hello from a ceptic

[ieezitin]

Hi all.

I was born and raised in London SE9 lived there 27 years but immigrated here to the States back in 1990.

Done my apprenticeship in the CEGB as a turner fitter but ended up in the boiler house always on steam piping, I graduated in 84. Been pipe welding ever since, pretty much covered the states on contract work in such places as nuclear power houses to refineries and chemical companies.

My interests are machining, welding, guns & hunting, re-nuable energy and farming, I have a 10 acre farm here in Maryland which me and my wife are slowly building up. I also have a complete machine shop with medium size equipment my largest lathe is 6” swing x 3ft, good enough for my needs, its my intention to learn gunsmithing for my early retirement The three shots are an Ariel view of our farm and me this January filling up the freezer, the deer shot shows my Miller Bobcat 220 diesel welder in the back of the truck.

I don’t know it all and was lead here because I needed to know some information on a brazing question which while rooting through the old posts my question was answered. You all seem pretty friendly here and I have noticed talent too.

Its nice to see a lot of lads speaking the old slang I used back in the day but I have probably forgotten arf of it now my self.

Anywho nice to be here. Anthony.

 

[Wozzaaah]

Nice intro Anthony, welcome to the forum.
We have a great bunch of members on here from all walks of life, I'm sure you'll soon feel right at home.

 

[Sparkey]

Welcome Anthony!
Yes, interesting intro...I'm not very fond of the whole hunting stuff but hey, we can't all have the same opinions in life!
Renewable energy sounds interesting tho! How do you apply that to your farm?
We own a dairy farm here in France and are getting started on a biogas project with a close friend...but since the french simply looooove paperwork it's dragging a bit at the mo....
Anyways, nice to meet you!

 

[ieezitin]

Sparky.

All I have done so far is make a wind turbine from a 12dc treadmill motor. I made the blade or blades from 6” pvc pipe cut and profiled from a drawing I got here on the net from some guy in Nevada. It runs and produces about 6-7 volts in 10-15 mph winds but I do not have the battery packs or voltage regulators set up yet, this is going to be done by a mate of mine and I will be watching him as I need to learn more about electronics.

If you notice in the air shot of the farm I am surrounded by trees and the wind deal is not looking promising for me but hey I have about $70 in the project if I get enough power to feed the run in shed with 12v lighting I will be happy.

Solar voltaic and solar water heating are best for me here, I have done bags of research I just need to get off my *ss and do it. The price of Solar panels here in the states is plummeting and I figure in the next three years I could be totally off the grid, my plan is to buy a off the shelf package solar panels and electrical junction gear for around $15,000 then temporary install into the house, I say temporary because we may be moving to Utah in the next 5 years and I want to keep my investment. Also here in Maryland its compulsory to sell all unused power back to the power companies so they will end up paying me every month for power I produce.

We have had a very bad summer here this year regarding rain fall, all farmers here have lost half there crops so far this year (soy, corn, peas and beans) and I am financially tied in with a local farmer who tills 2000 acres, he wants me to figure out large scale wind pumps for his ponds so he can irrigate from them next year, I have settled on a EMAS type piston pump you can make from pvc, should be very easy to achieve look at the link I have provided these poor people have nothing to work with but have great success. When I build them ill post a build thread.

http://www.vimeo.com/8367311


Biogas. Wow methane is pretty useful. That’s a great resource and relatively simple to operate. Best of luck.

Nice meeting you too buddy. All the best. Anthony.

 

[Furry Freak]

Hi Fella. In contrast, I'm very much into the shooting stuff. But understand that some aren't. Nice to see you doing some herd management there. They can't all be 10 pointers, eh? Were they from a tree stand or what? Or did you just drop your welder on them?

I'd like to give the bow hunting a go, but I'll give the old smoke-poles a miss thanks very much. I'll stick to proper ammo.

FF

 

[Rudi McAnichal]

QUOTE: “Biogas … relatively simple to operate”.

