BRRRRRRRR . . . .

[Sisco]

Was a little balmier this morning.

[98Z5V]

10 hours ago, Armed Eye Doc said:

One for the property would be a good idea though.  I would need a large propane tank.  I will start to look at them as we get things moving out there.

If you've ever torn down gas engines and rebuilt them, something will stand out to you CLEARLY once you tear down a propane engine - the pistons are clean, the combustion chambers are clean, the valves don't need to be de-carboned...   Propane engines are the cleanest running things out there.  Blew my mind, the first one I took apart.  

[Armed Eye Doc]

5 minutes ago, 98Z5V said:

If you've ever torn down gas engines and rebuilt them, something will stand out to you CLEARLY once you tear down a propane engine - the pistons are clean, the combustion chambers are clean, the valves don't need to be de-carboned...   Propane engines are the cleanest running things out there.  Blew my mind, the first one I took apart.  

Had I not gotten a great price on my last generator, I was going to get a dual fuel generator that could use gasoline or propane.  It was 2/3 more.

[mrmackc]

23 hours ago, 98Z5V said:

Tejas has a very very low energy reserve - because they've never needed a higher energy reserve.  The Glenn Beck program tonight went over a whole lot of this on tonight's show, so it's worth searching and listening to.  Very good info on the "why" this is happening to Tejas right now. Not the temps - that can't be avoided - but the blackouts that are fucking people up...

Texas is on their own electricity grid, not connected to any other we sink or swim on our own.  The privately owned (stockholders) providers are more interested in profits than keeping up the infrastructure and The previous Gov. and legislators put up 7 Billion tax dollars in subsidies for wind mills and 23% of the supply system is wind turbines. We haven't had as severe cold weather like this in 30 years.  We have been in single digits with snow and ice since Sunday and haven't been above freezing since . I have had a Heatolater wood burning fireplace in the master bedroom since we built.  I am sensitive to smoke so we put in a set of gas logs. We have a 250 gallon propane tank for the fireplace so we are okay.  Our electric provider is a COOP and not connected to the privately owned providers and our power has not been off any. All the towns around have been without power for 2 or 3 days now..  I also have a 10KW gas generator for a backup, and it hasn't been needed for 8 years so far. I am thinking I will get a 20Kw propane powered unit that is automatically kicks in in case of an extended outage, either a Cummins / Onan unit or a Generac unit . for around $5K. it ids only money.

[DNP]

The propane generator is nice because you don’t have the fuel to maintain like the diesel, but they are a little pricey when they’re running based on fuel consumption. Wind is a tough one when the mill freezes, solar is tough when it snows or clouds up. Nothing like a good ok clean energy nuclear plant...let’s get back to building those. This event will definitely make some changes in the way they design the mills...so that’s good for engineers I guess. Hope all stay safe out there. Damn global warming. All the hot spots in the world sucked the heat out of us. 

[Belt Fed]

We had a 45k ginny at deer camp for years, it had a chevy vortec engine and it ran off propane. we had the propane company drop a tank on our lease and we had it filled about twice a season. it used a lot of propane cause the generator was designed to run wide open even if no load was on it.

We started having trouble with the computer on it and it was 1000 bucks a pop to replace that thing. it blew two up and we got rid of it.

 

 

 

[mrmackc]

Yep an AC generator has to run at a certain speed to maintain 60 Cycles, 45Kw is a lot of power and should run two large family homes.

[Belt Fed]

10 minutes ago, mrmackc said:

Yep an AC generator has to run at a certain speed to maintain 60 Cycles, 45Kw is a lot of power and should run two large family homes.

We had about 10 to 15 campers on it.

[mrmackc]

1 minute ago, Belt Fed said:

We had about 10 to 15 campers on it.

I wish I had one like yours . I bet I could have fixed what caused that computer failure,.

[Belt Fed]

Plus a camphouse where we ate and cooked.

 

[Belt Fed]

1 minute ago, mrmackc said:

I wish I had one like yours . I bet I could have fixed what caused that computer failure,.

It had a box that kept going out, guess it was the brain of the system and it wasn't cheap. some said we could take it off and run it manually. none of us knew how to do that. but we had lost a bunch of members for a couple years and really couldn't afford to fix it or buy propane for it so we sold it.

[unforgiven]

26 minutes ago, Belt Fed said:

Plus a camphouse where we ate and cooked.

 

I likey 🍺🍺🇺🇸

[unforgiven]

1 hour ago, DNP said:

The propane generator is nice because you don’t have the fuel to maintain like the diesel, but they are a little pricey when they’re running based on fuel consumption. Wind is a tough one when the mill freezes, solar is tough when it snows or clouds up. Nothing like a good ok clean energy nuclear plant...let’s get back to building those. This event will definitely make some changes in the way they design the mills...so that’s good for engineers I guess. Hope all stay safe out there. Damn global warming. All the hot spots in the world sucked the heat out of us. 

