Posted on Jul 28, 2008 under Heating, Solar power |
We have found the perfect home and can’t wait to start moving. The place is currently empty, so we could have moved in when we first saw it 3 weeks ago. All the paper work, however, takes time and real-estate agents and bankers who are on holiday make the waiting time even longer.
I’ve been doing some thinking on space heating and DHW heating for the place. The property contains a big greenhouse complex consisting of 8 greenhouses, totaling over 6000 square meters. We wanted a big greenhouse, but this is way more than we are going to use. When checking out the place, one of the greenhouses had all its windows closed and it was unbearably hot in there. This got me thinking, the property has a huge heating system, which is designed to heat all of the greenhouses. The space heating for the house is just t-ed off of the big heating system, but since we are not going to use much of the greenhouse space to begin with, firing up this monster heater just to heat the house would be a big waste.
What if we can store the heat from the greenhouse for later use? One greenhouse would just function as a huge solar panel with water flowing through tubes and back to a big heat storage tank. A 20.000 liter oil tank, which is already there, can probably be used as the heat storage tank. I would only need to insulate it and run some pipes from the greenhouse to the tank.
I have no idea how much the greenhouse will heat up on a sunny winters day, but I will probably need some supplemental heating. If you have a big heat storage tank, you can use several heat sources to feed it. I will probably install a wood burning stove right next to the heat storage tank, to ensure we don’t freeze in winter. Heat generated by a Lister engine can also be fed into the same heat storage tank.
I found builditsolar.com to be a great resource on DIY solar projects. If you want to know more about wood stoves for heating, you should check out the forums on heart.com
Posted on Jul 18, 2008 under Compost, Gardening |
If you want good soil for your vegetable garden, flower beds or potted plants, without having to pay for it, composting is what you should do. I’ve had a big compost bin standing in my garden for quite a while and it does a great job, but it takes ages to turn my kitchen scraps into good compost. These big compost bins rely on bacteria to break down the scraps and they will take between 6 months and a year before you can use the compost.
Worms however can compost a lot faster. While digging in my garden I found a good number of worms which I have added to my compost bin to speed things up. When I recently decided to move my compost bin however, I found no worms in it. After a few weeks of hot and dry weather the worms all dug down into the soil beneath the bin and where gone.
If you want to compost with worms, which is also called vermicomposting, you need a different kind of compost bin. A worm bin will have a closed bottom, so the worms can’t get out. You do have to drill a couple of holes into the bottom, so excess water can get out. You can use any type of plastic bin for worm composting, but ideally it will have a matching lid. Worms breath like all animals so you need to make sure they get enough air. A few slits or holes in the side of your bin will take care of the air circulation, but you want to cover them up with some screening to keep flies out.
Fill your bin about half way with moist newspaper or cardboard strips and add a layer of soil. If you have a compost bin you can probably find some worms in there or you can do some digging in your garden. You can also go the easy way and buy some composting worms in a garden center or order them online.
Keep your worm bin out of the sun and make sure it stays moist. The worms will accept temperatures between 10 and 30 degrees centigrade but will do best at around 25 degrees. Be careful not to overfeed the worms or your worm bin will start smelling bad. Don’t add any scraps until the last batch has been eaten completely and always burry the scraps you are adding. In time you will get a feel for the amount of scraps your worm bin can process.
Posted on Jul 06, 2008 under Aquaponics, Gardening |
My aquaponics system with expanded clay granulate is doing good. The lettuce I have planted in there hasn’t grown too much, but the plants are looking good and seem to start growing now. The reason why they haven’t grown until now is because there weren’t enough nutrients in the water. When you want to grow something in a new aquaponics system, you have to let the system mature for a while and give the nutrients time to build up a high enough level to sustain your plants. I’m the impatient type and can’t wait for maturing systems when trying new things, so I planted way too soon. Things are looking good now however, so it’s all good!
I have also put a cutting from a basil plant into the grow bed and planted some basil seeds. The cutting was cut from a basil plant that I bought from the supermarket and lives in my kitchen window. I just cut a piece and stuck it into the clay granulate. Two weeks later the cutting still looks good and it has grown some impressive roots! The basil seeds have sprouted too.
We have found the perfect home and can’t wait to start moving. The place is currently empty, so we could have moved in when we first saw it 3 weeks ago. All the paper work, however, takes time and real-estate agents and bankers who are on holiday make the waiting time even longer.
