Greenhouse / shed project update

Let me blow the dust off this blog--it has been over 3 years since I posted anything.

Circle of life update stuff: Mrs. Beasley the cat passed away. Our first born son is now two, and we have another TBA due in August.

Obsession with solar has not diminished. I am excited to announce some real progress in acting upon the obsession and creating something cool--or rather, consistently warm: a greenhouse/shed.

Built from the materials obtained 3 years ago mentioned previously in an old blog, this shed was designed from scratch.

Remember in high school when your math teacher introduced the subject of trigonometry? Someone in the class--maybe you--asked, "When am I ever going to use this?" Well I finally got my answer. The challenge was to create a greenhouse / shed of 10 ft. by 10 ft. with a 45 degree angle for the glass roof part and a 20 degree angle for the shingled roof. Oh yeah, and HOA rules said it couldn't be taller than 8 ft. Also, I wanted the door opening to be at least 6'3" so I wouldn't bump my head. Trig was the answer (the mathematics, not the Palin kid).

Fortunately, there's an app for that (kids - stay in school. I still needed to understand trig to know how to use the app)

Speaking of cool apps, greenhouse orientation and placement is all about relation to the sun at different times of the day and year. This app, sun n moon, helped with that.

8 months later, the shed is mostly done. It ended up being taller than 8 feet, but the HOA can't do anything because they grandfathered all non conforming in on March 1st. Boo-yah!!! Sticking it to 'the man.' Oh wait, I am on the HOA board. Whatever.

I have come to the conclusion that the greenhouse / shed project may never really be done. There is always room for upgrades. My initial goal was to extend the growing season here in the front range by a couple of months. Tomatoes and peppers can do well in Colorado, but they like it warmer. Next post I will include some photos of the upgrades and an exclusive look inside my grow room. Hippies don't get too excited, nothing I am growing requires a license from the state of Colorado.

Here is a picture of the mostly competed shed. Still needs a coat of paint to match the house. You can see the grow tent I created to give extra thermal insulation. When this picture was taken, the temperature had dropped to about 42 degrees. You can see the storm clouds brewing from the north and west. Snow in the forecast and lows tonight in the upper 20's. Definitely not tomato and pepper friendly. However, inside the tent, it is about 65 degrees. Last night it never got colder than 55 degrees in the tent. Tonight, it probably will get colder. I will have an update tomorrow along with some more pics of the thermal tent.

Mrs. Beasley and the case for solar radiant energy

Mrs. Beasley is our 10 year old grey, tortise cat. She likes warm things, and food, and more warm things. In the old house, her favorite spot was the south sliding glass door--and the tivo. The tivo put off a lot of heat, and she would sleep on that all day if the sun wasn't out. I share Beasley's passions, so when we went looking for a home, it had to have windows that faced the south. Our new house has one wall with 9 windows on a vaulted ceiling in the great room. That wall faces southeast. Our bedroom is adjacent, and its large picture window faces southeast as well. So in the middle of winter, first light comes right through these windows and begins to heat the walls and the carpet. And that is where you will find Mrs. Beasley at about 10 minutes after sunrise--laying on the carpet against the wall in our bedroom soaking up the sun. With a smile on her face.



So in the morning around winter solstice, our southeast wall is getting maximum solar gain as the sun rises in the southeast and arcs over the southern sky. About 1pm, there is no more gain from the southeast windows, as the sun is on the southwest side of the house. The southwest side of the house is the second ugliest of the four walls on our house. It faces our neighbors and only has two medium small, and one very small window on it. So not much solar gain (or heat loss). I have gone outside on a 30 degree sunny winter day and touched the southwest side of our blue house, and the wall is very warm--like Mrs. Beasley in the morning sun. So my simple plan is to use a radiant / convection heat pump to capture that solar heat.



I am building solar collectors which will transfer that heat into our house during the day, reducing the heat we use in the evening. My plan is to have solar heater boxes that are attached adjacent and parrallel on southwest wall. They will be finished with shingles and siding so that they match the architecture. They will be about 120 square feet. This will be a closed system in that I will pump air from the house into the heater and then back into the house. I plan on converting a window in the unfinished basement as the demarcation point where insulated ducting will go into and out of the house. The air will then be pumped into the 'great room' in our house.



Glass: Glass is heavy. Tempered glass can't be cut. I found some 3/8" glass on craigslist that was 4' by 6' and weighed about 150 lbs a piece. Another guy that was interested in it and I hauled some of this out a basement with the professional suction cups. I was sick that day and after helping him load 4 sheets onto his truck, without breaking a single one, i decided i didn't want it, even though it was free.



