SYSTEM SHORTIES Sun & Wind in Oklahoma Insert Photo We really look forward to each issue of Home Power. I have constructed a number of the electronic circuits that have appeared. We also have made a number of purchases from your advertisers. HP really keeps us in touch with what is happening in renewable energy. We are blessed with abundant sunshine and wind here in central Oklahoma, but people here aren't aware that it's possible to power a home with renewable energy. We give "tours" of our place to anyone who is interested and do what we can to spread the word. We've never actually met anyone else using a wind and PV. So at times we feel kind of alone and HP fills the void. We're only about 900' from a power line but never considered anything but wind and solar power, right from the start. At this point we have about all we need; a 60 year old Aermotor water pump which also provides mechanical energy for a Wincharger with a 12 volt, 40 amp generator and four PV panels of differing age and manufacturer. PV is our main source of electricity with the Wincharger only used during cloudy periods or if were using the tools in the shop or garden. We've never has a back-up generator thanks to the fact that we have two sources of renewable energy. We have one set of (2) Trojan golf cart batteries that have been in use for 11 years. Eighteen months ago we purchased a Sun Frost refrigerator and added two Trojan L-16Ws. We also garden with renewable energy. I've built a rear tined rotary tiller that runs on 12 VDC and have also converted a compost shredder to 12 VDC. Most of our firewood is cut by hand with some help from a Mini Brute 12 volt chainsaw. The most recent project is a battery operated sickle bar mower. It's an old David Bradley (Sears) walking tractor converted to 12 VDC with two golf cart batteries for power and a Jari sickle bar mounted on the front. I have hopes in the future to do a variety of homestead tasks with the electric walking tractor. I hope someday to contribute an article. But it seems any spare time is filled working on some project inspired by Home Power! Keep up the good work. May it always be a joy and don't forget to take a break whenever you need it. Bruce Johnson & Barbara Hagen, Spencer, OK DWH & a side of Composting I was at first turned off by the color cover but greatly understand the importance of making a decisive move toward a mass market at this critical time. I appreciate the effort taken to find the soy based ink and see the tough decision behind the bulk paper question. A Willits company is now working on composting machines to digest toxic wastes, such as printing waste, using horse manure. Limiting color to the cover is my vote. A brief description of our home; eight panels charge 16 Trojan L16s at 24 volts. We use DC for lights and refrigeration. A Trace 2024 inverter provided ac for the power saws to build our home and continues to provide the modern conveniences. Hot water comes from a 4 x 8 Heliodyne solar panel with a Holley Hydro stove insert. Both operate on a thermal siphon to a 55 gallon stainless steel industrial surplus drum for a tank. The panel gives us 55 gallons of scalding hot water. This winter we will test the Holley. We are semi- coastal so freezing weather is limited to a couple of months when we drain the Heliodyne. An Aqua Star with solar option provided hot water until we were ready to go solar. It is now used only when it rains and we don't have a fire or on warm winter days between freezes. A Boli NE composting toilet saves on water and a septic system but also provides high quality compost for our veggie garden. The only hitch is that the NE is not large enough to allow long waits between emptying and so we compost further with a simple setup. A 55 gallon plastic drum with the bottom cut out and holes drilled all around for air makes a perfect low volume composter. We add all kitchen scraps either directly to the toilet or to the drum. Sawdust is also added at both stages. Weeds and yard scrapes go in as well. Every two to six months, when it's full, we tip it over and shovel out the bottom third to half. Wonderful stuff, without any offensive odor. Back into the garden it goes for recycling of the most basic kind. Walt Stillman, POB 536, Point Arena, CA 95468 P.S. I agree with Richard Perez that we tend to focus on equipment rather than people. How about some in-depth interviews, not just with the movers and shakers in the business, most of whom are probably men, but also women of vision whose courage and creativity in passively harvesting natures energy helps move us away from the distraction of our toys to the bounty of the land and sun. Flushing with Rainwater Just when we were building our bathroom I read, in an old issue of Home Power, of a family who built their homestead and said, "The only thing we'd have done differently was collect rainwater for flushing the toilet." I thought, what a great idea! Rainwater is free and doesn't need to be sterile to flush. It can be kept well with a few drops of bleach added monthly. INSERT PHOTOS AND DIAGRAMS The gutter (with leaf trap and screen in the drain hole) goes into the 55 gallon