https://www.youtube.com/shorts/U8Ldw60_d6g

Wife just pointed me to these wood stoves

How to safely remove a 9mm projectile from a cartridge casing. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/CadZYBdTxXg

Uh, "Don't try this at home kids."

Just spoke to one of my old ham radio buddies. He's interested in solar and wants to run his large loads. His ground source heat pump, water heater, etc. So we start talking about his heat pump... He's pumping water out of a shallow well with a 1hp pump motor to supply the heatpump with water. problem is, he's LIFTING the water, not recirculating it. This means he's using well over 1/2 hp just to lift water any time the heat pump is running. that's an additional 400-750w on top of the 1300w that heatpump pulls. He said the last heat pump lasted him 22 years and he was so pleased that he got another water source heat pump. It keeps him from needing heat strips. All true but there's that nagging voice in the back of my heat about that extra 750w.

Anyhow, I'm steering him towardsa hybrid system since he wants to remain on grid. He also doesn't have the yard space to put up enough panels to cover his annual usage. So I'm steering him toward a hybrid inverter that can run a critical loads panel 24/7 (ie all the smaller loads in his house including the stove), and have the hybrid inverter back feed his main panel which will continue to host the HVAC and water heater. If we put CT's (current transformers) on the lines feeding his main panel then his inverter will make /just/enough/ power to zero his meter but no more. If that HVAC system needs to start, the surge will come from the grid so we don't need to worry with surge capacity. When a storm comes and knocks down his power, the house will operate normally except for air cond and hot water.

I just spoke to a power co-op in eastern South Carolina. They told me the rules for net metering.... the minimum bill for all customers is $36 plus usage. Net metering solar people have an additional $28 added to their minimum bill making it $64 a month just for the meter to be connected to their house. They will give you a 1:1 for power sold to them and later bought back, but they do not pay you for any excess power. This means that there is no way to offset that $64/month fee. you can generate 200% of your usage and will still have to pay them $768 a year.

This is just one more reason to not do net metering.

A quick lesson about oil and alternative energy in industry.

Poor man's inline fuse holder. Use a 5/16" or 8mm bolt and a nylon insulating washer. The washer in this photo is too thick, get thinner NYLON washers.

Marine Rated Battery Fuse (MRBF). Available in various sizes thru 300amp.

Here's the handy dandy guide to solar interconnects with a local power company.

In a nutshell, $1000 application fee, $64 a month minimum power bill for retail customers.

no thank you.