Nevadans?

[americanvalkyrie]

well i guess except for that whole coop, a/c, perches, nest boxes, fans, birds thing hahaha

Yeah, our chickens have to lay for a few years to pay for the initial investment.

 

[wolftracks]

Quote:
OH trust me I would love to find out how to do these things. It's what I've always wanted even if it is small scale in a way. I'm still looking for a house, but I'm a little weird so I'm hard to please. LOL I want something with land, but not too far away from things. I need to be close to schools, a hospital and having a city not to far away. I may want country, but you can't get all of the city out of me. LOL I used to tell Bill I wanted solar everything. Anything to keep costs down and not have to worry about power outages. The swap coolers had me thinking. I have all this rabbits with all that Lionhead fur and they get so hot in the summer. I was thinking it would be so awesome to be able to set these up and run them off solar for the rabbits and birds. Then again I want solar for us too. Just always been intriged with solar for some reason, since the first time I saw panels decades ago.

 

[americanvalkyrie]

OH trust me I would love to find out how to do these things. It's what I've always wanted even if it is small scale in a way. I'm still looking for a house, but I'm a little weird so I'm hard to please. LOL I want something with land, but not too far away from things. I need to be close to schools, a hospital and having a city not to far away. I may want country, but you can't get all of the city out of me. LOL I used to tell Bill I wanted solar everything. Anything to keep costs down and not have to worry about power outages. The swap coolers had me thinking. I have all this rabbits with all that Lionhead fur and they get so hot in the summer. I was thinking it would be so awesome to be able to set these up and run them off solar for the rabbits and birds. Then again I want solar for us too. Just always been intriged with solar for some reason, since the first time I saw panels decades ago.

We would LOVE to find a way to heat this house using solar. We have fuel oil, which currently runs us over $300 a month in the winter. It's crippling, and I'm not exaggerating. In the summer, we try to pad the savings account so we can heat the house in the winter, and we do things like vent the dryer into the house. This is insane for a house that's maybe 1200 sq. ft, total.

 

[Gadsden]

Welcome Gadsden. You found a lot of really nice people here on this thread. They're even nice to me. LOL OK, so where are the step by steps for this swamp cooler and ummmmmmm whatcha got for solar??? hehe

Here is a list of the non PVC parts that I used. I did include the 1 PVC fitting, since it may be hard to see what it is from the photo.


Ryobi 2-1/2 in. Universal Water Pump

Model # A113UWP

Internet # 100665714
Store SKU # 562367
$17.97 /EA-Each

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...53&langId=-1&keyword=ryobi+pump&storeId=10051


Honeywell TurboForce 9 in. Tabletop Fan

Model # HT-900

Internet # 202182997
Store SKU # 325781
$15.96 /EA-Each

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-25e...langId=-1&keyword=portable+fans&storeId=10051



Coolpad Coolpad 29 in. x 29 in. Evaporative Cooler Pad

Model # 7046

Store SKU # 709431
$6.97 /EA-Each

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-25e...=-1&keyword=evaporative+coolers&storeId=10051


Watts 1/4 in. x 3/8 in. Brass Barb x MIP Adapter

Model # LF A193

Store SKU # 652946
$4.08 /EA-Each
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-25e...angId=-1&keyword=brass+fittings&storeId=10051


Watts 1/4 in. x 10 ft. PVC Tubing

Model # SVGE10

Store SKU # 702098
$3.11 /EA-Each
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...&langId=-1&keyword=clear+tubing&storeId=10051


Mueller Streamline 3/4 in. x 3/4 in. x 1/2 in. PVC Pressure 90-Degree Slip x Slip Elbow with Taped Side Outlet
Model # 414-10
Store SKU # 613525
$1.62 /EA-Each

http://www.homedepot.com/Plumbing/h_d1/N-25ecodZ5yc1vZbqew/R-100189059/h_d2/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&keyword=3%2F4%22+pvc+fittings&storeId=10051&superSkuId=202904870

Sterilite 16-quart Storage Box Model # 16441012 Store SKU # 896791 Store SO SKU # 896791$4.97 /EA-Each

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-25ecodZ5yc1vZ12kx/R-100671086/h_d2/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&keyword=sterilite&storeId=10051

 

[Gadsden]

 

[aubreynoramarie]

Missy I hear ya. were using the same thing in our house and it SUCKS. SOOOOO last year i was worried about the dog because he has very little fur, and my mom bought him his own space heater. Yes, my mom bought the dog a space heater for christmas. But trust me, it gets way cooler than that. She found this thing on QVC. It was about 80 bucks. Its shaped to look like a little fireplace with a cute little fake flame and everything. The space heater is inside the unit and it is super safe because nothing on the outside actually gets hot at all. anyway it costs about a quarter an hour to run and i would just turn it on when the sun went down and turn it off when i went to work in the morning. I could not believe how well this little thing works. Its like my most valuable treasure that we own.



