Homeowner's Blog » General

Neglect

Paul — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 15:00:36 +0000

Happy New Year!

Once upon a time, this blog was a happening place. Then, like so many other things, the house renovation and the blog where put on hold. I could have continued blogging about other things, but made the decision to stay on topic and post nothing.

Situations have shifted, slightly, for the better. We are back to doing some things here, although money is still tight. I will therefore revive the blog, which is no small task. The software and database are woefully out of date. The front page design, template and overall look leaves lots of room for improvement. I also intend to go through past posts and make corrections or delete as appropriate.

The new, revised blog will be about home improvement. I am going to do away with any tool recommendations, as they often become a place were anyone with a gripe will come and post about their issues with that particular tool. When I read those comments, it often seems the tool owner is not following directions or is generally trying to do something the tool manufacture had not intended.

I look forward to inviting you all back in and posting about such things as our zero energy barn, construction of which is underway. I will also post our plans for the final push to finish renovating this house, which includes such things as a building front porch, replacing siding, renovating the old bathroom, finishing the fireplace hearth, adding backup power generation, etc.

Thanks for reading.

Update: Well, new data base, somewhat stream lined content, not all the old posts made it over, new template, updated ad interface, etc. Looks like the back office upgrades are done. Now, back to the task at hand.

The town tax assessor came ’round the other day

Paul — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 19:03:27 +0000

I feel like I’ve been robbed. You know how real estate prices have been dropping, the bubble has burst, etc. Apparently the tax assessor missed that memo, our value went up by nearly $30K. Frankly, I’d like to see the rational for it.

If it is the solar systems, then they are supposed to be tax exempt for ten years, according to this New York State real property law. So, I suppose it is time to mosey on down to the town hall and see the tax assessor, find out were all that value has come from. Honestly, the outside of our house looks the same way it has for the last 3 years. I have done very little to make it look better or even good, for that matter.

Pictures of snow…

Paul — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 16:18:33 +0000

Must resist temptation to publish pictures of snow… Must Resist Temptation to Publish Pictures of Snow…

Things to ponder

Paul — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:11:58 +0000

I think Congressmen should wear uniforms like NASCAR drivers so we could identify their corporate sponsors.

Or have term limits.

Degradable plastic bags

Paul — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 19:35:25 +0000

I was reading something this morning about how the City of Philadelphia is considering baning plastic bags completely. It seems that those thin plastic bags you get from the grocery store are public enemy number 1 when it comes to the battle over the protection of the environment. It is truly fascinating to see the things that people focus on, anybody up for re-arranging some deck chairs?

So why not, there is little else going on these days. I mentioned the above to my lovely and talented wife, who stated that she got a “degradable” plastic bag from the local organic grocery store. So I examined said bag and found the statement “This bag will degrade into many small pieces when exposed to sunlight.”

explanation on plastic bag about why this bag is "green"

I don’t know if you can read that or not.

Many people might call these bags “biodegradable” which they are not. “Bio” would indicate that some living thing could act on the structure of the plastic, breaking apart into different compounds and base elements. I would call these bags oxi-degradable, which means that sunlight will oxidize the carbon chains into CO2 thus breaking apart the structure of the plastic. It also mean in an non-oxygen environment, such as being buried in a land fill, or under water somewhere, these bags will be every bit as resilient as their non-degradable counterparts.

The other question is time period. Anything will degrade over time, the question is how long? One day, one week, a year, a decade… To answer this question, I staked the degradable plastic bag out in full sun light.

degradable plastic bag in full sunlight

I’ll post a follow up when it dissolves into many small pieces.

Update: July 1, 2009. No noticeable degradation.

Update 2: July 13, 2009. No noticeable degradation.

Update 3: July 31, 2009. Bag is falling apart:

degradeable plactic back after 6 weeks in the sun

After 48 days, the bag is disintegrating rapidly. I will also admit that we have had a wet rainy summer and the sunlight has not been as intense as it normally is. That being said, I stand by my assertion that if these bags are buried in a land fill or in an anoxic environment, they will not degrade at all.

