Systems at Lone Wolf Cabin
1. Power
1.1 Solar
Lone Wolf cabin runs on 120VAC. We generate our power using two 115 Watt solar panels. These panels are suspended from a cedar post approximately 30 feet in the air. The panels face south and use a manual tracking system to align them with the sun. On a good summers day they will generate 15+ amps.
The panels are in series and feed through a 20 Amp circuit breaker to a charge controller which converts the 24V DC to 12VDC and then charges the battery bank.
Total cost of this system: $2500.
(pics)
1.2 Wind
We don’t have a lot of consistent, strong wind up here but I’m planning on putting up a tower and wind generator at the shoreline. So far it looks like a FD 2.5-300-LH Wind Turbine from WSE Technologies Inc in Saskatoon (where it is always windy)
1.3 Hydro
Yep we’re going to be generating our own power with a low head micro hydro generator. I plan on putting this unit in at the trailhead to provide power for a future garage. Currently I’m looking at the LH1000 from Energy systems and Design in New Brunswick or a Yueniao ZD from WSE Technologies.
1.4 Generators
We have two gas powered generators. One is a Yamaha ???, the other is a ???
1.5 Battery Bank and Inverter
The battery bank consists of 6-6V golf cart batteries. These are linked by pairs in series and these 3 12volt battery banks are in parallel. Altogether the battery bank holds 600 Amperes.
The battery bank feeds a Xantrex 1000W inverter which produces 120 VAC. This is a modified sine wave output which powers most things quite well. However it will not charge 19V battery packs and the microwave needs twice the time to cook as it would on a sure sine wave system. The 1000 W inverter supplies all of our normal power requirements. However you cannot run the vacuum cleaner, toaster and microwave at the same time J
The Xantrex inverter feeds into the house circuit breaker box which runs to the house wiring.
2. Water
2.1 Cold Water
Our water comes from a spring in the hill that runs for approximately 9 months of the year, drying up in July and starting again in October. During the above freezing months we run a 1” PVC line from the spring to the kitchen and to the bathroom for our cold water. During the below freezing months we use a 40 gallon water storage system, made of 4 – 10 gallon Coleman coolers joined together, in the kitchen and a 10 gallon storage system in the bathroom. These are filled on a weekly/as needed basis by connecting a line to the spring, filling the tanks and disconnecting and draining the line afterwards.
(pics)
2.2 Hot Water
During the above freezing months, hot water is supplied by various means. For the kitchen we have a Coleman Hot-Water-On-Demand unit which heats water using propane. This unit is outside the kitchen door. Presently we bring in the hot water line to fill the kitchen sink when needed. In the future the hot water line will be plumbed externally to the hot water tap in the kitchen.
In the bathroom shower water is provided by filling up the Zodi extreme shower unit with warm water or by filling a bucket with warm temperature water and using the Zodi or bilge pump.
During the freezing months hot water is generated from our Findlay cook stove. The Findlay has a 5 gallon water reservoir which provided all our hot water needs for both the kitchen and the bathroom. We also use the Coleman HWOD but it doesn’t work if the temperature is below freezing (so we bring it in to keep it warm).
2.3 Passive Hot Water System
This system consists of approximately 200 feet of 1” hose on the roof of the south facing addition. When the sun is on the tubing on a hot summer day, the water temperature can be hotter than you can stand and cold water must be mixed in. On cloudy days or once the sun is off the roof, or on cooler days the water temperature is much reduced and may not be warm enough to shower/wash with. One trick is to fill the Zodi or some other insulated water container during the hottest part of the day for later use (a hot water tank maybe J )
2.4 Drinking Water
3. Heat
In the main cabin, all our winter heat comes from our Elmira cook stove. In the yurt we have the small Vermont casting stove that used to heat the main cabin (recycling!)
So far I have about 6 cords of wood cut, blocked, split, stacked and dried. This should do us for the winter!
(pics)
4. Cooking
We have a propane stove in the kitchen. In addition we have a solar cooker that we use in the summer months. In the winter, the cook stove provides us lots of room to simmer a stew or keep a pot of tea or a kettle of water hot. The breadmaker keeps us in a good supply of fresh bread. Lucy will bake in it in the summer but in the winter it just kneads the dough and she bakes the bread in the wood stove.
5. Refrigeration
Our refrigerator runs on propane as well. We also use the cave as a place to keep drinks cold. This year I ran a line down from the spring to a huge cooler, connecting the line to the cooler drain plug. The flow from the stream kept the cooler full of nice cold water (around 5C) all summer until the spring dried up. It worked great! (pic)
This year I plan on building a root cellar at the garden and an ice house behind the chicken coop.
6. Propane
We have two 30 lb propane bottles connected to a switch with a third bottle in reserve. When one bottle empties we exchange it with a full bottle. When two bottles are empty I take them into Costco to get them filled. Two bottles (60 lbs) lasts us about 1 month longer in the summer..
7. Hot tub
So much for necessities, how about some fun! We looked at a few commercial hot tubs including those with a snorkel or scuba wood stove but in the end we decided to build our own.
We started with a 200 gallon Rubbermaid stock tank from Ritchie feed and seed for about $200. Next I built and insulated a small footprint platform. The tank has no insulation so I cut a 10 foot by 10 foot Tyvek square, laid it on the platform, put the stock tank on top, lined the tank with Roxul R22 insulation and tied it all up tight, first cutting a hole for the drain plug. I found some old bubble wrap which became our blanket on top.
For heat I bought a small round stove and a 5 gallon oil reservoir at Princess Auto. Using a submersible pump I can circulate water through the reservoir for batch heating. I also found some old copper pipe and coiled it around the stove chimney for a second heating source. The tub works great, but I need to rethink the heating part. If I partially fill the tub with hot water from the passive solar hot water heating system and fill the reservoir with cold water, it takes about 2 hours to heat the tub. Not bad now but what will I do in the winter!!!!
Next task it to build a deck around the tub, or at least a place to put your drink!
8. Bathroom
9. Outhouse
10. Grey Water Pit
11. French Drain