Offgrid Air Conditioning

glenn kangiser · June 27, 2009, 02:14:46 AM

We have to present our cases properly, Dave.

I believe you are in the porphyry clay as we are and it makes a pretty well sealed pond by itself with little problem. I can take you down to mine to have a look. I expanded mine a couple years ago by digging the second one trying to not make it too big and dry it out. I find that the water does not get far into the clay and the clay makes a pretty good structure to hold the water as well. Well packed with the Bobcat or backhoe - wide enough to have a bit extra supporting them and under 6 feet deep does not require a permit as I read a while back.

I will probably take my backhoe down and modify mine as well as clean it out next year. Mine has a spring that produces 1/2 gpm in the summer and keeps both small ponds filled pretty decent. It is about the 2500 foot level on the mountain.

Would your pond be seasonal water only?

I can show you a few around the country and Whitlock has one nearby also.

considerations · June 27, 2009, 08:08:51 AM

"the inexpensive or free PASSIVE things first"

Don't forget an integral part of antebellum mansions....a breezeway!

June 29, 2009, 04:53:57 PM

Quote from: glenn kangiser on June 27, 2009, 02:14:46 AM
We have to present our cases properly, Dave.

Would your pond be seasonal water only?

I can show you a few around the country and Whitlock has one nearby also.

Yes to both Glen!

kentuckycabin2 · June 29, 2009, 07:28:57 PM

This may not work if you live in the desert southwest but I am curious if anybody has ever experimented with earthtubes as a method of providing a form of offgrid air conditioning ... I have seen this used as an example for a Passive Annual Heat Storage System (PAHS) but have also heard that it can be adapted for tradition framed houses ...

http://www.norishouse.com/PAHS/UmbrellaHouse.html

glenn kangiser · June 30, 2009, 12:53:15 AM

Some of us have talked about it. I even thought about it today. Jonesy in Australia experimented with them I think but we never heard back on them.

Condensation is a problem that would need to be taken care of.

June 30, 2009, 09:32:04 AM

When we were building if we had of had 3 more months before the foundation started we were going to do a passive cool. Heating is too easy up here in the oak woodlands but cooling is a real challenge. We did cool down to 73F last night after our heatwave. We have those nasty 10 nights that do not cool each year and the heat pump in this thread has been the solution. The folks at Sanyo have told me they are going further with the design so stay tuned.

OK, a pond! Wife was very concerned about our seasonal stream on a steep hill causing mudslides, erosion and catastrophy with a pond. I would like to just store 10,000 gallons and use it for irrigation during June, july and august. If it made it to september, nice! The place I want it would gravity feed to our garden and be gravity fed from the stream when the last rain turns it off. I probably need to "present this case better to Glen" and see if a happy hour and dinner might get him to come down off his mountain and come over to mine ?

kenhill · June 30, 2009, 11:35:59 AM

Has anyone used a pond for cooling. Seems like a heat pump thype set-up could use the cool water at the bottom of a pond as a refrigerant.

Whitlock · June 30, 2009, 07:07:27 PM

Quote from: Dave Sparks on June 30, 2009, 09:32:04 AM
I probably need to "present this case better to Glen" and see if a happy hour and dinner might get him to come down off his mountain and come over to mine ?

He would have to pay the toll fees to get passed me

The earth dams in this area hold well I have two ponds were I live and they hold back a lot of water.
The trick is the over flow.It needs to be built so it won't wash away.
You are welcome to come bye and look them over.

Later,W

glenn kangiser · June 30, 2009, 08:09:40 PM

Hmm - I may have to tie W to the from of my Dodge and bring him over too, Dave.

You may want to figure how much evaporation loss you may get and add for that too. I have had good luck with the porphyry clay holding and as w says - an overflow directed away from the dam could help. I currently do not have one except for a low spot, but I have not tried to capture the seasonal runoff yet. As good as things are at the dams now I think I probably will this year and add an overflow.