A couple of weeks later I found a guy with sheets of 3 ' by 3 ' tempered 1/4" glass. Perfect, although he didn't recommend stacking them on each other, so I had to build a saw horse for the back of the pickup and transport them like that. Need to give him a call.


Wood: Found a guy who 'scraps' trussess that aren't up to code. So I can get 6 ft lengths douglas fir 2x4's and 4x6's for half price. Loaded up the truck with lots of wood.



Solar Collecting: My plan is to use black aluminum screen as the medium between the glass and the back of the collector for capturing the heat and transferring it to the air.



Duct: Found some 8" insulated round ducting on ebay.



Fan: found a fan on ebay.



Thermostat / regulating : Theoretically I beleive using two thermostats in series should work. One set to "heat" and one set to "cool": The "heat" one will measure the temp of the house and will usually be set to on at a higher temperature, maybe 80. IN other words, during the winter, the plan will be to heat the room up as much as possible during the day, so the heat lasts during the night. The one set to "cool" will be measuring the temp of the solar collector air, so when it gets warm enough, the fan will come on and actually cool the collector by pumping air into the house.



Regulations: We live under and HOA. However, CO law says you can't prohibit solar panles, essentially, but you can make them look good. I need to submit plans. They will be no higher than about 7 feet, so they won't be visible from the road or the park to which our house is adjacent. The southeast wall with the windows faces the park, so the only the profile or sideview of the solar collectors will be visible from the community park. A road runs partway on our property line on the southwest, and there is a 6 ft privacy fence there, so you won't be able to see these from the street, unless you are 7 ft tall. I also have a commitment to make these look good enough for my wife, although she said I could have solar panels if I let her have a kitten.

Foundation: This is the biggest unknow for me. Probably will wholes and sink fence posts with concrete, and have these weight bear the solar panels. Then brackett the solar panels to the concrete board as well.

Measuring: I have plenty of wireless outdoor thermometers for measuring weather, but don't know how to measure volume of air: ie I can measure the difference between input air and output air, but have no way of measuring how much air.

German Efficiency, Depression era frugality -- the conversations of my grandparents

I took a course once where the general theme was that we live our life through conversations, and we inheret our conversations.


I grew up in an uppermiddle class home in San Jose, CA, where dad insisted on keeping the thermostat set at a setting somewhere less than ideal. I don't remember what the temperature was, but I do remember as a little boy getting up at 6:00am to see him off to work and lying down in the kitchen by the only source of heat--the fridge vent--and holding on to a blanket. Very dusty. Lest you make a wrong impression of dad, he also paid for all three of his children's 4 year bachelor's degrees. Also, he bought himself a Porsche one year with a bonus. But no way was that thermostat going up. His parents grew up in Depression era Chicago. Grandma once told me a story about how it had gotten so bad that people would go to restaurants, sit down and get the free water, then squirt ketchup into a glass and call it tomato juice, then leave without ordering anything. My grandparents apparently felt very priveleged that they never had to do that, although they did share a flat with about 3 families.


Mom grew up on a farm in Idaho, the fourth and final child of German immigrant parents, who came to America during war years with not a whole lot more than the clothes on their back and an uncle who had a homested in ID. I remember Grandma at about age 90, shortly before she died, refusing to replace 40 year old worn and tattered drapes, because she didn't need to replace them. At the time she was a millionaire.


So my wife and I have just bought our first house. My parent boths contributed cash so that we could fix it up, as although it is only 4 years old, was bank owned, and needed a couple of appliances, a window, and carpet. We love the house and don't consider it a 'starter' home, even though it is my first home. We bought it for less than the national median, and we live in Thornton, CO.


My wife and I are both successful sales professionals, we have no kids, and we put 20% down and had the same amount of cash left in the bank after. Cars are paid for and we paid about %25 less for the house than the last guy, who lost it in foreclosure did. So we can afford the heat bill.


However, I keep the thermostat down low: 55 degrees at 9:30pm, 64 degrees at 6:30am, 60degrees at 8:00am, and 68 at 5:15pm. And my wife hates it. Just like my mother hated it. I follow G (my wife) around the house, turning off lights, and turning down the thermostat. She turns them up. I suppose it is a good form of excercise.


My frugality really isn't just about saving money--it is more ingrained than that. This is an inhereted conversation from my grandparents. Now I pick up where they left off and have added from my own cultural conversations: 'global warming' 'greenhouse effect' 'carbon footprint.' But rather than simply turn the thermostat up or down further, I am going to create, design and build green. I am going to reduce my carbon footprint through thermal efficiency. I am going to put a smile on the faces of my ancestors, by parents, my wife, and even our cats, and Al Gore. I am the carbon cutter.