Backup Generator AKA: The gas guzzler

Off-grid solar-electric systems can be sized to provide electricity during cloudy periods when the sun doesn’t shine. But sizing a system to cover a worst-case scenario, like several cloudy weeks during the winter, can result in a very large, expensive system that will rarely get used to its capacity. To spare your pocket, size the system moderately but include a backup generator to get through those occasional sunless stretches.Engine generators can be fueled with bio diesel, waste oils (Including WVO, WMO, Gear Oil) petroleum diesel,gasoline, or propane, depending on the design. These generators produce AC electricity that a battery charger (either stand-alone or incorporated into an inverter) converts to DC energy, which is combustion engines, generators tend to be loud and stinky but a well-designed solar-electric system will require running them only 20 to 100 hours a year.

Kind regards

Andy Mahoney
Home Brew Power
Off-Grid Power Installer - UK)
http://www.homebrewpower.co.uk/

Mobile: 07504 50 50 89

HomeBrewPower Yahoo Group On Carbon Neutral Power
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/homebrewpower/

Labels: Backup Generator, DIY Solar, electrical solar panels, Generate Electricity For Free, Off Grid, off-grid electricity, Off-Grid Power, Solar Power, SVO, Wind Turbine, WMO, WVO

Air Bubbler Oil Lifts are a great way to regulate various fuel supplies for Waste Oil burners, some great examples are the Turk Burner and the Babington Atomizing Burner.

The schematic above shows you hot to construct one from simple materials.

The principle is as follows: Air is supplied at approximately 6 PSI from a simple low pressure air pump (A fish tank air pump is commonly used in home made devises) down a copper tube to a tee piece, the arrangement is submersed in the oil tank / reservoir to allow the bubbles to rise up the outlet tube, as the bubbles rise up the oil filled tube they push up an amount of fuel oil above them. The more air you supply the more oil is driven up with it.

The above principle can be used in so many different burner applications and situations where a controlled and constant amount of oil is required at the burner nozzle / jet. the oil once passed over the burner nozzle that remains unburned can be easily channeled back into the oil sump / tank and recycled.

Note to consider!

As oils become warmer, as they would in the above setup, they become much thinner (Less Viscous) best practise an such a system would be to monitor the fuel oil until your system is up to a stable running temperature i.e. the oil temperature ceases to rise and then set your running air pressure. A Hasty setup on such a system could cost money and indeed lives (Play safe)

Labels: Air Pump Lifter, Babington Balls, Babington Burner, Babington Nozzles, Oil Pump, SVO, Turk Burner, Vegetable Oil Burner, Wind Turbine, WMO, WVO, WVO Pump

Babington Ball Nozzles Are Available Via Ebay!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130241627105

Kind regards

Andy Mahoney
Home Brew Power
Off-Grid Power Installer - UK)

www.homebrewpower.co.uk
Mobile: 07504 50 50 89
HomeBrewPower Yahoo Group On Carbon Neutral Power

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/homebrewpower/

Labels: Babington Balls, Babington Burner, Babington Nozzles, Waste Veg Oil, Wind Turbine, WMO, WVO

Labels: DCH, Homebrewpower, Lister CS, off-grid electricity, Schematic, Solar PV, Wind Turbine, WVO

The Relationship Between BSH and WildlifeDirect:

Yes, we are working with BSH on the introduction of the Protos stove in the DRC. Their business model clearly forbids the introduction of the stove in politically unstable areas, however, after hearing about the fate of the mountain gorillas, they agreed to participate in a joint-venture with WildlifeDirect. BSH has generously agreed to donate the first 100 stoves and is providing guidance and technical assistance. BSH is adamant that users grow their own fuels, and do so in a sustainable, eco-friendly manner. They are very serious about this and have actually pulled out of areas that have failed to demonstrate their commitment to this principle.

Current Status of the Protos Project:

Ephrem has the difficult task of doing the required Phase 1 & 2 market research for BSH. He is looking at things such as demographics, supply chains, alternative cookers, costing, household cooking habits, agricultural sectors, and barriers to entry. I will be working on putting together the training program for the introduction. I will most likely get trained in the Philippines and then make my way to Goma to train the trainers and help with the initial introduction, which we hope is in March.

