My 15.75 x 30 Jemez Cabin

[MountainDon]

The porch roof, all done except for the metal roofing and some of the roofing paper.



It's basically a shed roof with a twist. Or a sloped/slanted end.



The strange end was necessitated by poor or faulty planning.    After some thinking I came up with a workable, though unconventional, solution. I would have used a gable roof to mirror the cabin except we wanted the stairs oriented as built and a gable roof would have poured water over the approach. No gutters as winter snows remove them.



The box on the deck bump out is for kindling and firewood for the wood stove. Below is a view of the grill shelf at the end.

[MountainDon]

The kitchen sink drain and vent, along with the RV water heater cover door.



I'm still torn between using a sink drain trap or not.    There's no septic tank connection, just a simple gray water disposal. I've installed a P-trap with a cleanout that will make it easy to drain. Or I may decide to remove the trap and go direct. If I do that the vent pipe will be superfluous. It works well, no gurgles at all.

Close up of the pipe and destination...



... and even closer.



The 20 gallon drum has a perforated bottom and is filled with coarse pumice. There's a disposable/cleanable section of window screening to catch the coarser pieces of effluent. We've used the same thing for the RV on site for the past 2+ years.

When the shower and bathroom is completed there will be another pipe entering the drum top.

I may also extend the pipe some distance and relocate the drum, but for now there it is.

[MountainDon]

Here's the upper enf of the underground cistern with the hand pump. I still need to do the piping and required fittings for the fill, vent, etc.

[MountainDon]

So what is Don up to now, with the Jeep in the trees on the south slope?

[MountainDon]

Does the messy cluttered rear of the Jeep contain a clue? 

   

[PEG688]

Does the messy cluttered rear of the Jeep contain a clue? 

   

The rake looks like you used it in fire , so my guess is a small brush fire.

BTW that wiring doesn't look any thing like Glenn's  are you sure that stuff works like that I mean shouldn't there be some rat nests of wires looped hither and yon to insure proper cross polarization and that sort of thing???

   

[MountainDon]

The rake looks like you used it in fire , so my guess is a small brush fire.

PEG's on the right track.   

We had a nice slow rain Thursday night. From about 11 PM through to 8 AM. It nicely soaked the ground and the ground cover of pine needles, etc. We, or I should say Karen, had several nice piles of ground trash that needed disposal. She had used tarps and plastic sheet to cover ten piles ranging from a small collection of pine needles to larger piles of logs and branches to keep them dry. Shortly after 8 AM we set fire to them, one at a time, after calling the local Forest Service fire dispatch to advise them of out intent. That saves them the trouble of sending a crew by truck to investigate the smoke. Or worse, sending the helicopter out. That puts them in a bad mood and costs money better used elsewhere. So we gave them the coordinates and set fire to all ten piles.

We spent the morning and afternoon monitoring the burns, raking in the borders and trying not to breath too much smoke. It continued to rain on and off the whole day.





Note the areas around each pile had been raked back or into the fire zone.



We sure did produce a whole lot of smoke. The last time we did this one of the crews came up anyways as they had nothing better to do. They told us our smoke had been reported from as far away as the Cuba Ranger District. Cuba, NM that is, a straight line distance of 25+ miles.

So anyhow, we let the piles burn down through Friday, stirring them up with the rake or the hoe. Saturday morning they were down to smoldering ashes. However, as we had plans to leave Sunday we could not simply leave them and trust in God that the fires would go out and not cause trouble as the forest dried... assuming there were no further rains.

So I loaded the 100 gallon water transport tank into the Jeep and made like a small fire engine. There's a little 12 VDC pump from Harbor Freight in the photo among the tangle of hose. We used that to water the fires and the rake and hoe to mix 'em up good Saturday evening.



Then Sunday morning we revisited the fire spots, dug into them with the hoe and looked for hot spots with the infrared thermometer. Everything was fine and we packed up to go back to our work schedule.

We have loads more to burn. If we can't get the rains coordinated with our schedule we'll have to wait intil there's snow on the ground. I have a note out to my 4WD and dance club members to come and pickup ree firewood so hopefully they will haul off some of the unwanted wood.

[MountainDon]

BTW that wiring doesn't look any thing like Glenn's   are you sure that stuff works like that I mean shouldn't there be some rat nests of wires looped hither and yon to insure proper cross polarization and that sort of thing???

 

You just slay me.        I'm hoping it works; fingers crossed, hopefully not the polarity.     

[PEG688]

Glenn must have missed this  He wouldn't let that slide would he? Without a comment / fight would he? Maybe he's just  gettin old 

[MountainDon]

I spent the weekend working on the cabin. I went up Friday night and before I got to do constructive things I had some fire tending to do. All the water we poured on the remains of one of our burn piles last weekend and all the poking, raking and hoeing was not enough to put one out.