🐄 farts nuff said

[DNP]

You see those craters in Siberia caused by methane gas busting out of the ground?  Wonder how many cow farts each of those equated to? 

[Sisco]

4 hours ago, DNP said:

. Wind is a tough one when the mill freezes, solar is tough when it snows or clouds up. Nothing like a good ok clean energy nuclear plant...let’s get back to building those. 

Having a recent Brother In Law who is a consulting nuclear engineer, I am learning a bit about nuclear power. It looks like the next generation reactors will use an exotic salt solution for cooling with a melting point so high that a Chernobyl type melt down will be impossible. We might be headed to that eventually. I am kicking around going solar up here and set it up so I can separate from the grid if necessary. New solar is getting effective enough to use in northern climates.

[ARTrooper]

48 minutes ago, Sisco said:

Having a recent Brother In Law who is a consulting nuclear engineer, I am learning a bit about nuclear power. It looks like the next generation reactors will use an exotic salt solution for cooling with a melting point so high that a Chernobyl type melt down will be impossible. We might be headed to that eventually. I am kicking around going solar up here and set it up so I can separate from the grid if necessary. New solar is getting effective enough to use in northern climates.

Let me know if you do that. If it works for you than it would work for me. I have always wanted to go solar but not sure if it has been worth it.

[Sisco]

1 hour ago, ARTrooper said:

Let me know if you do that. If it works for you than it would work for me. I have always wanted to go solar but not sure if it has been worth it.

Checked out Tesla, expensive as all get out. R Squared and Hemi mentioned Enphase in a thread. Going to check that out this Spring.

Edited February 19, 2021 by Sisco

[Cunuckgaucho]

Something I learned regarding solar panels and the cold from a guy installing solar panels in the Yukon

Even in below-freezing weather, solar panels turn sunlight into electricity. That’s because solar panels absorb energy from our sun’s abundant light, not the sun’s heat. In fact, cold climates are actually optimal for solar panel efficiency. So long as sunlight is hitting a solar panel, it will generate electricity. Any diminished output during the winter months will primarily be due to heavy snow and shorter daylight hours. 

In the winter, it’s also less likely for solar panels to reach their peak temperature, or peak power. Once their temperature rises above that peak temperature, solar panel performance decreases. 

Research has demonstrated that panels begin losing efficiency around 77ºF. so cold and sunny is the key.

[98Z5V]

26 minutes ago, Cunuckgaucho said:

In the winter, it’s also less likely for solar panels to reach their peak temperature, or peak power. Once their temperature rises above that peak temperature, solar panel performance decreases. 

 

That's why some solar systems (from certain companies) are inefficient, here in AZ.  Because IT GETS FUCKIN HOT!!!...  And those solar systems designers didn't know that.  Some systems are great, some just completely suck ass.

Edited February 20, 2021 by 98Z5V

[Rsquared]

A plus with solar that I've always been a fan of,  is it's modular design. It's the kind of thing that you can just keep adding panels over time. Almost the kind of thing that you work into your annual budget. So you just keep expanding your array over time.

[mrmackc]

That looks like a really nice setup for a hunting camp, you are quite fortunate .

 

[shepp]

Beautiful out today, mid 20’s and the suns warm. I went to the mail box earlier in shorts and a hoodie. The birds are chirping  and the smell of spring is in the air altho there’s still 24+“ of snow on the ground and we’re suppose to get another 2-3” tomorrow

[ARTrooper]

17 hours ago, Cunuckgaucho said:

Something I learned regarding solar panels and the cold from a guy installing solar panels in the Yukon

Even in below-freezing weather, solar panels turn sunlight into electricity. That’s because solar panels absorb energy from our sun’s abundant light, not the sun’s heat. In fact, cold climates are actually optimal for solar panel efficiency. So long as sunlight is hitting a solar panel, it will generate electricity. Any diminished output during the winter months will primarily be due to heavy snow and shorter daylight hours. 

In the winter, it’s also less likely for solar panels to reach their peak temperature, or peak power. Once their temperature rises above that peak temperature, solar panel performance decreases. 

Research has demonstrated that panels begin losing efficiency around 77ºF. so cold and sunny is the key.

Yeah a few years ago I saw research on some college students which had figured out how to use the excessive heat hitting the solar panels as energy also, since this has always been such a problem. I never read anything about it again sadly. If we can capture the heat as energy along with the light, that would benefit everyone so much.

sadly where I live, my daylight in the winter is shorter because I am on the north side of a hill slope. Main reason I haven’t wanted to put tons of money into solar. 

[Magwa]

10th day in a row snowing OMG it is stacking up ..... come on spring!

[Sisco]

1 hour ago, Magwa said:

10th day in a row snowing OMG it is stacking up ..... come on spring!

I heard you guys and Oregon and Washington are in direct line right now of an atmospheric river called “The Pineapple Express”. Lots and lots of moisture.