Solar-Hot-Water-Panels-DIY-Installation

Solar Water Project - My First Attempt

When I came across the idea of heating water with the sun I set out to purchase some Solar Water Heating Panels. As everything I do here on Homebrewpower is funded from the items I sell (Look at the For Sale Link to the right) then of course I could not afford to purchase new, nor would I have wanted to. I have a desire to see how things work for myself and never rest until I have my head around a project.

I purchased a couple of old solar collectors from www.ebay.co.uk for I seem to remember £100.00 for the pair. They were in a poor state and needed stripping and a little bit of homebrew style reconditioning to get them to work

The picture you see here is nothing more than a mock up at the bottom of my back garden to prove the technology would actually work!

They did but nothing like the solar evacuated tubes you can get now. I will post some info on them in the near future as I want to cover them for every ones benefit.

Andy M

DIY-Battery-Cubicle-Battery-Bank

Home Made Battery Cubicle!

This is my homebrew battery cubicle and inverter setup. The red batteries are Hawker SBS60's and above them is a set of Yuasa deep cycle UPS cells.

Between them they provide me with the power for my conservatory and also the downstairs lighting.

They are charged from a combination of solar, wind and Lister CS sources. The bank is 12VDC with around 1600AH (10 hour rating)

On the top of the battery cubicle I can monitor the charging coming from the wind generator (Amps and Volts) and the condition of the bank (Volts)

Over the December months (2006) We have had some very strong winds and they have given me the opportunity to see what my wind machine can do. It stood up to the battering without fault and I am confident I can create a larger set of rotors to harness more power. The PMDC motor I am using has much more power to give up!

Still not got around to De Coking the Lister yet as the weather is sat just above freezing here in West Yorkshire..... I am also awaiting a head gasket and no not want to split the head without taking the opportunity to replace the existing one as a matter of course!

Andy Mahoney

Mahoney-Electrical-Ruskington

The birth of Mahoney Electrical

My very own Electrical Contracting company aimed at Off Grid Eco Friendly electrical installtions and alterations.

As you may know I am a JIB approved Electrician by trade but am branching out full time into my hobby and passion.

If you are looking for any sized project undertaken then give me a try!

Web: www.mahoneyelectrical.co.uk

Mail: andy@mahoneyelectrical.co.uk

Mob: +44 (0) 7504 50 50 89

Andy Mahoney

CHPA-Combined-Heat-And-Power-Association-Website

Above is the UK's very own Combined Heat & Power Association website www.chpa.co.uk

The site has some really interesting links and reports contained within it. Well worth a couple of hours browsing to familiarise yourself with the pending crisis of fossil consumption.

Enjoy, a site well worth remembering.

Domestic-MCHP-Micro-CHP-Sterling-Engine

This is a simple schematic of what I am going to try and acheive but where you have 100% Gas coming into the setup I would like to have 80% WVO and 20% Wood Burning with some option to run on gas of no other choice is available.

I think over the next 3 or 4 years Micro CHP units are going to become the norm for domestic houses.

Watch this space....

De-Coking-A-Lister-CS-Stationary-Engine

The time of year (Well I have been putting it off for over 6 months now) to De-Coke the Lister CS 6/1 engine.

I am finally going to take the head off and clean all the crud from the valves and ports then pop down to my local auto parts store for a valve seating kit and grind them back up to perfection.

I have already drained the coolant circuit down and isolated the WVO lines ready for the operation but since it is almost hitting Zero (Freezing) through the day here in sunny Yorshire I thought no time like the present to get the chore done.

I believe that running it in 'Stealth Mode' for 6 months has done the engine no favours at all! i.e. under 300 RPM for long periods at a time.

Andy Mahoney

Turk-Burner-Running-On-WVO

A Turk Burner running on WVO

This is a picture taken from a working setup over in Ireland - Tang.

Tim Stanley has designed and developed this wonderful modified Turk Burner, unlike other burners this one runs on a tiny PC fan and is extremely quiet in operation.

This is what I want to combine into my homebrew Micro CHP unit along with the stilring generator from a damaged / surplus Whispergen unit.

Tim Stanley is one of the leading peers in WVO (Waste Veg Oil) as a fuel including but not limited to Diesel car engines, Lister CS and Indian Listeroid type stationary engines, Turk burners and complete Micro CHP.I hope to be meeting

Tim in the not too distant future to discuss our interests in the alternative energy fields.

Andy Mahoney

Whispergen-Micro-CHP-Sterling-Engine-DC

Season’s Greetings!

My eyes lit up this evening when I found out that Whispertec have made a DC version of the micro CHP Stirling engine Micro CHP unit! It runs on Diesel!!!!!!!!

http://www.whispergen.com/main/dcwhispergen/

Veg oil at the ready!

Andy Mahoney
http://www.homebrewpower.co.uk/

Give me one of them please ;-)