Solar and Water DIY

If I Can Do It, You Can Do It

off grid solar emergency backup system

picture of my little solar off grid system - scroll down to it for more details

some fun ways to increase self-sufficiency - starting with the simple and on to the slightly more complex -

the most simple

These are age old methods - clothesline, AKA ‘solar clothes dryer’ sun-drying veggies and fruits on a screen - slice thinly, don’t worry about flies, the sun will sterilize, and if not dry enough by sundown, bring in for the night to protect from dew, then set out again next day - if next day is cloudy or rainy, finish off with a $40 dehydrator - also, “fruit leather” is a great way to preserve blueberries…- also a word about water filters, and don’t forget the age old best way to utilize solar energy - with a garden!

pureed blueberries with a touch of added sugar, dried in the sun

solar oven

It’s just a box with a window tilted at about 45 degrees, lined with insulation board, spray-painted black, setting on a 5 gal bucket so it can easily be turned toward the sun until cooking is done

There’s an access door in the back - wear gloves or you’ll burn your hand when you take your dinner out!

rain barrel - earlier full story here, in case you missed it

I got the 50 gal barrel from the feed store - they order some grains in food grade barrels. I tapped a hose bib near the bottom; the barrel is raised high enough to get some gravity flow to a hose to the garden, or into a 5 gal bucket for watering indivdual plants.

The 5 gal bucket setting on top of the barrel is a filtering system to keep leaves and twigs out of the barrel. I fit a little screen into the bucket, and drilled drain holes in the bottom…I used a hole saw to drill holes for the hose bib and the drain outlet, and sealed the fittings in place with plumbers’ goop. Then it was just a matter of cutting the downspout down to size for the drop and the outlet.

cistern

All of our gutters and downspouts go into a 1200 gallon polypropylene tank, for an emergency supply in case our well or pump goes down. The overflow goes into our little pond, and if that overflows, it runs down into the woods. Except for the one downspout, which I interrupted to run it into the rain barrel first, and when it fills up, the overflow from that goes back into the downspout system.

we added some goldfish and it’s fun to watch them

If we need to dip rain water out of our cistern, we have a Berkey water filter.

passive solar hot water heater earlier full story here, in case you missed it

A fun project  - Hot water plumbed on a loop so that the incoming household water is diverted to the solar tank first before going into the regular hot water tank. The loop can be shut off, bypassed and drained during the winter freezing months.  This is sometimes called a “breadbox”. It’s a simple passive solar water heater with no moving parts to maintain. I built one 23 years ago, leaning against the house, and it worked great until I re-roofed with metal and the snow slid off and broke the glass front. So I rebuilt the box and moved it away from the house. I was able to reuse the tank and some other materials.

off grid solar

I got hold of an old swivel chair, cut it down to the basics, drilled holes in the wooden base, and bolted it to a little concrete pad.

Then I built a frame and bolted it to that base.

Next, I built the frame that would actually hold the solar panels, and bolted it to the base frame with bolts for pivots so that it could be raised or lowered. I added 2 supports with 5 holes drilled in them for adjusting to 5 different angles of tilt from summer to winter sun.

I mounted the three 200W solar panels to be wired in series for 600 watts. The DC output from the panels is connected to a Lithium 60 Amp MPPT solar charge controller which is connected to a 12V 200 Amp-Hour Lithium Iron Phosphate battery. The charge controller and battery are in a vented box mounted on a separate concrete pad. Another vented box holds the 1000W sine wave inverter which inverts the power from DC to 115 volt AC. The boxes are separated for safety - lithium batteries are a fire hazard

Since I’m around home a lot, I’m able to rotate the panel assembly from time to time throughout the day to face the sun. That plus being able to adjust the tilt seasonally will give maximum efficiency.

To decide how to space the holes drilled for adjusting the tilt, I used a protractor and compass and sketched the assembly to scale to get the best seasonal angles, from 30 degrees in summer to 60 degrees in winter.

I installed a 115V outlet in the inverter box. To try out the system, I plugged in our crockpot with enough water to boil some fresh-picked corn on the cob for supper. It worked great!

next week - probably some thoughts on Israel, energy, climate, and maybe a little prophecy