It's Still Winter!

This morning's view

 I woke up to a shocking reminder that it is February, and it is still winter!  Time to put on the winter clothes and brush the snow off the solar panels.  

I shut off the outdoor wood boiler almost 10 days ago.  We've had almost a week of 60 -70 deg. F temperatures.  Most days were sunny so the house stayed warm and with the dump load water heater,  I had hot water without burning LP.  Life off-grid was smooth sailing.  I could get used to this spring like weather and roll right into summer.

It is still February!  It's been overcast and rainy for a couple of days.  I woke up to house temperatures around 61 deg. F.  and tepid domestic "hot" water.   However, the sun is shining so the water should heat up nicely today. 

1 week ago

It is still February, I keep reminding myself.   It is a little early, but I started pruning grapes during this spring like weather. I remember one year I was pruning in full winter gear on my knees in the snow because the snow was 2-3 foot deep.  

No snow so far this year.  Much of the pruning has been done in a T-shirt and one day, shorts and sandals.  My wool socks made my feet overheat.  

The disadvantage, I got a blister since I wasn't wearing gloves.  My winter hands aren't used to repetitive friction caused by a pruner.  

The high temperature today is 32 deg. F.   The big question is, do I start the wood boiler to warm up the house or do I try to heat the main floor using the dump load hot water.  The forecast calls for a sunny day!  And tomorrow is a bit warmer at 45 deg. F and sun.  As for pruning, maybe I should wait until it warms up.  

Early Winter Morning

I rise early.  The southeastern sky is aglow in a dark orange hue.  The air is crisp against my exposed skin on this early February morning.  All is quiet.  Slowly, the first rays of sunshine are edging over the horizon.  A great ball of fiery yellow and orange, illuminating the still water and waking the few birds who brave this frozen winter land. In mere seconds, it releases the horizon from its grip, and in full regalia, it spreads its warmth of color and heat over this frosty land.  I hear a gander of geese cackling off in the distance, resting before continuing their flight north?  In the trees on my right are the staccato calls of the northern Cardinal, “cheer, cheer, cheer” and to my left the gentle cooing of Mourning Doves.   I hear a resounding boom and it echoes across the shallow valley.  I’ve been hearing these all winter, sometimes all night long.  It is the freezing and thawing of the ice, probably more prevalent this winter because it has been a mild winter thus far.  The pond froze solid in December, but since then the temperatures have fluctuated above and below freezing.  But spring is coming.  The sun’s morning glow is edging itself north with each morning’s dazzling pageantry.

Love for the Local Hardware Store

I figured it was finally time to start cutting wood.  After all, it is February.  It turned out to be a beautiful weekend, almost too warm to be cutting and splitting wood, but at least it wasn't -20 degrees, so I shouldn't complain.

It is amazing how much can be accomplished with gas powered equipment.  This is the first time I have ever used a splitter.  It was awesome!!  Of course it took me awhile to figure out how to start it.

And it's great that you can rent it from Saturday at 11 am until Monday morning at 7am for around $50.  A lot of wood can be split in one weekend!  My woodpile is now overflowing!  What a great start on next year's need.

Dump load domestic water heater

What in the world am I talking about?  With the new solar panels, 4kw total instead of 1 kW, I have so much surplus power on sunny days that it dissipates if it isn't needed.  (Moments like this make me wish I were tied to the grid!).  So I decided to add a dump load water heater that could heat my domestic hot water, especially during the summer.


A little background:  during the cold months, an outdoor wood boiler heats the water that runs through the floors.  This also heats the domestic hot water by running through a heat exchanger attached to the LP water heater, which heats the domestic water when the outdoor boiler isn't heating water, like in the summer.  Since I have excess solar power, especially during the longer days of summer, diverting this to an electric water heater will cut down on my LP use during summer and hopefully spring and fall.  

Tri-Star Solar Controller

First I bought a 50 gallon electric water heater, and then I needed to buy a DC heating element to switch out on the electric water heater. The electric water heater has two elements, but this system will only be using one.  It is wired directly - bypassing the temperature sensing part of the water heater, so that it is always on when the controller is dumping power to it.   To divert the power, a Tri-Star 45 solar controller was added which is the diversion regulator.

The power system.

We created a bypass loop that cut out the portion of the loop that went outside to the boiler, so

Looped Water Heaters

just heating a small loop that encompasses both water heaters.  We needed to add its own circulating pump to circulate the water from the dump load water heater through the heat exchanger already installed on the domestic LP water heater, and installed shut off valves to the rest of the system.

We tried it on a sunny day in the spring. The first hurdle we had to overcome was the tank built up too much pressure, so either we had to put in an expansion tank, or open a valve and release that pressure into the rest of the heating loop (the tubing that goes out to the wood boiler).  After much trial and error, it all works!

This system heated the domestic hot water during most of the late spring, summer and early fall.  As with all off-grid living, there were some changes in lifestyles.  For instance, there is some hot water remaining in the morning hours, but it usually takes about three to four hours of energy to heat the water to 120° F.  This means showering in the later afternoon, early evening, and doing dishes or laundry in the afternoon.  There were only a few times that we did use the LP water heater, because we needed hot water right away. I'm anxious to see the LP bill next year!

The next thing- could it heat the house in late fall and early spring?  Are the days long enough?  Are there enough sunny days?

