Water Hydro Fuel

Andrew Oke asked:


With today’s rising energy costs, and no relief in sight, many consumers are looking to live “off the grid.” Even with an initial investment that can be steep, the benefits make it much more economical in the long run.

There are small and some not so small ways why off the grid living is a good alternative today. Even though the economical outlay can be steep at first, in the long run it definitely makes more sense for the environment.

Raising your own food is a good way to begin living off the grid. This way, you eat organically while being secure in the knowledge that no dangerous hormones or chemicals are being introduced into your animals.

A cow can provide milk, butter and ultimately beef and leather. Chickens can provide eggs and meat, and flavoring for soup stock. Sheep can provide wool for warmth, and lambs for food; while goats are very good milk producers. Once you have a garden set up, you should never be short of vegetables. Canning and freezing is simple and cost effective for greens all winter long.

People that choose to live off the grid usually do require transportation, but with the availability of hybrid cars; and the research towards possible ethanol fueled cars; wanting to avoid oil products is not as much of a hindrance now. The Amish have the best means of transportation with their horse and buggies. Of course, maintenance on the buggies and upkeep for the horses can be time consuming, but the benefit of no oil product consumption is a great motivator. Horses can also be used for plowing fields, entertainment and also as income if breeding is something one was interested in.

Buying clothes is becoming much more expensive these days. Children as young as five can’t go to school in hand me downs or thrift store clothing because they will be teased. When living off the grid, you don’t need to be stylish, and you probably have no desire to be stylish either. Spinning wool from your sheep, and knitting or weaving clothes and blankets is a great way to save money. Of course, these days, handspun wool can be a great income generator, as well as wool products, such as handknit sweaters and socks. Buying fabric from a local merchant is less expensive than buying clothes in a store, and can be just as nice as long as you know the basics of sewing. For some, sewing may be difficult, but that is an easy hurdle to overcome. There is always someone who would be willing to barter, especially if you are located near anyone else who chooses off the grid living. Sharing your talents with others make self sustainable living much more enjoyable.

Generating heat and energy is always a concern for those who choose to live off the grid. There are several choices available, but the initial investment can be steep. Once the infrastructure is setup, there is no reason to pay your power bill monthly, or to worry that you are going to freeze in the middle of the night during a storm. Having your own power supply means freedom from being at the mercy of repair crews in the middle of the night when the power line has been knocked down, and also is much safer. Power is not vital to survival, and life can be enjoyable without it.

There are two power supply options with readily available instructions online. Solar and wind energy can be very efficient, and have the benefit of being much cleaner than coal, oil or gas, and definitely much safer than nuclear power plants. There are several sources of this information available… just search “off grid living”

The Amish community is a good example of living off the grid. They have even been able to integrate into the community without sacrificing their values or their way of life. If more people were willing and able to follow their lead, our carbon footprint would be lessened, and our dependence on foreign oil would be nonexistent.

If we each made some small progress in living green, there would be more people willing to make that next step to move off the grid, and our world would be a much cleaner home for all.

Robin Green asked:


It seems almost everyone has basement dampness problems. Where does all that water come from?

Humidity can enter your house naturally in the air, in warm weather through open doors and windows, and through air leakage when the heat or AC is on, such as poorly sealed windows and doors, cracks in exterior wall plaster in older houses, cracks in upstairs ceilings, or attic hatches that lack proper weatherstripping. Anything that draws air out of your house, such as a woodstove, exhaust fan, or a low- or mid-efficiency furnace, will also pull outdoor air in.

So one way you can reduce moisture is to restrict the flow of fresh air, especially during humid weather.

Water can enter through your basement walls from outside. You need to direct surface water away, seal the outside of the foundation, improve drainage below the foundation, and you may even need to seal the inside of the masonry wall as well.

Aspects of your own daily life such as breathing, sweating, showering and cooking, can also create moisture when the house is closed up. The daily activities of inhabitatns can add as much as 20 gallons of water a day to your house.

Rain collecting in your driveway, or pouring out of an eaves trough, makes its way downhill. If the soil is porous around your foundation, or if there is a gap between the pavement and the house, the water will percolate through the ground or the crack until it meets the water table or is otherwise halted. Once it can’t flow down, it flows across, which is when it starts seeping through your foundation walls.

So keep surface water away from the walls of your house. Keep eaves troughs cleaned out and properly angled, and downspouts in working order with their outflow running away from the house. Your driveway should slope away from your house, or you can run a line of mortar along the gap between the driveway and the house to keep water that accumulates in the driveway from working its way down along your foundation walls.

Gardens, lawns, and other surfaces should also draw water away from your home, and if you have a sump pump it should drain far from the house as well.

Protecting your basement from groundwater is a bit more challenging and can be expensive. A basement contractor can dig a trench to your foundation walls from outside, and apply a sealant to the exterior below-ground walls. They should also backfill the trench with gravel and sand to improve drainage, and they can put in drainage tile at the bottom to draw groundwater down below the floor of your basement.

