Earthship Hybrid - seeking input as we plan this out.

[ListerD]

OK, so I've had my coffee this morning. 

Poppy - great thread on the TN home! Lot's of interesting info!

I'll point that out to the wife and see what her thoughts are on the laundry room. I liked it in the corner because we were actually thinking of beefing up the construction in the "pantry" and using it as a storm shelter/safe room (as the wife calls it) as well. It just seemed to be a natural fit. I do understand your point on noise though and will look into it.

Does anyone have a good breakdown on the "Water Organization Module" used in the EarthShip designs? We're at the point that water systems are our current investigation. I understand basic filtration but we're interested in being able to convert captured rainwater to a potable source in case of emergency (well failure or what ever).

I ordered the "Earthship: Systems and Components" book but I am an impatient sucker. Plus I wanted to see what everyone here is doing for water systems.

[MountainDon]

I overlooked this post over the past few weeks.

For rainwater purification, once the dirt is cleaned out of the water, and the water is clear, UV systems work extremely well from what I understand. They have an advantage over conventional filter media  that is not always thought of. A home that is used seasonally and is subject to freezing weather when vacant and un-heated will have problems with the conventional style of filter cartridges. If they freeze they are "toast". I've also been told in my conversations with the filter experts that once the media is wet it must stay that way. A UV system would just need to be thoroughly drained.

[poppy]

Sounds like good info. there, Don.

I grew up in a farm house with rainwater as the primary water source into a cistern with a manual pump.  No filters or purification of any kind was used.

We would know when the water level got too low when earth worms showed up in the bucket.

Anyway, I plan to use rainwater as my primary water source for my cabin and will be following this thread closely.  I may haul in drinking water for awhile, but want a good clean system.

[ListerD]

You will want to decide early on how much you want to LIVE in a greenhouse with the plants vs having an attached greenhouse you can SHARE with the house.

I was thinking about this just now. We've pretty much settled on the design from thenaturalhome.com. Some tweaks for exterior style and inside walls will be finished with more softer lines (rounded corners and etc.).

Any thoughts on how to turn the planters into a green house in the summer. They're a pretty integral part of the actual home design but I'd like to have a "backup" plan if the warming effect is too much in the summer. We've had suggestions of throw rugs on the floors in the summer to slow absorption and obviously more ventilation to speed air through the house.

Would it be possible to make removable glass panels? i.e. make a glass wall that's removable. Something like this would in effect separate the planting bed from the rest of the house, turning the bed into a greenhouse in the summer. I guess it would be possible but the issue would probably be cost. The glass wall would be 8' H x 52' long!

I guess I could do french doors all the way but that would intrude into the living space too much. Hmmm...  

[ListerD]

Don, missed your post earlier today.

I have some stuff on UV and will look into it. One article somewhere (here maybe?) was talking about pressure issues and stagnant water. Seemed something about too high of a flow allowed bacteria to stream past the UV light. It may have been in the Off Grid in TN story.

A book I looked at said for rainwater just a single activated charcoal filter. I guess that assumes a very clean catch of rain water.

I've changed my water panel design to add an input for rain water. Just not sure where in the filter chain I should put it. Sounds like towards the end would be fine. I need to draw that in a graphic file so I can post it here.

[ListerD]

Kind of thinking out loud here.


Re: Earthtubes

I was planning on having a 20' cargo container to contain some of the systems (electrical modules). The idea for the container initially was grid power comes into it and then feeds into the home from there. It allows for easy expansion and modification without tearing up the house.

Say we add solar in the future, we only need to tie in everything in the container since it already is tied to the home via buried cable. The container doubles as a mount point for panels and etc.


What if I used that also to house the air intakes for the earthtubes? i.e. the incoming stacks penetrate into and out of the container. This would allow the addition of a whole house dehumidifier at that point to drop incoming humidity levels prior to air entering the tubes for cooling. The humidifier drains excess moisture out the side or bottom into a leach pit of some type or feeds a nearby fruit tree or something.

I'd planned on several 8" earthtubes already and coincidentally the Honeywell dehumidifiers have an 8" intake connection.

[ListerD]

And, I'm back... been a while again. We're still scheming and dreaming!

We were just down on the property again, issues with a new neighbor. Seems he thought our property was part of his. I guess he thinks 15 acres visually is 10  on paper (he bought 10 and assumed his went to a fence on our east side, we haven't put in the western fence yet). We also bought another 5 acres east of us.

Not much has changed with our plans, we are still changing around floorplans and looking at ideas.