Still, it did do what the manufacture said it would, so I’d say they are an improvement in plastic bag technology.

Erecting a Short Wave Listening Antenna

Paul — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 12:00:28 +0000

I may have alluded to this in a previous post, I occasionally listen to the short wave radio, both the international broadcast band and non-broadcast services. When I was younger I was bitten by the radio bug and never quite seemed to get over it. There are some things that can be learned from international broadcasting that are not reported on elsewhere. There are also a fair number of communists, conspiracy theorists, paranoids, hucksters, UFO people and other crack pots which can be quite entertaining in their own right, so long as you can separate the wheat from the chaff.

As far as the “utility” stations go, there is some excellent software that allows one to use a standard computer for decoding non-encryped digital signals, which for a former military communicator, contains a certain fun and nostalgic aspect that cannot be found anywhere else.

Of course, all of this requires some equipment, such as a good HF receiver and antenna system. In the HF receiver department, I have a Drake R8A, which is highly thought of and works exceptionally well for utility station and weak signal work. For listening to shortwave broadcasters I tend use a Kenwood R-2000 which is not the best technically performing receiver, however, it is the best all around sounding radio I have ever used.

For an antenna, I have been using a small disc-cone type scanner antenna. For my purpose, this is a poor choice of antenna. Many or most short wave broadcasters are government sponsored and most have had their budgets cut over the last decade or so. That means lower transmitter powers or transmitter sites that are located far away from the US. Often signals are weak and or full of static or other interference. What is needed for HF (HF=High Frequency aka short wave) and MF (MF=Medium Frequency aka AM broadcast stations) work is some type of receiving loop. Loop antennas have good directionality and noise canceling properties that are important for AM and USB work especially in today’s electrically noisy environment. To that end, I discovered a terminated loop antenna that looks perfect. In keeping with the amateur radio tradition of naming antennas with there inventor’s call sign, this is a K9AY. You can get the full skinny on the K9AY loop antenna from this site.

k8ay loop antenna supported by a tree

Its a little hard to see, but this is two loop antenna supported by a tree. They are oriented SE/NW (loop 1) and SW/NE (loop 2).

First off, let me say that almost everything that I used to make this antenna is either left over or reused parts. Here is a list of materials:

Two 85 foot lengths of #14 stranded wire. Left over from a work project 2 years ago.
Eight insulators made from 1 1/4 inch Schedule 40 PVC conduit. Left over scraps from a solar PV installation.
Mounting bracket for tree. Left over 2 x 6 from deck project.
Mounting pole for relay box. Left over 2 inch schedule 40 PVC conduit, ready mix cement and re-bar left over from deck project.
120 feet 1/2 inch 50 ohm rigid transmission line. Salvaged from last years tower project in Florida.
9:1 Matching transformer, made that myself from a toroid removed from a dead switching power supply and #24 copper telephone wire. 45 turns on the primary, 15 turns on the secondary.
75 feet of 1 1/4 inch PVC conduit, left over from a solar PV installation.
Ground rod, counterpoise. Left over 3/4 inch copper pipe from re-working the plumbing system in our house.
Plastic NEMA 4 enclosure. Purchased new.
Relays, control box, power supply and other misc parts. Stuff that was laying around.
LDR (Perkin-Elmer Vactrol VTL5C2). Purchased new.

This antenna design is a terminated loop, that is to say the antenna has a termination resistor in the circuit to better match the transmission line. The original design calls for a fixed termination resistor that is a compromise for what ever set of frequencies the user prefers. A much better option is some type of variable resistor. Even better still is a variable resistor that can be remote controlled. A LDR (light determined resistor) is a solid state device that uses uses a LED and a to vary resistance according to how much current the device is being fed. This gives the maximum front to back null on the loop antenna (in the direction away from the termination). It works great for canceling out co-channel interference on the AM broadcast and shortwave broadcast bands.

