Spring is Here!

Hello again, it's been a while since I last posted, but that's because nothing has happened up until a few weeks ago. We basically survived through the winter, trying to keep the house warm and the batteries charged using the generator. Our water pipes froze, the drain pipes froze, our vehicles froze, and it seemed like everthing was going wrong!

As you can see in the above picture, we've finally started moving on the major projects that I had planned, and we are right on schedule! The picture shows a 750watt wind turbine on a 27 foot tower spinning in the ever present stiff breeze.

This picture was the turbine just after raising it for the first time. It's mounted on a very sturdy steel tube tower, and stays in place thanks to 4 steel cable wires and anchors buried in the ground. It cost about $1650 for all the parts, including the tower.

Before I raised the turbine itself, I lifted the tower on it's own, and tensioned the guy wires so that the tower was exactly straight up and down. I didn't want to risk my expensive turbine on the first try! Once everything was giggety, I attached the turbine to the pole and raised it up. The turbine is very heavy, probably over 55 lbs, but it was a simple matter to lift it up with the truck! We completed the entire project in about 8 hours, over a couple of days.

First, I strung out three cables almost 200 feet long. I had to drive an hour to find the cable, but it wasn't as expensive as I thought it would be. I bought 954 feet for about $200. It took about 500 feet to connect the turbine, and I've got plenty left over to at least start the next one! The turbine runs three wires to the charge controller, which converts the power to battery style DC, and charges my batteries. I set up the turbine on Saturday, and it is now Monday. We were away from the house for over 24 hours. Before I left, I started the generator and left it to run out of gas. The turbine was spinning, but I wasn't sure how much power would be used.

Well, we got back about 3 hours ago, and the first thing I did was open the battery box. Fully charged! The turbine not only kept the fridge and freezer running, it kept the batteries almost fully charged. When we got back, the wind started picking up like crazy, as it tends to do around here, so I turned on everthing I could think of, washing clothes and dishes, warming up food and such. When the wind is blowing hard like that, we have to take advantage of it!

Normally, we spend $6-10 per day on gas for the generator, not to mention the irritation of having to turn it on all the time. Just today, we've already saved about $10 in gas by having fully charged batteries when we got here!

In addition to the turbine, we also now have permanent running water. I ran a different pipe from the tanks, wrapped it with heat tape, and insulated it. After attaching all the other pipes, I flicked the pump on, and there it was, running hot and cold water! It took me some time to get it working properly, I accidentally forgot to glue one of the joints together, and it popped off. Water was gushing out like crazy, and I was soaked when I went under the house to fix it.

There are a few small things to fix up, a couple pipes that need to be reglued, some roof things that need to be fixed, and sealed with roof tar. Our shed needs to be re-organized, and I need a better way to organize my tools. Once the house is in good shape, clean and whatnot, we can start building the barn.

The final plan for the barn is going to be a rubble trench foundation with a concrete topper, compacted gravel floor, post and beam structure with strawbale infill. The roof will be whatever material is cheapest. I only have a few thousand dollars to spend on this thing, so it has to last!

Stay tuned for the next small project: chickens! I've found a source for heritage breeds of chickens, a little expensive, but I don't want the typical idiot breed of chicken. I want the hardy types that the pioneers used to raise, the kinds that know how to raise their own chicks.

I'll be sure to post lots of pics, when I get some.