Browse Forums Owner Builder Forum Re: EcoStay building project 114Jun 13, 2021 8:30 am We've been living in our house for nearly a year now and just coming into our second winter. Summer was great, the passive and solar active cooling systems worked really well. The highest indoor temperature we saw was just 25 and that was in the middle of a 40 degree heatwave. For winter heating we have the passive design principles in the building structure and also the slow combustion stove. But there is a period where the days are still sunny but the nights are cold. It's not really cold enough to bother lighting the fire. Right now it's 9 degrees outside but yesterday is was clear and sunny. The indoor temperature is a very comfortable 22 at 6 in the morning. And the fire's not going. Very nice! How so? We've designed and built a solar air heater. It produces hot air from sunshine even on a cold day. During these sunny yet cold days we can warm up the thermal mass within the house and benefit from it all night. It's just another way to store solar energy. The solar air heater is made entirely from recycled free materials. We have a piece of glass about 1.5m x 1m mounted on the front of a timber box housing 150 beer cans. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ We cut the tops and bottoms off the cans and assembled them in lines inside the wood box. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ The cans are painted mat black with the glass on the front. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ The whole lots is mounted under the north facing verandah. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Eight recycled computer fans suck in cold air at the bottom and blow hot air out the top. This is ducted in through the wall into the bathroom and living room. (We had the foresight to build the ducting through the thick mudbrick walls during construction.) On a sunny but cold day where the outdoor temperature is in the high teens, the air coming into the house will be about 40 degrees at midday. There will still be those cold, wet days without sun where this system will not help, but that's when we light the fire. Re: EcoStay building project 115Jun 13, 2021 1:55 pm I love it! I've really enjoyed looking at your novel approach to building and living in a house. Well done. Accessible Carpentry & Cabinets accessiblecarpentry@gmail.com accessiblecarpentry.com.au https://www.facebook.com/pages/Accessible-Carpentry-Cabinets/583314911709039 Re: EcoStay building project 116Jul 03, 2021 10:50 pm It's alive! We've just installed the new fireplace in our studio. And it works better than expected. It throws out so much heat with just a little wood. The granite wall behind absorbs excess heat and radiates it out long after the fire is out. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ The firebox is made from 12mm steel and is 600mm long to reduce the amount of work required in wood cutting. There are fully adjustable air inlets at both ends and a fully adjustable flue damper allowing for a complete and controlled burn. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Baffles in the firebox prevent the fire from roaring straight up the flue, allowing for a more complete combustion.....the so called secondary burn. The hot gasses then go through the large cylinders where they give up more of their heat energy and reduce in volume before going up the flue. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Made entirely from recycled bits except for the stainless steel flue. We had to erect a scaffold and call in a few friends for the final assembly. Total weight is probably around 350kg and it stands 3.2m high. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Very happy with the end result. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: EcoStay building project 117Sep 26, 2021 4:19 pm We're off-grid here, running from batteries that are recharged by solar panels. The success of all this is based upon management of our power system. We run loads such as the dishwasher, washing machine, electric oven etc based upon the state of our batteries and the incoming solar power. The electronics in the inverter allows me to monitor what is going on via an app on my smartphone. That's all great but I loathe having to pull out my phone, log-on to the inverter, scroll through data to find out if it's a good time to start the dishwasher or to schedule it for a few hours time. There are fancy colour LCD panels you can mount on the wall that give all manner of data, useful and not so much. But, they are expensive and look ugly in the context of our home. So, in the spirit of just about everything else here, we designed and built our own version. I found this old bakelite analogue multimeter that I liked the look of. It has that old fashioned steampunk vibe that would fit with the feel of our place. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ However, as cool as it is, it's quite small and doesn't show the sort of data we're looking for. Between the bathroom door and the fireplace there's a space about 800mm wide. So I cut a hole through the pallet wood cladding. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Then put together this microcomputer to process the data from the electronics in the inverter room downstairs. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ I then built a custom set of meters to display exactly what we want to see. We used clock hands for the pointers, made the MDF backplate look like bakelite with "no more gaps", used old brass screws to hold it together and even made the plaques. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ The end result fits nicely with everything else and gives us the numbers we need at a glance. Re: EcoStay building project 118Sep 26, 2021 4:50 pm Genius! Have to agree it fits in nicely, anything 'modern' would look out of place. Hello, Recently I have also been looking for builder insurance companies in Australia and found a few suggestions on Google. I came across a leading company named Dwelcom… 2 2996 Jessica Where are you based and what stage are you up too? I might be able to recommend someone who can help Cheers Simeon 2 2213 Building Standards; Getting It Right! Hi All, we’re in Melbourne and not sure how to go about finding a reputable site superintendent/indep project manager for an extension. Would appreciate recommendations… 0 2387 |