I built a heat pump for educational purposes and I want to determine how efficient it was operating. Very roughly I think I figured it out but my method was ugly. Feel free to rip apart my build because I'd love to improve it. Currently using plain propane from a small torch cylinder. I intentionally used a needle valve just to play around and watch what happens when I increase or decrease refrigerant flow on it and thats also why I permanently installed gauges into it. They were also cheaper than buying a manifold gauge set. I had the evaporator side of the heat pump connected to the Garden ..read more

Hello friends! We are in the permitting process for our new home and it originally had two Ground Source Heat Pumps, one for hydronics and the other for HVAC for the brief air conditioning season. Now I am exploring the idea of collecting heat in vacuum tube collectors and storing it in an insulated mass for a seasonal storage system. I have a contact for free insulation from a manufacturing process, which changes the economics considerably. I can get an R value of R80 around the mass. I see that traffic is way down here. I will wait and see if there is any interest from the old guard for disc ..read more

Meshtastic is sweeping across England today. What is it? https://meshtastic.org/docs/introduction/ The Mesh Network has just started in the USA. Here's the map of some nodes that are web connected.(most are stand-alone) https://meshmap.net/ Why do you need it? In a nutshell, it's back-up communications. In case your Cell service fails, you can still text your family, using Meshtastic Nodes*. (*depending on the local Meshtastic network). I'm the first on my block to start using Meshtastic. :) How well does it work for me? Not very well, since my area has a shortage of people with Nodes. My w ..read more

A homeowner suspects mold growth in their basement due to a musty odor and occasional allergy symptoms experienced by family members. They are considering conducting mold testing to confirm the presence of mold and identify the extent of the problem. However, they're unsure which testing method would be most appropriate for their situation. Discuss potential remediation strategies, including DIY cleanup vs. hiring professional mold remediation services, and preventive measures to reduce moisture and inhibit future mold growth ..read more

Hi, I've been using one of these inline with my standard water heater for 9 yrs. and it has worked wonderfully. It recently developed a leak internally and had to shut it down. It was made by Nyle systems and is called a Geyser-R. They don't make them anymore and was wondering if any of you folks know of a product similar to this? Thanks a lot, Woody ..read more

have a 900W of PV connected to a Morningstar TS45 (PWM) charge controller connected to a 48VDC pack made up of (4) 12V LiFePO4 batteries in series. Also have a 48VDC 375W Victron inverter attached to this battery bank for AC loads. It was working fine, but possibly it is a set of very sunny days but the Low Voltage Disconnect (LVD) feature which is enabled now seems to keep triggering a lot. does anyone have advice on the TS45 settings to avoid this? Thanks Attached Thumbnails     ..read more

Like many people we have gas central heating. What I often wonder about is trying to make it work better. What I am thinking about is how the heat fills the room. So the heating comes on, the temperature in the radiator rises and cold air at the bottom rises through it and continues on rising towards the ceiling. This continues until the air at the level of the thermostat has reached it's setpoint and it turns the heating off. This means the air above it is hotter than the setpoint and that below it is colder. I did think that a ceiling fan might help but the air it pushes down wont go far un ..read more

I am trying to better insulate my heat buffer, and the heating system's plumbing in general. Adding another layer of foam insulation and stuff like that. But there are parts which are more difficult to insulate - inline valves, filters, etc., like in the pic below: My idea for this would be to make 2 halves of a box (shell) out of styrofoam to enclose this stretch of plumbing with the accessories, filling in the void with mineral wool. Not sure how good that would be? These are things I need access to regularly - the magnetic filter 1-2 times per year, the 3-way mixing valve above it once p ..read more

I live in the beautiful city of Tenerife and am looking for an outstanding facility services provider to keep my apartment in pristine condition. It's really important to me that my apartment shines and shines. I'm very busy at work and hardly have time to take care of the extensive cleaning of my apartment. On the other hand, I recently invited some friends to enjoy the beauty of Tenerife and I want my apartment to be in perfect condition to impress them. For this reason, I have planned to clean everything in the apartment, from A to Z. Starting with the floors, which have to be cleaned of ev ..read more

This one looks pretty interesting. Desalination is a nice goal, but I would imagine power generation would be the quicker and easier first step. Still, cool design. Hope it holds up to a rough ocean though. [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2IfxQzHlhI[/youtube ..read more