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Catfish · 10-09-13, 02:48 PM

Hello Neal,
and i thought you had plans for the Netherlands err Austria ?

Nice house anyway, sad it was gone but there sure are lots of others! We have built a timber-frame (?) house in Germany, but very modern in a lot of ways. It is not ready yet after almost 6 years, but it is much fun working on it and seeing improvements and progress.

How warm is it in the area you want to settle ?

We first intended to install a 'Blockheizkraftwerk' (how do you translate that, a "block heating powerhouse" ? lol). It is generally an engine that produces electricity, and heats water as a by-product via exhaust-heat-exchanger. You can even earn money with it here if you direct electricity into the public grid with it. You can alternatively produce your own current as an 'island solution' , but then the engine would have to run as soon as you need current. Not necessary here, but nice to have in case of the inevitable Zombie apocalypse (ahem).
You can run it with fuel, propane or natural gas when you use a normal engine, or alternatively a Diesel that can also be run with castor or any plant oil. You just need other jet-nozzles, and a changed controlling device.

Unfortunately for such an engine you really need a block of several houses to heat, or at least a very big and/or badly insulated home for the engine in order to run long enough. In our case, we soon realized it did not make sense unless we had a heated driveway to melt snow, and an open swimming pool (the latter being heated to 20 degrees Celsius in winter).

So we installed a usual cheap combi gas heater, for water and heating. It is supported by some sun-collectors mounted on the southern part of the roof, and an iron-cast oven with water jacket, that can be fired with wood. The latter became much too complicated, as it heats too much and thus needs regulators, an overflow gully and valves to fill it up again.

A further problem is the heating pump is electric, so the central heating system would fail in case of a power-out, but i take it the temperature and water would be agreeable enough, with the oven.
The internet would also fail but we even saw to that, but this is another story (internal 2nd 12 V grid, engine and batteries).
I am sure we will never need that all though, but it is much fun

Thanks and greetings,
Catfish

P.S. and thanks for the mail

10-09-13, 02:48 PM	#26
Catfish Dipped Squirrel Operative Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: ..where the ocean meets the sky Posts: 17,773 Downloads: 38 Uploads: 0	Hello Neal, and i thought you had plans for the Netherlands err Austria ? Nice house anyway, sad it was gone but there sure are lots of others! We have built a timber-frame (?) house in Germany, but very modern in a lot of ways. It is not ready yet after almost 6 years, but it is much fun working on it and seeing improvements and progress. How warm is it in the area you want to settle ? We first intended to install a 'Blockheizkraftwerk' (how do you translate that, a "block heating powerhouse" ? lol). It is generally an engine that produces electricity, and heats water as a by-product via exhaust-heat-exchanger. You can even earn money with it here if you direct electricity into the public grid with it. You can alternatively produce your own current as an 'island solution' , but then the engine would have to run as soon as you need current. Not necessary here, but nice to have in case of the inevitable Zombie apocalypse (ahem). You can run it with fuel, propane or natural gas when you use a normal engine, or alternatively a Diesel that can also be run with castor or any plant oil. You just need other jet-nozzles, and a changed controlling device. Unfortunately for such an engine you really need a block of several houses to heat, or at least a very big and/or badly insulated home for the engine in order to run long enough. In our case, we soon realized it did not make sense unless we had a heated driveway to melt snow, and an open swimming pool (the latter being heated to 20 degrees Celsius in winter). So we installed a usual cheap combi gas heater, for water and heating. It is supported by some sun-collectors mounted on the southern part of the roof, and an iron-cast oven with water jacket, that can be fired with wood. The latter became much too complicated, as it heats too much and thus needs regulators, an overflow gully and valves to fill it up again. A further problem is the heating pump is electric, so the central heating system would fail in case of a power-out, but i take it the temperature and water would be agreeable enough, with the oven. The internet would also fail but we even saw to that, but this is another story (internal 2nd 12 V grid, engine and batteries). I am sure we will never need that all though, but it is much fun Thanks and greetings, Catfish P.S. and thanks for the mail Last edited by Catfish; 10-09-13 at 03:01 PM.