The rest of the antenna consists of two loops of wire with a relay switching device that allows a user to remotely control the direction the antenna is receiving from. Below the antenna should be a good RF ground. The antenna itself is about 25 feet tall and should be supported with a non-conducting structure. For my purposes, a very tall ash tree is perfect. I started by cleaning out a 15 foot radius around the tree.

Next, I fabricated a support arm and hung the center insulator from it. For the center insulator I used some left over PVC conduit. And non conducting material can be used. The wire loops are 85 feet of stranded #14 wire. The sides of the loop are pulled out from the support and staked down to the ground using UV resistant rope.

switching relays, matching transformer and LDR terminator mounted in box

The relay box is a NEMA 4X enclosure (we get a lot of snow around here). It contains the relays, 9:1 current matching transformer, and LDR termination resistor. For control of the system, a #14 wires are run back to the control point in the house. Lighter gauge wire can be used, I had the 14 gauge wire around decided to use it instead of buying more wire. The transmission line is 1/2 inch 50 ohm hard line, again left over.

The ground system consists of a 3/4 inch copper pipe driven 4 feet into the ground and 3 inch copper strap under each of the loop wires. This is an RF round not en electrical safety ground and there is a substantial difference. The purpose of an RF ground is to improve the ground conductivity as seen by the antenna, thus improving the antenna performance.

This afternoon a dragged the R-2000 out to the base with an extension cord. I was not disappointed. The little 500 watt class D (WHVW 950 khz) AM station 30 miles away came in like it was next door. Switching the relays around, I found a good 20-30 dBµ front to back null.

I just need to get a trench dug (18 inches deep, 75 feet long) and put the transmission line into the house and I’ll be all set. I was contemplating digging it by hand, but no, I think I will rent a ditch witch instead.

I may even get one of those computer/remote control receivers and connect it up to the internet so others can enjoy listening.

Now, I will always feel like I am in the loop, so to speak.

Our home improvement progress

Paul — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 17:21:59 +0000

We have sort of hit a wall this year. Looking back on it, almost nothing happened that was supposed to. First off, we sort of ran out of funds and time. What with the $4.87 per gallon gas this summer, expenses from my children, the ever increasing cost of health care, and all the time I put into starting my solar business, it seemed that the house renovations where put on hold.

My list for 2008 was as follows:

Build a shed in the back yard. Nope.
Remove the old deck from the front of the house. 1/2 done.
Build a new porch on the front of the house. Nope.
Expand the garden and install raised beds. Done.
Install a solar backup power system for critical household loads. No money
Insulate the basement. Not yet, might still happen
Build shelves and properly store all the stuff in the basement. Not yet, might still happen.
Build two solar hot air collectors and attach them to the south wall. About 3/4 done, ran out of good weather.

I did manage to get one thing done, the garden. Actually, I am happy with that as we are still eating vegetables that we grew last summer. As for the rest, oh well, perhaps sometime in the future. With the involuntary four day without electricity experiment, I would bet #5 becomes a high priority. I do so love electricity and all of the things that it provides.

The one big thing that was not on the list but got done anyway was the basement water proofing/drainage system. This was expensive and kind of killed the budget for the rest of the summer.

A little hit at what I am working on now: Solar powered LED grow lights. Large versions to be used in commercial green houses.

As for next year, I am not making any predictions.

This year's vegetable garden

Paul — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 17:33:22 +0000

For all the things that went wrong this year, and for the things that did not happen, the one thing that stands out as a great success is the vegetable garden. Even though it went in late, it immediately began producing good things like lettuce and strawberries.

We have eaten and given away more cucumbers than I thought possible, with a good bit also going to waste. Green peppers, broccoli, onions, zucchini, tomatoes, more tomatoes, green beans, carrots, watermelon, and a few ears of corn round things out. Since about early July, the only vegetable we have had to buy is local sweet corn. Every day, we pick more stuff and give a good deal of it away to our friends and neighbors.

small kitchen herb garden

The herb garden is full of basil, oregano, sage, rosemary, thyme, marjoram, garlic, spearmint, peppermint, and parsley. I will harvest and dry some of these herbs to use for winter time cooking.

