We took advantage of this beautiful fall day to build the support structure for the solar hot water collector. The beams we used are a bit oversized structurally but it was a good opportunity to use up some wood and large structural screws that were left over from previous builds.As I wrote in yesterday’s...
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A setback in the solar system
The plan for today was to refurbish an old solar hot water collector and make a video about the process for our YouTube channel. Unfortunately life had other plans. I’ve been building low cost solar hot water systems with old collectors for years now. My experience is that they are rarely damaged internally and...
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Prepping the parts for the solar collector support
After abusing my debit card one final time at the plumbing supply store (copper, ouch), we started work on the frame that will support the solar collector that will supply our hot water when the sun is shining.Similar to our porch roof, the panel will be supported by hinges that are fastened deep into...
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Setting a pass-through block for the hot water system
Well, I didn’t exactly cure cancer today (you’d have to start working before 1 PM to do that) but I did discover a few new tricks for cutting penetration blocks into a rain screen siding detail.What I’m working on today is setting a pass-through block for the copper pipes that will connect the solar...
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Plumbing the wood-fired/solar hot water system, part 2
Making good progress on plumbing our hybrid wood-fired / solar hot water system. My first task was to install a thermostatic mixing valve on the hot water outflow to protect occupants from the very high temperatures that can develop in a solar or wood fired system. Next it was time for a good ‘ol...
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Plumbing the wood-fired/solar hot water system, part 1
Our water heating setup is a hybrid wood-fired/solar/electric system that is a near copy of a system I built and lived with off-grid for ten years. The concept is simple: both a solar hot water collector on the outside of the house and a water jacketed stove pipe inside the house heat water which...
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Assembling the drain tree
Working on the ABS drain today, which is neither fun nor glamorous, but necessary.We chose to bring the toilet, sink, and shower drains straight down through the floor and connect them underneath the trailer with flexible couplings. Doing it this way gives us the maximum possible flexibility to reconfigure for gray water separation, composting...
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Timelapse: adding privacy film to the bathroom door
To let light from the bathroom window into the living space and to let light from the living space into the bathroom we decided to re-purpose an old French door as the pocket door for our bathroom. A clear bathroom door, however, is a bit more revealing than one generally prefers, so we added...
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Bathroom shelving
This simple hanging shelf idea is something I came up with a couple years ago to use up some of the scrap steel pipe that we pulled out of the Victorian house we were renovating. Paired with some of our leftover maple counter slab material the overall effect is clean, elegant, and industrial without...
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Timelapse: installing the stovepipe
Time lapse of installing the stove pipe for the Dwarf 4K @tinywoodstove. Overall stack height is 80” of 4” Class A pipe plus a custom fabricated 40” water jacketed section for heating hot water. Heat shielding not yet installed. More details in the previous two posts...