This little tiny thing keeps our house at least at 65* during the cold winter nights and even seems to keep our room much warmer than usual....Its insane. I bet if you had two or three of these around your house you would save so much money..

 

[Gadsden]

This type of setup (tanked and recirc) saves water, and allows you to add scents to it for either in home use, or to repel insects (mosquitos anyone?). The green media WILL leach into the water, and turn it green. I had to hot glue the 4 little feet of the pump to a flat piece of plastic in order to prevent it from flipping over onto its side.

This will run for about 10-12 hours on high speed and only use about 3 gallons of water. If you use it indoors, keep a gallon or so of water in the fridge for a 20* drop from this unit.

The cross pieces are only there to support the base unit out of the water, but below the edges of the container. This is to prevent water from running over the edge and dripping onto the carpet/furniture. This is only a POC to see how it works. It works well! I will be building a 20" box fan version of it soon to cool our great room, and enclose both units so they are finished looking.

I use peppermint oil in mine for multiple reasons/repellents. A few drops is more than enough!
http://www.naturalnews.com/035973_mosquito_repellents_clothing_summer.html

 

[aubreynoramarie]

thanks for the breakdown,Gadsden. How do you think this thing would do out in the mega hot coop all day?

 

[Gadsden]

The amp draw for that cooler setup is about 1 amp (120 AC) for the pump and fan combined.

Solar panels - we have 9 Sharp 208s. Will never buy Sharp panels again! I will buy Mage units if we get the money to though. Since we are offgrid solar, they are much better for us. All appliances are off the shelf Lowes/HD type stuff that any house would have. The only thing that is 230 V is the well pump. which I want to not use, and install a solar pump over it in the well. The Mages I like are $490 each - HALF of what I paid for my Sharps back in '06!!

The solar pump will then pump up to 2 2500 gal tanks as raw water. From one tank, it goes into 3 levels of physical filtration, and ends up in the domestic water tank. That will also be 2500 gals. The other raw water tank would be for gravity fed irrigation into a wicking style raised bed garden setup. In addition, all 3 tanks would be plumbed in with 3" pipe to hydrants outside the house in case of fire. We have a gas water pump already. The stock well pump would stay in place, for redundancy.

The real beauty is the other 2 water tanks used to store hot and cold water with heat exchangers in them for summer cooling, and domestic hot water. These tanks would be 500 or 1,000 gals each. In addition, if anyone wants info on solar hot water, I should still have the info on DIY concentrated solar (parabolic) trough collectors.

Heat - I get FREE pallets from Earth First Recycling in the Stead area. He is on the east side of N VA, between Lemon Valley and Stead. There are also ads in Craigslist for pallets in town. Cut them up with a circular saw, and pull the nails out of the ash with a magnet after burning. I can fit 24 pallets into the back of a full size (shortbed/crewcab) pickup and still pull into the garage (8'X9' doors).

IF you are handy, I can get you info on building a waste oil heater - highest BTUs of most fuels. Cheap recycled (filtered and standardized) waste oil can be bought at Reno Drain Oil. They can deliver, or you can pick up.

Aubrey - this cooler should easily handle the heat, BUT I would set it up so that it blows in through the wall (from the outside) up high in the coop. Just put a little roof over the top of it (just in case it rains) and being outside will help reduce the concentrations of dried poop being sucked back through the fan/media. I will be working on a cleaner version of this, which can utilize a covered water supply. I think that may help you better also, as it will also allow for a more remote water tank. It may also be worth enclosing the fan, and using a dry filter in the air intake. It all comes down to money, and airflow. If it is fully enclosed, then the rain roof would not be an issue, as long as your enclosure is good.

If you have well water that is pumped near there, then it is also possible to move it so that all water pumped goes through a small heater core/radiator and is blown into the coop/shed/barn/garage. Whenever water is pumped up, it is about 55*F. This would work well with a solar pump that pumps all day.

Another idea for coop cooling, is to just use fans and plastic pipe/hose buried atleast 4' down. Have it blow into the coop, and draw air from a few hundred feet away, using some small fans. We have the room for it, but most people do not.

Also, do you have venting up high for the heat to escape? That will help greatly! My coop was a passive solar design, which I drew up on Google Sketchup. If you do anything with shading or passive solar - download the program!! It is free, and you can input your location so that it gives accurate shading/times/seasons.

 

[aubreynoramarie]

My coop is an 8x11 rubbermaid shed. It has two vents up top near the roof, but also has two windows on either side and double doors that we leave open during the day. I plan on running a cooling unit through one of the windows and maybe a fan up top in front of one of the vents to blow the hottest air out...