3R Home and Barn Project

[EddieWalker]

Hey Rob, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

The shop sure filled up quickly. Looks good though. I like how you have it all around the edges, but then work areas in the middle. Makes me think that you don't have any wasted space and was planned out perfectly.

Do you have heat in there? I see the bathroom. Did you finish that? I'll go back and look for it if you posted that project. The insulation looks real nice. Something I have to remedy in my shop. Too cold out there to do anything, and when I try, I have on so much clothing and heavy gloves that I can't function.

Eddie

[john_bud]

Originally Posted by 3RRL

What we have been doing is a lot of tractor maintenance.
Wouldn't you know it, as soon as I finished the valve lash maintenance, there was another problem.
I took my Kama out to gather more logs for firewood. I stepped on the clutch and the tractor kept going. Turns out I had a frozen throw out bearing which in turn, ground off the release fingers on the clutch pack. This a major repair since I had to split the tractor in half to get to it. Loretta helped me with the whole thing. As of this writing, I am just getting it back together today. But it was a major deal.
Here are some photos and the thread to that.
Kama Clutch Repair

Rob-

Rob, {indelicate questions time} It looks like the trans case was pretty clean, were you giving that throw out bearing a shot of grease every 10 hours? Just a wee squirt. I've had the non-greaseable ones go quick, but with the greasable ones, they tend to last forever with adequate lube.

Here's a snap of my tractor split -- oops! looks like I went too far!!

[3RRL]

Originally Posted by EddieWalker

Hey Rob, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

The shop sure filled up quickly. Looks good though. I like how you have it all around the edges, but then work areas in the middle. Makes me think that you don't have any wasted space and was planned out perfectly.

Do you have heat in there? I see the bathroom. Did you finish that? I'll go back and look for it if you posted that project. The insulation looks real nice. Something I have to remedy in my shop. Too cold out there to do anything, and when I try, I have on so much clothing and heavy gloves that I can't function.

Eddie

Same to you Eddie!
I posted some photos of the shop because I really never showed a lot of it.
It was all messed up and cluttered before and now things are finding their place (slowly). I don't have heating in there yet but have a gas line plumbed to the inside. Right now I'm using an 80,000 BTU propane heater from camp and it takes about 30 minutes to get the shop warm. I could probably hook it up to the propane gas line I have coming in? The insulation works great and the added plywood must have helped a bit too.

I planned to have a couple large steel break down tables in the middle with benches and tools surrounding. I do all assembly and disassembly on those tables. It's important for the forklift to be able to get to it and the machines too.

The bathroom is all finished but again, I never took any photos of it. It is just a toilet and sink with an electric on demand hot water heater. But there is plumbing and drainage to outside one of the bathroom walls if I ever want another large wash basin or even a shower in there. I can take some photos if you like?

[3RRL]

Originally Posted by john_bud

Rob, {indelicate questions time} It looks like the trans case was pretty clean, were you giving that throw out bearing a shot of grease every 10 hours? Just a wee squirt. I've had the non-greaseable ones go quick, but with the greasable ones, they tend to last forever with adequate lube.

Here's a snap of my tractor split -- oops! looks like I went too far!!

John,
Looks like you went too far is right. Dang...that thing is in a million pieces!
Regarding my throw out bearing, I added that grease line to the sliding seat which carries the bearing. There was no way to lube it before and that was the problem. Go to that link I posted about it and see what I did there. Oh, and of course I cleaned out the bell housing for the photos.

[charlz]

So now that we are slightly past the shortest day of the year hows the solar doing? How much does your generator run?

[EddieWalker]

Originally Posted by 3RRL

The bathroom is all finished but again, I never took any photos of it. It is just a toilet and sink with an electric on demand hot water heater. But there is plumbing and drainage to outside one of the bathroom walls if I ever want another large wash basin or even a shower in there. I can take some photos if you like?

Naw, no need for pics of your bathroom. I was more interested in the process and how it worked out for you finding the drain lines in the concrete. When I was there, you told me about them being covered up in the pour and that you would have to find them to install the bathroom.

Eddie

[thunderworks]

I posted this on the Chinese Tractor forum where Rob documented his clutch/tractor split repair, but thought this discussion might get more viewers. Hope no ones bothered by the double post and slightly off topic info. Seems connected . . .