Every few days or so, I am making a giant vat of “garden meadly” spaghetti sauce to freeze and eat over the winter. We may start freezing green beens and carrots as well. I also made seven jars of dill pickles. I would have made more but we ran out of canning jars. The fruit trees are producing a bumper crop of pears and we picked several bunches of grapes off of the grape vines.

grapes on the vine

The best part, everything is really fresh and yummy. I don’t need to worry about salmonella, e-colli, pesticides, fertilizers, chemicals or anything else. I know exactly what I put into the vegetables and exactly where they came from.

My expendables costs are relatively low. Instead of fertilizer, I use my own compost to enrich the soil, which is free. In the spring time, I probably spent $10.00 on seeds, and maybe $6.00 on plants plus another $10.00 on mulch. The mulch is all natural, undyed. It comes from a stump grinding place down the road a ways. Because of the mulch, I spent less than 30 minutes pulling weeds, total. Most of the time spent in the garden has been picking stuff and looking around for those cleaver hiding cucumbers, beans and tomatoes.

During WWII, in the US and Great Britain, Victory Gardens were maintained and grew to supply 40 percent of all vegetable produce consumed nationally. Back yard plots reduced the pressure on farmers and allowed them to provide for the war effort. These days it certainly cuts down on transportation costs as well as all the electricity needed to refrigerate the produce while warehousing, transporting, and selling.

I also like the garden because the kids get to take part in growing and learning about where our food comes from. I think that this will be important in the future.

This year’s vegetable garden

Paul — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 17:33:22 +0000

small kitchen herb garden

The herb garden is full of basil, oregano, sage, rosemary, thyme, marjoram, garlic, spearmint, peppermint, and parsley. I will harvest and dry some of these herbs to use for winter time cooking.

grapes on the vine

I also like the garden because the kids get to take part in growing and learning about where our food comes from. I think that this will be important in the future.

First batch of Homebrewed Beer, we hardly new ye

Paul — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 21:07:30 +0000

Working around the basement this morning I realized that I had just one bottle of my first batch of homebrewed beer left. It was barely 2 months old. We made a large dent in the supply last weekend during a cookout at Mike and Debbie’s house. While there, I received some pretty good feed back, as well as some very good advice on how to make better home brew from several of Mike’s friends. We found that the Cooper’s Lager went well with the elk that was cooked on the barbeque.

last bottle of first batch of homebrew

Today, I bottled the second batch of Cooper’s Lager, I will age this one a little more before tearing into it. The basement will be nice and cool starting next month, perfect for aging a lager. This batch was a little unusual as the whole thing seemed to ferment in about 24 hours. I left it in the fermenter for a week anyway because I didn’t have time to bottle it until today. I checked the Final Gravity (FG), and it was right where it should be, about 1.010. I noted it smelled a little yeasty (like bread dough), but it tasted normal. I suppose I will have to check this batch by sampling one in a couple of weeks. The AVB should be around 6% or so.

After bottling the Lager, I made a batch of Stout. All of the home brewers I spoke to say that stout is the easiest of beers to brew at home and get good results. I will bottle the stout next weekend in glass bottles and let it age out a few months. I believe this will be the last kit brew that I do. Several people have recommended doing a partial grain brew next. It’s a little scary to add some more steps to the homebrew process, but I want to start making my own beer, vs somebody else’s kit recipee.

Boilermaker brewpots

To that end, I am buy a brew pot. Looking for a good stainless steel 10 gallon unit. The are a little pricy, but I only want to buy one brew pot, so I might as well get the best one first. I will continue use the coopers fermenter while it holds up, Eventually, I am sure, it will get a scratch in the plastic, at which point I will buy a glass carboy for fermenting.