The principles are simple, but the systems usually need careful nursing. Biogas digesters can work well on a miniature scale (eg smallholders in India) with the owner keeping a close watch on things, or on an industrial scale (eg municipal sewage works) with full time staff to monitor the process. They are not so easy to manage on a farm scale, especially during busy seasons or holiday periods. Dry matter content of the feedstock is important, and waste from dairy farms (in UK at least) often contains far too much water.

One way to make money from an on-farm biogas plant is to mix high dry matter waste from other sources, such as food processing factories, with the farm waste. This allows you to keep the feedstock at optimum dry matter content for efficient digestion, and you charge a “gate fee” for accepting other peoples’ waste (you are saving them the cost of having it treated elsewhere) which you spread on your land after digestion. The gate fee can be worth much more than the energy production.

Ieezitin, if you do move to Utah, I imagine you would not suffer from our excess of moisture, so biogas projects might be much easier to manage than in UK, or even Maryland.

Sparkey, I hope the bureaucrats let you go ahead with the biogas scheme. There should be plenty of pipe welding to occupy you in your spare time.

 

[ieezitin]

Furry freak.

These deer were shot from the cab of the truck, totally illegal in the state and at the end of January it’s a no-no too but! This was on private land and I had what we call crop damage tags, farmers are issued xyz many tag to stop the damage to crops being done by certain animals. The shells play havoc buzzing round the cab and you don’t want one hitting you in the neck believe me I know.

There are endless supply of deer here and are a staple diet for all who live here, they have been hunting here for two hundred years and they have very good land management to keep all things in equilibrium. Bucks 10 point or not don’t taste as good as does do. IMHO. A $0.17 223 nato round is more economical than a $8000 welder killing deer.

Rudi.

You obviously know your biogas, more than I. It was sparkey who has the biogas deal going, me im not into cows too much time and land destruction for my liking.

 

[Shox Dr]

Hi, and welcome back to Blighty

Lots of interesting topics in just one thread. I was going to start one on Solar Voltaic, as I had a guy come see me yesterday, wanted far too much for the system, so I'll start a thread in the Brew room about that.

Shooting love it. just so happens I've applied for a variation last week for a Winchester 94 in 30-30. And I don't like eating sticky stags either


BioGas, in the town I live (Goole) the old cattle market used to have (may still) a Methane Pump. (engine).

 

[Rudi McAnichal]

QUOTE: “Biogas…methane pump”

Sounds like a Humphrey pump, sometimes described as a liquid piston engine. The liquid being pumped (usually water) oscillates inside a U-tube. One arm of the U-tube has inlet and exhaust valves and a spark plug, like those of a petrol or gas engine. Water rises in the U-tube and compresses the fuel gas, and the mixture is ignited. The gas expands and drives water back down the U-tube, some of the water is pushed out at high level, and more is drawn in from the low level source during the return stroke. No need for any crankshaft, con rod, etc. The “piston” can be large, often several feet in diameter. Particularly suited to sewage works, which always need pumps, and can easily produce the methane from a digester.

I have seen working model Humphrey pumps (a fellow students made a one back in the 1960s), but I have never seen a full scale system. Fascinating devices, lots of info in engineering literature or on the web.

 

[Shox Dr]

I can't remember what it was used for. I'll ask someone who might know if it's still there and what it was used for. ISTR the methane was used for gas lamps as well, though I don't know how as Methane doesn't have a incandescent flame. Does it?

 

[Sparkey]

Very interesting those EMAS pumps, i will be looking forward to your project thread about it!

Something else mr Sparkey told me yesterday was about flexible solar panels:
http://www.siliconsolar.com/flexible-solar-panels.html
I've googled it and was amazed! now the perspective is huge, you can put them where ever you want!

When his parents will retire and we will own the farm together, there are plenty of ideas we want to look into! Solar panels, heating the house on wheat....
But we have to be a bit more patient yet, lol the old folks don't have such modern ideas!

Shox: yes, it does! isn't it used for heating and cooking? But it's called "natural gas" then, but it is 99% methane...or not??? aw now you got me hesitating too... any ideas anyone?