the propritary  info was still not publicized, awaiting patent filings.

[Russell Kanning]

It does make sense .... even if inefficient ... it is better than just releasing heat.