Steve Bird's solar installation.
One of my favorite Authors is also building his homestead - His solar set up.
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Very interesting system. I like the 500 gallon propane tank and the GM LP 2.4L engine.
Designed to never run on puny gasoline, (propane is 120 octane rating) it's 10.5 : 1 compression ratio makes it a real horse. Comparison (same 2.4L displacement): gasoline version 42 horsepower. Propane version: 63 horsepower. Same engine, +50% more power.
Wish they could have used the LP fuel injection system that comes on them instead of the Impco suck-thru add-on mixer system. They date back to the 80's.
Looks like his system will work great.
Wonder how much money he has in it?
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Probably a decent amount but he does most all the labor himself. He has a couple of other videos.
I love watching these and see how the science and application of solar energy is developing. It’s still pretty expensive, but the technology is improving. The fact that I saw the sun for the last time this past weekend until late January has kept me from making this investment. I hear there is new technology that can produce some electricity from the ambient light we get as the sun is just below the southern mountains...
This is why I'm so grateful that AM Solar up in Eugene, Oregon took the time to tell me about using high cell count solar panels, those that put out far more voltage than you need to charge the batteries and that's a big problem when people think that all they need to do is have panels that match their batteries, clouds, fog, rain and snow will reduce the voltage output of those low count cell panels below recharging voltage levels. High cell count panels used with MPPT solar controllers have allowed my system to charge the batteries to some degree up to the point of the sun going down and I've seen amazing charge levels on cloudy, rainy days. On the other hand, I made the mistake of getting a solar charge system to put on the motorhome shed that only had enough voltage in strong sunlight and just during a short period of the day and the engine battery and inverter batteries couldn't keep up and all went bad, that's a hard lesson to learn as those batteries will cost about $500 to replace.
Once upon a lifetime ago when I was married and lived in Littleton Colorado outside of the foothills/Ken Caryl Ranch. We spent about $10,000 1980 $$$$. And had solar panels put on the roof and all our heating came from, and then we put up a wind generator for other electricity. This was before is was as common as it is now. I'd like to go passive solar and active solar with whatever home I may end up with. And then having a greenhouse with a dark rock floor would help with heat in the winter depending the location. Now you're knowing more about what I dream about some day.
This is the house we had in Littleton. Solar heat, Solar hot water, Wind Generator. That's about 1982.
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Angie, I wonder if that house still has the solar and wind generator. That would be a draw for some people. It would be for me.
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Looks like a pretty good tower antenna for a ham station as well. Very cool
The house does not have any of that since after the divorce and he let the bank foreclose on it. We had bought it for about $85K and put about $35 - $40 K in for the Solar and Wind and a hot tub room under the back deck. I've seen the house sell for about $357K in the last few years without any of the extra stuff.
The location and house was due to Ham Radio. We had a 100FT Sky Needle in the front extra lot we had. That was on top of a rise near Chatfield Dam and Ken Caryl Ranch. There was a big room in the basement where we had low band, High band, Slow Scan tv and a teletype machine. He was a ham, my Dad was a ham, I became a ham out of self defense.
The best thing in that house was the 11 x 14 room in the basement. Farthest bedroom. We put the 14" wall in shelves and cabinets. And the closet in shelf. It was a walk out basement so I had a good window and that was the sewing room. No one ever had to see it unless invited. I miss that.
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I'd bet you that the house is worth at least $700K now, probably more. Properties in the Denver metro area have gone crazy. House by me sold for $175K about 25 years ago. Worth more than a million now.
https://www.zillow.com/homes/7672-S.-Estes-Court-Littleton-CO_rb/13832677_zpid/
Looks as if latest guess of worth is $485,000.
Looks as if latest guess of worth is $485,000.
Oh my, they've remodeled since the last time I looked. This is the sewing room and the shelves are still there!!! (Guy,s I'm excited as I've wondered if they were taken out for the last 36 years.)
