Okanogan 14x24 by a lurker :)

[OlJarhead]

SUCCESS!

[Toyotaboy]

So you are going to mount this where on the cabin? At an angle for the sun?

[OlJarhead]

Going to mount it in front of the deck just under the eves and at about 63 degrees so it catches the most sun in the dead of winter....or that's the plan anyway.

[Toyotaboy]

Very cool. Can't wait to see how this all comes together and works. You really have an awesome place. Your thread has been inspiring.
  My place is sort of designed after Skagdrifter's place who has a thread on here near your place. I'm trying to figure how to get heat to the first floor bedroom which is on the north side of the cabin.  With the high peak, all the heat is in the loft. Looking to maybe run a vent pipe up the wall thru the floor with a low voltage fan to suck some of the hot air out of the loft. It would have to run off a battery during the night as we turn off the generator for bed. Or one of those wall mounted gas heater units. But then I'm buying propane which I really don't want to do.

[Toyotaboy]

 Here is my build but needs an update

http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=11982.msg154092#msg154092

[OlJarhead]

I long thought about that very problem myself though my place is smaller.  In the end I settled for a 24vdc fan in the loft to push the heat down and the wood stove in the lower portion.

These heaters appear to work very well though, so I can imagine a few of them would make some difference during the daylight hours.

I use a propane heater for backup when I need it but normally it's off.

[OlJarhead]

Thank Heaven!  St Lawrence Nurseries had some overstock in apples and I was able to order a Sofstaholm Apple, White Winter Pearmain, Crimson Beauty and Maidenblush to replace my lost trees!!!!  Now I can get the orchard going again   Still have the Cherry and Plum so will need a pear but at least I'll have 5 apples again and who knows, maybe they will even produce in 5 years or so!

[OlJarhead]

Happy to report that after installing the heater on the cabin I saw the temp at the top of the heater reach 44.5F despite the 21F outside air temps.  Time will tell if this thing does what it is supposed to do but I think it will.

Still need to hook up the fan and complete the insulation in the porch etc but I'm getting there.

[Toyotaboy]

Any pics?

[OlJarhead]

Yup   I'll post some later today when I'm back home

[OlJarhead]

Just getting it situated.  It's amazing just how big this monster is! LOL


I settled on some simple ties to the porch and blocks under it since there is no way to make a permanent mount right now.  Have to wait for the ground to thaw.


It does take up a large space but if it keeps the room warm I'm all for it.


We got another 8" of snow after we left (neighbor told me) and another 5 or 6 coming so it's going to be interesting to see how it sheds the snow.  My thoughts now are that it needs to be further out from the porch so the snow coming off the porch roof doesn't cover it but I'll have to play with that a bit and see how it goes.....heck I may make it moveable so I can move it away in the summer and place it back for the winter.  Who knows.

[Toyotaboy]

Great pics. Wow! That is a behemoth! Looks good though.

Good call on the snow coming off the roof. That could be a concern. What did you use for face of it. Plexiglass? I didn't see it, or missed it in your thread about the build.

Toyotaboy

[OlJarhead]

I used Lexan for the glazing (cover) and R8 insulated 4" duct to plumb it into the porch.  Still need a baffle to prevent back feeding cold air at night and need to get the fan installed but so far it does seem to be making a difference.

The snow can be an issue but I'm not 100% sure how to correct it.  I may stand it straight up instead which would help but reduce the angle to the sun in a way that might imipact it negatively.

[Toyotaboy]

Maybe a snow rake on the roof right above it. Wouldn't help when you are not there but may help with any massive build up that would slide down. Just another winter chore.

On another note, I will be headed to our place in two weeks for our lumberjack weekend with large group of guys. I have three cousins that own hunting land less than a mile down the road. We get together in Feb. and cut wood on several properties. Then each hunt camp gets lots of wood. We also have some Amish friends who bring two teams of horses to skid out the lumber. That is impressive to watch. Way better than a tractor. Then the guys attack it with chainsaws and another crew runs a log splitter. We get lots done in two days. Then drinks and stories in the evenings.  Best part is no bugs to deal with this time of year.

