Utility systems for Demonstration house.

I did a lot of calculating and design work on the utility systems for the little house. These are the systems I decided to install. I have proven all the systems out and will optimize them in the little house.

Water: This will come mainly from a hand dug well. The water in the well has been tested chemical free, but since it is a shallow well, it must be assumed that there are little critters in it. Thus it will be heavily filtered before use. Potable water will be treated with an ultraviolet system. There will be gutters on the eaves leading to two barrels that will serve as cisterns for additional water supply in the winter. In the summer here, there is very little rain, so this is a winter only system. I will use a hand operated washing machine that I already use. Water is already pumped by hand, so it will continue to be done by hand until I get enough solar panels. I have the parts for a dual water heater, solar/biomass, so I will heat water with that.

Cooking: Cooking heat will be supplied by a wood cookstove made from an old washing machine and tin cans. I didn't invent this stove but I did some improvements to it to get it to burn more cleanly. I use this stove in my present kitchen. This neat little burner system burns its own smoke, so it can be used indoors. When I find my digital camera, (Arghhh!) I will put up pictures of it. In the meantime, if you want to know more about this cool little stove, google +"midge stove". You will have enough reading for a few hours. This stove will burn mostly twigs from the ground around the property. The trees shed them continually. For longer cooking, I will use wood pellets. They are denser and burn longer. They are made from sawdust, which is renewable and also a waste product.

Electricity: There will be three sources of electricity and three power busses in the house. The house will be wired for 120VAC, 12VDC and 5.5VDC. The 12 VDC and the 120VAC will come from the alternative powerhouse via solar. There is a 300 watt controller, a 400 watt inverter, batteries and a fifty watt solar panel in the powerhouse. I will add solar panels as I can afford them. I have been using this system for my laptop and larger lights for about six months now.
The 5.5 VDC bus will be powered in two ways. It will run LED tap lights that I use most of the time. This system is already in use in the main apartment. It is powered from two sources. One source is an antenna and ground system that uses the power from a small nearby, a half mile away, AM radio station. It can recharge a four pack of AA nicads every day, which will run the lights all night. It is not technically renewable and the station does go off the air occasionally, so I have another ground based system to help it along. Even though the radio system is not renewable, it is using waste energy, since the energy I capture would only be dissipated in other objects. It has absolutely no effect on other listeners. This radio station also runs speakers in the day time loud enough to be overpowering, especially during conversation, so I have them on a volume control. It runs the speakers at night, but just loud enough to listen to them comfortably. It also provides the power to run a tiny FM radio I got at the dollar store for a dollar. I simply charge up the 2 AAA nicads in the FM radio from the AM power and it gives me enough power to listen to the FM as much as I want. The ground based system was invented over a hundred years ago. It will power LED lights for all the light I need, but does not put out a large amount of power.

Heating will come from a small wood stove, Oregon approved, so there is very little smoke from this stove. It is a commercially made model.

Clothes drying: The simple principle of evaporation will be used for clothes drying. I sold my dryer in 1997 and have hung my clothes to dry ever since. It works quite well, if a bit slow. In a summer breeze, the clothes actually dry faster than in an electric or gas clothes dryer. And its free to boot!

I have not figured out refrigeration yet, but I did an experiment this year that proved to me that I don't really need it. So I may go without it until I come up with something workable.

So there you have an outline of the power and water systems the demo house will use. I am currently using most of these systems and they are very reliable. I will give more details as I progress on the project.

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