plastic cider barrel with PVC pipe. Epoxy connects and fills the gaps. There is an over flow hose drain and a pop off relief cap. A faucet is screwed into the bottom of the barrel. A "Y" with a cap is used if I ever need to drain the barrel and the other part goes to the toilet via PVC pipe. Inside there are two ball valves, one from the rain barrel and one from the main water supply. When we run out of rain water, we close that valve and open the other one. We just don't open them both or the rain barrel will get filled up by the main water supply. Its been working well for several months and has saved plenty of water. The height of the lower part of the rain barrel is just a few inches above the top of the toilet and, of course, is gravity fed. This works fine for most toilets- ours is a 1.5 gallon flush model- but wouldn't be enough pressure for certain pressure-flush models like the Watersaver(r). I know; we tried it first. The barrel is supported by 2, 4"x4"s and the bathroom wall and 2"x4"s that are all pressure treated. It's covered with a tin roof to keep the water cool (to reduce bacteria buildup if bleach gets low). It's a simple system, works well and save potable water. Thanks for listening. Keep up your fine, informative writing. Larry Behnke, High Springs, FL An Old Friend Love your magazine! You even turned up a source of an old friend in info for rewinding generators for slow-speed (pg. 25, HP19). I still have a Le Joy manual, but haven't seen an "Auto Power" for neigh 40 years! I used to rewind four cylinder Dodge starter generators, just about for fun, in the '40s, using their guidance & learned basics. We had the first wind power on the coast, at our remote ranch 55 miles south of Monterey, CA. Had 56 glass cells @ 2 volts each; came by boat and landed on the beach in 1930. A geared-up 3 to 1 generator had a 12 ft. prop. It worked fine for a total of 19 years, when the batteries finally killed us. We still don't have grid power. I use two panels & 2 T105s with a standby generator for appliances and tools. Couldn't pass up reliving some history, too. Don Harlan, Big Sur, CA COGEN we are now producing all of our electrical and heat needs from firewood fuel, mostly Palo Verde, creosote, and mesquite. These, along with horse manure and paper trash are placed into a "gas producer" where very high temperature oxidation, reduction, and pyrolysis convert these into a combustible gas similar to natural gas but of lower heat content. This fuels our gas engine generator which is used to charge batteries and the waste heat is captured and stored as hot water for home heating. The system consists of: 1. The gas producer which was very difficult to get working. I spent many days in the library reading alternate energy textbooks and articles on the subject, but failed to find any working plans. These units were very common in rural areas from 1890 to 1920 or so, and were used to power small stationary farm engines. It was the producer gas engine that caused the phasing out of small sterling engines, much used from 1880-1900, due to much lower price and greater efficiency. Producer gas engines use about half as much fuel as their Stirling counterparts in small sizes of a few horsepower. Steam engines of this size would also be inefficient and very expensive. I had to build and test several producers before I had one that worked well. The current model was built in two days at a cost of under $50. It has operated well with all fuels, including coal, charcoal, various woods, horse manure, trash, and peat moss. Mixes of these fuels are usually used. 2. A Coleman Powermate 2800 gas engine generator that has been converted for this fuel with a gas mixing valve and by advancing the timing about 4ø. This generator will put out 1400 watts maximum on this fuel. With a 1200 watt load it consumes ten pounds of dry wood per hour. The oil runs very clean and there are no signs of problems. Engine life should be enhanced with this fuel, but it's too early to tell. 3. A dual loop heat exchanger that captures both hot engine generator cooling air and exhaust gases and stores about 30,000 BTUs of heat per hour in 180ø water which provides much more heat than we ever need in Arizona. 4. A Heliotrope HC-75 Battery Charger, which works super. 5. A battery bank consisting of four Trojan L-16Ws, wired in series/parallel providing 12 VDC at 700 amp hour capacity. At our use level, the generator is used for about four hours per day, usually in the evening. 6. A Powerstar inverter that operates electronics. 7. A low voltage wiring system to operate lights and DC cooler motor. This system is a viable supplement or alternative that should make you cringe less when needing to start the generator in terms of both dollars and the environment. Our heat exchangers greatly quiet the noise, and a special mounting arrangement makes it so that we hardly hear it running. A gas engine is an excellent furnace! Anyone that burns firewood for heat will find that a system like this will provide more heat for a given amount of fuel while providing useful electric virtually for free. Gene A. Townsend, 36515 Twin Hawks Lane, Marana, AZ 85653