June 30, 2009, 08:12:04 PM

Some use wells for heat pump cooling, Ken but the water is said to be degraded as to temperature when returned to the well. I assume it would bring up the pond temp but probably could still benefit in the right situation. I'm off grid and the pond is far away so wouldn't be able to try.

Whitlock · June 30, 2009, 08:58:01 PM

Evaporation loss in this area is 60 inches

Dave Sparks · July 01, 2009, 04:40:32 PM

OK I will give you guy's a jingle after the 4th! Thanks for the offers and tolls.....

glenn kangiser · July 02, 2009, 10:49:07 AM

We'll be waiting, Dave.

Hmm. I'll have to clean out the front seat of the truck....

Dave Sparks · July 02, 2009, 11:52:52 AM

You can fit Kathy and Whitlock in that truck?

July 02, 2009, 12:02:18 PM

He had to clean out the front seat of his truck to fit Whitlock & Pat (Whitlock is over 6 ft & Pat is around 6'8" I think)

They all went down to hell to work on the project Glenn's been working on the past few months...

glenn kangiser · July 02, 2009, 01:15:54 PM

Quote from: Dave Sparks on July 02, 2009, 11:52:52 AM
You can fit Kathy and Whitlock in that truck?

It is a full size truck, so yes, if I take out the laser, tripod, stick, Makita tools, various bags of food and drink or stack them in the back seat and fold up the office divider (center folding backrest) .... caution - look out for stuff falling over the tops of the headrests....

Update: I just found the bag of fittings and glue I bought around a month ago for the water line behind the seat near the floor so there is more room now. Only took about an hour to find. Why do people make fun of me.

Sassy · July 02, 2009, 01:21:09 PM

I went out there & looked around for about 5 minutes & asked him if he'd looked in his truck yet - of course not, so after pulling out a few things, viola, there they were!

glenn kangiser · July 02, 2009, 01:24:01 PM

Not totally true.....

I had already looked in the truck three times....

Dave Sparks · July 06, 2009, 10:48:54 AM

It is not just you! I am told by my spouse that "men look where they think it should be and women just look for it"

Still on the pond thing and we have narrowed it down to the logical dangerous location and the "have to use a pump but safe location. I will post a picture of the pond up above me on BLM land......I know what you are thinking

glenn kangiser · July 07, 2009, 12:35:35 AM

Men, being near perfect, cannot be bothered all of the time with the proper place or way to look for things.

Looking forward to seeing the pix and will drop by to take a look as well as show you around when you are ready.

July 07, 2009, 12:57:51 AM

Quote from: Dave Sparks on July 06, 2009, 10:48:54 AM
It is not just you! I am told by my spouse that "men look where they think it should be and women just look for it"

Still on the pond thing and we have narrowed it down to the logical dangerous location and the "have to use a pump but safe location. I will post a picture of the pond up above me on BLM land......I know what you are thinking

Did the fish make it though the fire in that pond?
I hope so there are some different looking fish in there they look like a cross bettween a large mouth bass and a bluegill $:-\$
There is also a big bear that hangs out around there.

Take care,W

Dave Sparks · July 07, 2009, 01:20:47 PM

I will post the Pond picture tomorrow and yes whilock the fish made it thru the fire but 1/4 of the Ponderosa's in the grove around the pond are toast. Since we have not had an eyeball yet, (my fault) the fish are all dead!

Dave Sparks · July 08, 2009, 08:50:35 AM

I tried to upload a 91Kbyte file of the pond but got the error that the upload box is full.

glenn kangiser · July 08, 2009, 10:23:56 AM

Forgot to tell you, Dave - you need to load it to Photobucket first then copy the bottom IMG tag after your upload is successful and paste it into your message wherever you want the photo to appear. Hitting enter after you paste it in inserts a line and makes it easier to view especially with multiple pix. There is a tutorial in forum news also.

Dave Sparks · July 08, 2009, 02:16:57 PM

Thanks I'll try it when I get more time for things "things that don't work", for me.....

For now it is the last pix at my picasa

http://picasaweb.google.com/campososolar/MyPictures#