There was a very stubborn stump/root that had remained hot, hidden underground. Hot enough to be issuing faint trails of smoke. I filled the water tank in the Jeep and backed down the slope to get close enough or the 50 foot hose to reach. Friday night in the dark I dumped maybe 30 gallons into the small sink hole that had devoloped. Saturday morning I dug down a couple feet and found coals. I dumped more water, maybe 40 gallons and stirred it up.

Sunday it seemed to be cold but I dug some more and poured in 30 gallons more. Sunday night and today it rained to help.    



It doesn't look like much in the picture, but it was a PITA.

I finally got the PV solar all installed and hooked up. I took up a set of brand new golf cart size batteries. They are 6 volt, 210 amp hour rated and a good great deal at Sam's Club. There's 12 with room for 4 more. There's also enough height for L16's or something larger, taller, in the future.



I'll have a few more pictures in the Off Grid Power topic shortly.  http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=6059.msg96769#msg96769

The white cable that disappears into the wall at about center, is a CAT5e cable from the Outback inverter to the Mate (remote control and programmer) that is to be mounted on an interior wall.

[MountainDon]

It was so cool being able to operate the microwave without the need to go outside and start the generator. I almost missed hearing the sound of the generator spooling up as the microwave started.

The Outback inverters search mode works very well. I have the inverter programmed to stay sleeping, or in search) when there are no loads. When there are no loads the inverter does not supply active power. It sends out a short burst to see if there is any demand. The sensitivity is adjustable as is the time interval between search pulses. At present there is a 0.5 second delay on average ater flicking a light switch to on.

The TV won't pull enough power to trip the inverter on with the present settings. That's cool because that virtually eliminates the phantom load. I be tweaking the settings to see if I can set the sensitivity down to where the TV will cause the inverter to power up. I have a wall switch by the sofa that turns off the receptacle the TV is plugged into. If I can set the sensitivity just right then turning on the wall switch will power up the inverter and the TV will then be all set to operate with the remote. Not a big deal, but it'll be cool.

Now that the cabin is fully solar powered the 24 VDC ceiling fan is now operational as well!   



The variable spped control works nicely too.

[MountainDon]

The cabin uses an interior water storage tank of 15 gallons capacity. It needs a filler, a vent tube and a drain (for freezing weather). I finally got those thing completed as well.



Upper left is the vent pipe, upper right the water filler with temporary cap, and the drain is to the lower left. The drain has a standard hose connection and will receive a cap next trip.

I wanted a vent to the exterio in case of overfilling the tank. I also wanted it screened to keep bugs out. I puzzled over a solution to this non conventional thing and was ready to simply wire tie some window screening around the pipe end. Then I had an idea.



That's a shrub sprinkler head. Small opening should keep the bugs out. Most anyways.

All those perforations will receive its own small aluminum flashing water defelctore next trip as well.

[MountainDon]

I got the porch roofing installed.  



That was my big project for the weekend. I got it completed about 15 minutes before it rained on Sunday.

Another detail I finished up was the solar PV array tile mechanism. The Unirac pole top mount does not have an arm like this included. The rack relies on u-bolt clamps to secure the array at the proper angle on the 3 inch round crossbar. It seems to work fine and has plenty of wind rating capacity. However adjusting the angle is a chore as a ladder and tools are needed. Hence my modification. I've tightened the u-bolts enough to keep the array from sliding sideways, but left them loose enough to be able to tilt the array. I made up a angle iron crossbar with pivot. The support bar is 11 gauge 1 x 1" (1/8" wall) steel with added angle iron reinforcement. The multiple holes allow the tilt to be adjusted. The hitch pin clip makes the adjustment toolless. The rid through the steel pole is a 7 inch carriage bolt with the head cut off.

[Redoverfarm]

Don how did you address the flashing at the house side of the porch roof?  I noticed in the earlier post that you had already put the hardee up and painted it above the porch roof.

[MountainDon]

I also got the Oasis hand water pump fitted to the cistern manhole extension.



The Oasis pump is made from a thermoplastic. The base of the pump is glued to a standard 4x3 toilet spigot flange. The "rhino horn" on the pump oulet is for priming. With the pump sealed you need to pour water in to get it primed. This was idea to make the task a little easier/quicker.

I wanted to make it easy to remove the pump head without having to pull the drop pipe at the same time.



I used a 2 inch bulkhead fitting mounted in a three inch hole drilled in the center of the cover. The 2" PVC drop pipe mounts under the cover (glued to a threaded fitting). A threaded fitting with a stub of 2" pipe is screwed into the top of the bulkhead fitting. (I meant to taker more photos but got carried away with the installation) The bottom of the pump has a similar fitting and pipe stub.