We Can't Have Christmas at my House, it's Been Cloudy for Three Days

I had contemplated having the whole family over for dinner.  After all, the kitchen is large and so is the living room.   Although I dislike all of the paper waste leftover, yeah, bah humbug.  And the timing was right - a two o'clock dinner, but everyone showing up around noon.  Maybe we would even open the presents before we ate?!  Perfect!  Maybe next year.

About two weeks ago the generator stopped working.  I started it on a Sunday night, it started with a loud pop, ran for about five minutes and then died.  When I tried to restart it, the indicator lights said RPM sensor loss.  I would have to wait until Monday to call someone to repair it.  

Meanwhile, checking the weather, it looks like we have nearly a week of sunshine, so it shouldn't be a problem.  Of course the guy that installed it doesn't do generators anymore, so I had to call around some more.  

I finally got a hold of someone who could come out on Tuesday, about 60 minutes away.  The repairman looked it over, believed it was the starter, ordered a new one, expediting the shipping would put it here on Thursday - the coldest day of the winter thus far, but sunny!  

He came back on Thursday at 10  degrees above zero, with wind chills making it feel well below zero degrees Fahrenheit.  When he took the old starter out to replace it, he noticed a hole in the engine.  Yes, a hole, about one inch in diameter in the engine.  That must have been the loud pop when it started last.  This generator was installed exactly two years ago.  Why do generators always die in the coldest months of the year?  (Probably because that is when they are used the most).  So a new engine is on its way, but it is nearly the holidays.  

Checking the weather ahead, there are many sunny days, but my weather app is usually wrong.  Hopefully I can limp through.  One cloudy day isn't too bad, but more than one gets a little tight on energy.  It seems crazy, but shutting off the heat is an option to save on power usage.  This is a concrete house, so it takes a few days for it to "cool" down to sixty degrees.  Without a backup generator, no sun or wind, that is my only option.  And of course the weekend after the generator quit, was the coldest weather, Sunday's high temperature was -14 degrees F.  Yes, that was the forecasted high temperature.  I think it was only -8 degrees F.  But Thursday, Friday and Saturday were cloudy.  The forecast said sunny and cold on Sunday, but I didn't want to risk the system shutting down, so I shut off the stove on Friday night.  Saturday morning the stove was still hot, so started it up to run the hot water through the pipes.  The house was still around 68 degrees.  

By Sunday morning, it was 62 degrees in the house.  Yes, a little chilly.  Outside it was bitterly cold, but full sunlight, so I started the stove and the house was back up to temperature by mid afternoon.  I survived!  I would say this has been one of the sunniest Decembers I can remember.  Usually December is the cloudiest month of the year.  But, I still have no generator.  

It's the week of Christmas, the part is not scheduled to be delivered until the Tuesday after Christmas.  And of course, Friday and Saturday (Christmas Eve) and Sunday are cloudy.  I shut the stove off for another day to limp through the Christmas weekend.  And the day after Christmas,  super windy and sunny all day!  Lots of power to start the stove and heat the house!  So, no family get together at my off-grid house this year. 

How to Have a White Christmas

If you really want a white Christmas, start a major landscaping project in November.  Granted our November weather was super nice - in fact too balmy to cut wood, the grape harvest was finished, replacing broken grape posts was finally finished, so we started.

The Before Picture

 I've been mowing this area since 2009 and finally got a "plan" Christmas of 2015.  The patio stone was delivered in the summer and I was hoping to lessen the huge piles before the snow flies so my driveway doesn't drift.

By patio stone, I mean broken concrete pieces out of a former cattle yard.   Dirt (manure) and all!  What can I say, the price was right.  

Another factor in the whole equation was the use of a skid steer to move the heavy pieces.  We had to wait for the "man with the skid steer" to finish harvesting, and then, had to be free, or at least the equipment had to be free.  This definitely wasn't a one person job!   Three would have been nice, but two kind of worked.  

This is about all that was complete before the ground froze around early December.  The outline shape is established and the fire pit can be easily seen.  The problem was many pieces were too large and heavy to move by hand or the small bucket on the tractor. 

I did get all the crushed limestone moved down here, off the driveway.  We did make a dent in the concrete pile, but there is still plenty left.  And there is still a pile of washed river rock.  I have nearly surrounded the house in river rock and there is still plenty more.  Think before ordering a dump truck load of river rock.  :)

And this is about a week later - mid December.  

Pile of Concrete Remains

Recycling at it's Finest

Wow, so it has been over two years since my last post, the hiatus is over.   In that time, many things have changed, but much more has stayed the same. 

 Remember the pile of limestone foundation rocks from 2014?  It became the landscaping for the steep slope on the west side of the house.  

Have I ever mentioned that I hate mowing?  This eliminates some steep mowing of a large area. 

I also needed a walkway.  My father was ripping out the old barn concrete floor and I thought the concrete pieces would save some of that history (my grandfather had poured the concrete) and give me a recycled (cheap) walkway.  

I think this would be a great idea for a patio area.  To me, a poured concrete slab looks too formal and man made.  However, pieced concrete adds so much more character, especially when you know where the concrete came from and what it was in its former life.  The plan would include a pergola shade structure, outdoor dining room and maybe someday a pizza oven.   This is the creative project for the summer!