This is a little off base . . . but related nonetheless. Are you guys familiar with a website called the "King of Obsolete". (Welcome to the King of Obsolete's Website). This guy is weird but really interesting . . . repairs everything . . . lives way far north in Canada . . . loves old Caterpiller tractors . . .His website documents much of what he does, and he does some really outrageous stuff. Apparently, like Rob, he's a skilled welder and an accomplished mechanic. I can get lost in his website for hours.

[3RRL]

Originally Posted by EddieWalker

Naw, no need for pics of your bathroom. I was more interested in the process and how it worked out for you finding the drain lines in the concrete. When I was there, you told me about them being covered up in the pour and that you would have to find them to install the bathroom.

Eddie

Oh OK,
What they did is put a paper liner sort of like a large coffee can over the drain line with the bottom up.
It covered the pipe and the drain line itself was capped off too. They measured (mapped) the location of the line(s) and when the concrete was poured, it was only 1/8" or 1/4" layer over the cover. Then they came back and chipped away the thin layer to expose the line(s) so they could hook it all up. They did something similar for the propane gas line that runs to the barn/shop. It was capped off short of the building. Then hooked it up to inside the building later.

That was all done to avoid having 2 separate residences on the same property, which you can't have here in this zoning. My contractor was great to work with and helped over come that obstacle. Our septic tank was bought large enough for the extra drain line, so it was sized correctly. But the bathroom in the barn was not shown on the plans as a bathroom, more like a tool crib or office. The larger size septic tank was only a few hundred bucks more. Nevertheless, all hook ups, installation of sinks and connections are done to code by the contractor. He had bid all that work into it.

[3RRL]

Originally Posted by charlz

So now that we are slightly past the shortest day of the year hows the solar doing? How much does your generator run?

Hi Charlz,
Even with the short days if there is sunshine we actually get past the 3 hour absorb and even into float mode on occasion. That charge carries us through the day and night. So it looks like the the panels are sized right for the battery bank. During those days the generator doesn't come on at all out here in So. Cal.
But on the rainy and cloudy days the panels don't produce enough to charge and maintain the battery levels. They still produce some energy which normally keeps us going through the day and into the night. But the generator kicks on early in the morning and runs for a couple 2 or 3 hours then shuts off. This happens only when it's totally overcast or raining. So it's not that much at all.

We've managed our energy use to where it's down below 13kW a day now, sometimes a little more but sometimes a little less too. It's a learning curve of turning everything off ... all electrical gadgets, computers, shavers, toothbrushes etc are on power strips and they all get turned off at night. Except the fridge and a few appliances that have clocks in them. We only use lights where we need them etc. One other thing we do now is turn on the generator (remotely) when Loretta uses her electric dryer. We take that time to also charge the golf cart and whatever other large electrical needs there may be. I try to do whatever machining or welding during that same period, so the generator's time is well spent.

I just found out that even though my milling and surface grinders will work off the Outback inverters, the large lathe will not. I need 3 phase 240v when using those machines so I have a 10hp rotary converter motor that runs to make the 3rd leg. The mills and grinders are 2hp motors so they work fine. But the lathe is a 7-1/2hp motor so between it and the rotary 10hp motor, there is a huge draw of power. It does start and run when Loretta is not using the dryer, but she was and we blew a 300amp in-line fuse between the battery input to the Outbacks...2 times. So now, to be safe, we turn the generator on and bypass the inverters only when I'm running the large lathe. The 20kW Cummins generator powers the whole shop/barn, house and garage, plus we do our little charge this, charge that when it's running.
It's great fun!

One thing I will add is that Loretta has become very efficient at running the Outback system. Man, there must be 100 pages deep of control settings on the Mate and the manual is as thick as a phone book. She has our contractor and a another consultant that she's been working with. She is really understanding the system very good now. If it were up to me, I'd be powerless. It's waaay over my head!
Rob-

[charlz]

Originally Posted by 3RRL

We've managed our energy use to where it's down below 13kW a day now, sometimes a little more but sometimes a little less too. It's a learning curve of turning everything off ... all electrical gadgets, computers, shavers, toothbrushes etc are on power strips and they all get turned off at night.

That's an impressively low amount of power use... of course everything but the furnace and stove are electric in my house so...

Living off the grid certainly seems like a lifestyle all onto its own.

We went to Tahiti once on a vacation and stayed in a bungalow. Your room key went into a slot on a panel right inside the door that controlled all the electrical. When you went out everything was turned off.

Seems like a way to make houses more effiecent rather than running around turning off power strips etc. Leave the house, hit a button and only the critical circuits get power.