The rubber flexible connector is secured to the pump stub first. Then the pump can be lowered onto the brackets I made from angle iron. The rubber sleeve is slid over the lower pipe stub at the same time. Once bolting the pump down the lower clamp is tightened to seal the pump to the down pipe.

For the record I used stainless steel bolts. The four bolts that secure the pump to the mounts thread into stainless steel Tee nuts I welded to the under side of the mount. That way I only need one wrench.

The mount brackets bolt through the cover with a toilet flange on both the upper and lower surfaces for reinforcement.





If the pump is removed I can use a clamp on rubber cap to seal the pipe opening. I wanted to be able to remove the pump in freezing weather if pump freezing up was a problem, without having to pull the drop pipe as well. It takes 30 - 50 minutes for the pump to loose its prime; maybe long enough to freeze.  

As long as I round up the parts I need, next week I'll be able to show the hose arrangement I'll use to pump water from the cistern to the ready use tank in the cabin.


Oasis Pump Website

Ours is the shallow well model. $90

[MountainDon]

Don how did you address the flashing at the house side of the porch roof?  I noticed in the earlier post that you had already put the hardee up and painted it above the porch roof.

The lower edge of the Hardie plank siding is not nailed (in most places). I used a couple of temporary wedges to lift the lower edge away. Then I slipped the flashing under the edge of the siding. To say I slipped it under makes it sound soooo easy. There was a bit of a wrassling match but I did get it eventually.

I had also removed a small amount of material from the back side of the lower edge of the bottom trim piece before it was nailed on. That left space for the flashing to slide under the trim. Caulked (100% silicone) when completed.

[Redoverfarm]

I sort of thought that you left it not nailed.  Be a real PIA to pull nails out of that stuff without it breaking on you.  I would say if you got an inch coverage you should be OK.  But then again how much snow will accumulate on that roof in the winter?

[MountainDon]

There's almost 2 inches up under the edge of the siding. I had the flashing custom cut (larger). I plan on painting the vertical portion the same color as the wall to make it stand out a little less.

It is virtually impossible to pull nails out of Hardie without messing it up.

[ScottA]

How does the water get into the cistern? I guess I missed that part.

[MountainDon]

One of the other little details I did was prompted by some self induced "lightning" when I was hooking up the batteries.



That's water pipe insulation over some of the buss bar. It may not be NEC rated but it should help prevent slipped wrenches from causing unwarranted fireworks.  

[ScottA]

You did it wrong. Glen proved you need a rats nest of wires for it to work Don. This is much too neat.

[MountainDon]

How does the water get into the cistern? I guess I missed that part.

Good question and thanks for asking. I neglected to get into that.

I installed a couple of small bulkhead fittings, a 3/4 and a 1/2 inch, in the manhole extension side.



The one in the foreground (3/4") has a garden hose fitting inserted. That is for filling from the 100 gallon transport tank. I can carry that tank in the trailer or in the back of the Cherokee. I can park the Jeep beside the energy center and hook up a garden hose to allow the water to flow to the cistern by gravity.

The second fitting (background, upper right) is the vent. I used another sprinkler head just like the vent for the tank in the cabin.

Oh yeah, I also had running water   in the cabin this weekend! Hot running water too! That was very cool after a year of jugs and pots on the stove for hot water. A person could get used to that.

The silver tape is my cover alignment mark.

[MountainDon]

A couple more interest shots.

The first below in the charge controller chamber. I wanted a 12 VDC outlet so I could plug in my portable pump if needed, or a 12 v trouble light for whatever reason. I mounted a keyed 250 vac receptacle here as it was convenient.



And here's the Outback 3524M inverter with the monster 4/0 cables from the batteries. Normally there's a cover plate covering all that. The blue rubber pad was placed there to isolate the slight buzz/tick sound the inverter makes when in search mode. It was the perfect solution to that slight annoyance. It's a piece of one of those floor rubber pads used to help prevent foot fatigue when performing a task standing for long periods.




I intend to put some flex conduit over those 10 AWG wires to and from the inverter. It was one of the things I forgot.

[MountainDon]

I forgot to mention how   it is to be running on solar provided electricity. The generator hasn't run for over a week now.    I have run a line to the shed for a light and a couple outlets for tools and tool battery recharging. Next I want to do a line to the gazebo, but no rush on that.



Without trying to be a miser on the power I've found the battery recharge to be completed by noon most days. There are still enough hours of sunlight left if more recharging is needed. As well as lighting that use included some microwave and toaster use and some TV time.

I actually did a PV powered battery equalization just to see if I could.

[Mike 870]

Wow, I'm impressed by all your tech savvy.  I may be asking advice 1 or 2 years down the line.  Those are some great out of the box thinking solutions.   I expecially like the method for adjusting the angle of your solar array.  Sometimes the simple solution is best.  It's not prone to mechanical failure and the gain in solar hours you can get just by adjusting that one angle is pretty significant.