Post by chronictom on Oct 17, 2008 20:19:25 GMT -8
We knew the floor in the back part, where the little box stove currently is was in bad shape and were looking at options for fixing it.
Then on tuesday night, I went to adjust the damper and as I stepped beside the stove, the joist under the floor cracked. Both me and the stove dropped four inches. Being full of wood burning merrily away, this made me a touch nervous... lol
I babied it through the night til morning, and then decided that all things considered, I needed an experimenting area. So I took the chain saw and removed the whole floor section in the back part where the stove was. The chimney is on a foundation poured over bedrock, so it's solid. It's the square blocks, with a clay flue liner going up. The bedrock is partially uncovered under where the floor was. After the area dries out and we get it all cleaned up, we are going to build a cob frame 7' x 7', leveled to be at least 6 inches above the highest spot inside it. It will then be filled with sand and rammed down, then a layer of firebricks (homemade), will be laid down as a starting platform.
Although we will probably find a spot on the property to get sand in the future, I didn't have time to waste this year, so I have a guy dropping up a dumptruck load of sand early next week. I also found a local source for fairly fine sawdust by the truck load, as in I back my truck up and shovel it full for 25$ type of idea. I picked up a couple of big plastic barrels that I am filling up with raw clay from the property, so I will have it to play with all winter.
I wish I could have webcams set up on the area 24/7, but because we are off grid I can't, but I will set a couple of the ones I already have up in permanent locations to capture shots and videos as I do stuff there.
I'd like to also be able to set up a variety of sensors, and on this part I need any suggestions anyone may have. I want to be able to monitor the room temperature at different permanent spots, as well as sensors of some type that can be attached (or inserted) to the stoves.
So, this all boils down to, what type of sensors, hardware/software can I use for this, that can be hooked into a computer and be tracked, measured, compared and shared??
Then on tuesday night, I went to adjust the damper and as I stepped beside the stove, the joist under the floor cracked. Both me and the stove dropped four inches. Being full of wood burning merrily away, this made me a touch nervous... lol
I babied it through the night til morning, and then decided that all things considered, I needed an experimenting area. So I took the chain saw and removed the whole floor section in the back part where the stove was. The chimney is on a foundation poured over bedrock, so it's solid. It's the square blocks, with a clay flue liner going up. The bedrock is partially uncovered under where the floor was. After the area dries out and we get it all cleaned up, we are going to build a cob frame 7' x 7', leveled to be at least 6 inches above the highest spot inside it. It will then be filled with sand and rammed down, then a layer of firebricks (homemade), will be laid down as a starting platform.
Although we will probably find a spot on the property to get sand in the future, I didn't have time to waste this year, so I have a guy dropping up a dumptruck load of sand early next week. I also found a local source for fairly fine sawdust by the truck load, as in I back my truck up and shovel it full for 25$ type of idea. I picked up a couple of big plastic barrels that I am filling up with raw clay from the property, so I will have it to play with all winter.
I wish I could have webcams set up on the area 24/7, but because we are off grid I can't, but I will set a couple of the ones I already have up in permanent locations to capture shots and videos as I do stuff there.
I'd like to also be able to set up a variety of sensors, and on this part I need any suggestions anyone may have. I want to be able to monitor the room temperature at different permanent spots, as well as sensors of some type that can be attached (or inserted) to the stoves.
So, this all boils down to, what type of sensors, hardware/software can I use for this, that can be hooked into a computer and be tracked, measured, compared and shared??