“How to build a homemade air conditioner / evaporative cooler. I made this cooling system to save money on my summer electric bill. I used some wood scraps, a pond pump, some evaporative cooler pad, and a box fan to make a working swamp cooler air conditioning unit. It can achieve indoor temperatures that are 20+ degrees lower than outside temps.”
Mechanical
DIY Walk-in Cooler
I’ve been emailing someone about the benefits of making your own walk-in refrigerator/cooler using factory made mechanicals. She said, “I really never did understand why people would spend thousands on refrigerators when the walk ins are so much better. Most high end refrigerators are nothing more than some styrofoam and plastic wrapped in some visually appealing finish. Since I’ll be growing most of my own food, I’ll need the extra space.”
Rocket Mass Heater Builder’s Guide Kickstarter
Hi Owen,
I wonder if you’d consider posting our Kickstarter project, for a new book entitled the Rocket Mass Heater Builder’s Guide. This book shows how to build a rocket mass heater, so you can enjoy overnight comfort from a brief evening fire.
Continuing Our Off-Grid Homestead Tour
The primary heater for domestic water is pictured above. There are two steel water heater cores, painted black and connected in series so that one flows into the other and then goes on to supply hot water in the house. The enclosure is insulated on all sides but the front, where dual pane glass is installed. This arrangement provides a much more reliable supply of hot water than a single tank would. In the distance you can see the PV array that provides all of the electricity for the homestead.
Touring an Off-Grid Homestead
Over the weekend I had a chance to tour a genuine off-grid homestead that has a lot going on to interest readers. The genius behind what I will show you is Asher Gelbart, who makes his living as a rainwater harvesting technician and Permaculture specialist.
Just getting to his home was a bit of an adventure, as it is necessary to plunge through the Mimbres River and along a rough track for about a mile beyond the little town of Mimbres in Southern New Mexico.
The house itself was not even part of the tour, as it is a fairly conventional home that Asher bought about a decade ago. It already had a 600 watt photovoltaic system installed with batteries for storage of the power when he bought the property, and he is still relying on this to produce all of the electricity that he uses. With this minimal system he is able to pump domestic water from a well below the house up to a large cistern on the hill above. The power also runs a small chest freezer that is set to refrigerator temperatures, which he claims is about ten times more efficient than a regular refrigerator with a vertical door because it doesn’t drain cool air when open. (You can read more about this, and other technology mentioned in this tour, at Asher’s website.)
Bio-Bturner-100: Burning Spoiled Corn and Other Waste Products
The Bio-Burner by LEI Products burns a wide variety of biomass fuels for heating your home, shop or garage with the BB-100 (100k BTU burner/boiler). Their videos show how you can burn low value biomass materials such as manure, spoiled corn, spoiled animal feed, hammermill residues, wood chips, grass pellets, chopped switch grass, wood pellets, chopped corn cobs, beans, walnut shells, sawdust, sunflower meal, stover pellets (compressed plant stalks), animal bedding and more. If you live in an agricultural area it seems like you could probably find some waste stream biomass materials that would work. You’re not restricted to store bought pellets.