A more affordable option, if you have exposed masonry in your basement, is to scrub down the masonry to a hard, clean surface free of grit or mineral sweat, and use a parging compound to add waterproofing on the inside of your walls. This works for minor humidity problems but won’t solve serious basement moisture problems.

Any moisture you can avoid producing indoors will help cut down on humidity problems. You can’t stop breathing, but you can cook with lids on, and turn on the range hood when boiling water; you can cut back on showers or run the bathroom fan when showering; and be mindful of aquariums, decorative fountains, and other possible humidity sources.

If winter humidity is a problemIf you have humidity problems in the winter and your home is recently built and well insulated, it is possible that your home is sealed too well. A well sealed home cuts your heating costs, but if it’s too well sealed moisture will build up, as will off-gassing from synthetics, woods, carpets, and other materials that may harm your health. You might consider buying a heat exchanger rather than a dehumidifier if this is your problem. Heat exchangers let air flow in and out of your house, while keeping the heat in as the exhaust air is blown out.

Before go out and buy a dehumidifier to solve moisture problems that can’t be solved by the tips above, you should understand how humidifiers work, their rankings, how ENERGY STAR dehumidifiers are ranked, and how to choose the best model for your situation.

Dehumidifiers remove moisture from the air using a compressor, condenser coils, and fan. They work the same way a refrigerator works, except that their cooling power is used to condense water out of the air. Dehumidifiers have a humidistat that keeps them on until the moisture reaches a set lower level, or until the tank fills up, whichever happens first.

Dehumidifiers are grouped based on extraction capacity — how much humidity they extract from the air per day — and by tank capacity — how much water they hold. In the United States, extraction capacity is rated in pints per day and capacity is measured in quarts. In most other countries, extraction capacity is rated in liters per day and capacity in liters.

Once your tank fills up, the dehumidifier will not extract any water from the air until you empty the tank. If you place your dehumidifier near a basement floor drain, you can run a hose from the tank to the drain, so that you never need to empty the tank. (Most dehumidifiers come with an opening for a hose.) If you can’t do this in the room where you’re putting the dehumidifier, make sure you buy a unit with adequate tank capacity.

The energy factor for dehumidifiers is the number of liters or pints of water removed from the air per kilowatt hour (kWh) of electricity used. The higher the energy factor value, the more efficient the dehumidifier is.  So bigger is better — unlike the efficiency rankings for most other types of appliances.

ENERGY STAR dehumidifiers have energy factors ranging from 3.56 (excellent) to 1.2 (marginally efficient) with a median rating of 1.62. Only two companies, Therma-Stor Products and Munters Corporation, make dehumidifiers with an energy factor better than 2.2.

But bear in mind that an ENERGY STAR rating does not mean the dehumidifier is all that efficient — just more efficient than some others in its class. For example, ENERGY STAR rated dehumidifiers can have an energy factor of as little as 1.2, while the best score is 2.02 and the worst for a non ENERGY STAR dehumidifier is 1.0.

Always buy a dehumidifier that can handle the amount of humidity in your house. You probably do not require a pints-per-day rating above 25 unless your basement is sopping wet and at least 1,200 square feet in area, wet and at least 1,500 square feet, or usually damp and mildewy (but not wet) with at least 1,800 square feet.

On the other hand, ENERGY STAR units that can withdraw more moisture are typically more energy efficient because of the different capacity thresholds used to rate dehumidifierS. So don’t skimp and buy too low a capacity unit — overestimate rather than underestimate.

If your basement is very cool, buy a dehumidifier built to handle lower temperatures. Otherwise, the cold basement will cause frost buildup on the coils, which reduces their efficiency and may cause the motor to short cycle. If notice this short cycling, turn the dehumidifier off until the ice has melted and fallen into the tank. If the behavior persists you may need to replace the unit with a unit built for cooler temperatures.

Assuming you do own or buy a new dehumidifier, you’ll want to reduce your energy costs with whatever dehumidifier you own.

If your basement is humid, and the dehumidifier is on, keep the doors to the basement closed so damp air doesn’t creep in from upstairs.

Keep your dehumidifier coils and fan clean and free of dust. Some dehumidifiers include a washable air filter you can clean to get rid of dust build-up; if you have one, keep it clean.

If you replace an old dehumidifier with a new, properly sized energy efficient dehumidifier, and you tackle your moisture sources as best you can, you could reduce your electricity use by half or even two thirds over what you were paying before for the same level of comfort. But more likely, you’ll use a little less energy with a new and improved dehumidifier, while controlling your humidity more effectively, or you’ll use more energy (if you didn’t have a dehumidifier) but you’ll be far more comfortable and won’t be spending a fortune on electricity.

With all the news surfacing about the health effects of indoor dampness and the resulting mold and mildew, you’ll definitely benefit from addressing your humidity problems and buying an energy efficient dehumidifier. You’ll save money and be healthier.