[OlJarhead]

Will be up there today   Guess I'll find out just how much snow felt and weather or not the heater worked (or is working since the sun should be out today)....here's hoping all is well.  I'll get pics though and report back

[OlJarhead]

Arrived at the cabin this afternoon after having to chain up for the last 1/4 mile.  Road was very narrow with 2 to 3 foot banks of snow from the neighbors plow!  Lots of snow up here now but it's still only about 2 feet deep due to some rain and warmer temps (low 30's) and snow compressing.  The solar heater was reading an incredible 199.9F though so that tells me it's really making some heat!



THe solar panel is a 24v panel that I thought was a 12v panel so I'll remove it and just use the battery bank instead.  I'll save the panels for something else (I have 4 of these).


Looking down at the bottom of the heater you can see the insulated duct.  I will be boxing this in and insulating it even more this summer.


THe top duct will also be boxed in and super insulated as well.  Those wires will also all be done better when I have time but this was a quick fix to get the can running.


Another temp install (I hate those but it's what time allowed me).  THe fan really cranks out the air!  It ran for several minutes but the sun had dropped behind the trees and the panel had dropped from 199.9F to 130F when I hooked up the fan.  With no sun it didn't take long to drop the temp below the 90F switch point when the fan cut off.  I know it works though and with the fan not hooked up the room was only 50F without outside air temps at 32F so I'm sure the fan will change that a bunch.  Question is whether or not it will heat the room over 70F.  If it does I'll pipe some of that heat into the cabin too.

[Toyotaboy]

199.9 that is really cranking it out. Is there anyway to tell what the overnight temps are once the sun disappears? Where does your vent tube on the bottom go? That is the intake for the heater? 

[Toyotaboy]

Any chance you have a close up of that fan? I'm curious about the built in mounts and where you got it. Sorry for all the questions.

[OlJarhead]

I put a register in the floor for the cold air to drop into the bottom of the heater.  I'll post something on the fan later.

At the moment I just had the temp logger in the heater.  Next step will be to see what the temp does in the porch.

[OlJarhead]

CURSES!  My data logger did not record any data   Nothing to show and I'm PO'd about it.  Sending it back for a refund (piece of #$@#).....

Guess I'll have to find something that works.

[Nate R]

CURSES!  My data logger did not record any data   Nothing to show and I'm PO'd about it.  Sending it back for a refund (piece of #$@#).....

Guess I'll have to find something that works.

What datalogger did you try/buy?  Might be able to recommend one that's worked very well for me.

[OlJarhead]

Perfect Prime TH165

[Nate R]

Ahhh, OK.

I'm using a Lascar EL model. (EasyLog). I use a model that has an LCD display, and has a thermcouple input. Cost me about $90, but has been rock solid for many uses for me so far. Grill temperatures, refrigerator, outdoor, etc.

I see they have a version that has on board temp sensor, etc for about $50. Quite a bit more than the one you have, but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them based on my experiences. The battery is a bit oddball, but lasts a long time.

[OlJarhead]

After working with Perfect Prime I have learned that the unit does indeed work but it isn't that user friendly.  Basically you have to set it up to work when the start/stop is pressed and held for a few seconds and it only works once per logging event.  Then you must not do ANYTHING with the unit until it is plugged into the PC and the data is downloaded.

Once set up it will wait for you to tell it to start logging and the amount of time it has to wait does not seem to matter so I should be able set it up, drive to the cabin, install it and tell it to start logging, pull it some time later and bring back home and download the logs.  I will give this a try next trip.

[OlJarhead]

Managed a very quick trip to the cabin to check on things and put my temp logger back into the heater for one more attempt at getting some readings.  It was 37F at the cabin and the heater was showing 59F at about 11am.  First thing I noticed (besides all the snow) was that the bricks had fallen over under the heater.


They placed in the snow so I anticipated this and had placed a 1x6 'leg' for extra support to prevent the heater from falling.

Got them back up and shimmed up under the heater.  I'll make this permanent in better weather


Now that the snow is off the roof I can order the solar panel racks and get my new panels up and working.


Place looks about two weeks behind where it usually is this time of year (meaning colder and more snow)

This is very encouraging as it should mean lots of water in the mountains again this year (which means less chance of big fires).

I'm milling the next few weekends so won't have time to do much at the cabin but with luck I can get the tractor going again and start falling some trees for milling up for this years projects.