Cost of the Protos Stove:

If brought in from the outside, the cost of the stove will be around US$50-75, 50% or which is transportation cost. Once local manufacturing capability is established, that cost should drop to US$20.

Fuel Types for the Protos Stove:

The Protos stove can burn canola, coconut, Jatropha, palm, peanut, rapeseed, safflower, soy, sunflower, and used cooking oil (biodiesel). One of the most important parts of this project is to grow fuel for the stoves locally. As Paula suggests, it looks like Jatropha will be a great fit in the DRC. We will be making sure NOT to use palm oils coming from any place that has destroyed vital habitat to establish palm oil plantations. This monoculture is a scourge in many places, such as in Indonesia and Malaysia, where it has had a devastating impact on orangutans and other key species. We will be vigilant about using only environmentally sustainable fuel sources.

Fear of Charcoal Mafia Reprisals:

With the crackdown on illegally harvested charcoal, there is clearly a renewed risk to the mountain gorillas. Luckily, this comes at a time when Nkunda and his rebels have agreed to cease hostilities. UN forces are now escorting them out of Virunga NP. This has made it possible for the ICCN rangers to return to their post and resume patrols. This is no guarantee that the gorillas will be safe, but it is a step in the right direction.
Creating New Ways to Make a Living:If we are successful with the Protos project, a whole new sector of the economy will be created. The hope is that the people involved with the illegal harvest of charcoal will see that more money is being made in the plant oils and naturally want to transition into this area.

How you can become involved:

Labels: Protos Burner, Protos Plant Oil Stove, SVO, Wind Turbine, WVO, WVO Burner

In my humble opinion, one of the best things to come out of England in the last century was the fine Stationary Engines produced by R A Lister. In particular the Lister CS range of single cylinder Diesel units. They have been known to run for thousands of hours without any maintenance other than topping up the fuel!

Below is a fine example of a well restored Lister running what appears to be a ST Type Generating Head, producing 230VAC.

Here at HBP we have 3 Lister CS Engines, 2 x 6/1 units and a 3/1.

Labels: Lister CS, Lister Diesel, Listeroid, Wind Turbine, WMO, WVO

Kind regards


Andy Mahoney
Home Brew Power
Off-Grid Power Installer - UK)
www.homebrewpower.co.uk
Mobile: 07504 50 50 89
HomeBrewPower Yahoo Group On Carbon Neutral Power
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/homebrewpower/

Labels: CHAP, CHP, DIY Power, Electricity CD Rom, Generate Electricity, Generate Electricity For Free, How 2, Lister CS, Lister Diesel, Wind Turbine, WMO, WVO

Oil Crisis? The End? The Future?

Well we are now into 2008 on our humble home planet, Earth...

Some may ask why I created ‘Home Brew Power’. Was it to save the planet from self destruction? Was it for monetary gain? Was it to try and educate our children about the planet’s finite supply of fossil fuel? Could it have been to help others reduce their gross overuse of electricity and power in general?

All of the above are just some of the driving forces behind

www.HomeBrewPower.co.uk

Over 2007 I have actively been in discussion groups about the following topics.

1. CHP (Combined Heating & Power) Units using ‘Carbon Neutral’ Fuel Sources i.e. WVO (Waste Vegetable Oil), SVO (Straight Vegetable Oil), Ethanol, Wood, Wood Gas and more.

2. Generating Electricity with a Stirling Engine (Hot Air Engine) with the primary heat sources been either a ‘Wood Stove’ or a ‘Waste Oil Burner / Furnace’

3. The overall efficiencies of Solar PV ‘Solar Photovoltaic’s’ which currently runs commercially at around 14-16%. To put it in an easy to understand format, ‘If a 1000MM x 500MM solar panel facing the sun was receiving 1000W of radiant solar energy then of that we are currently able to harvest approx 140 – 160W in the form of direct current electricity.

4. Micro Co-Generation, on a domestic scale, grid-tied wind turbines producing mains electricity that in times of excess can be fed back into the national grid system automatically, crediting the consumer with a reduction in their electricity bill. Currently in the UK we are allowed to Grid-Tie up to 6KW (constantly) back into the national grid as domestic customers.

5. Learning how to live on a much reduced amount of fossil fuels for heating and power. It really has been an eye opener to see how much the average human consumes on a daily basis. We as a race are hopelessly dependent on fossil fuels; the things most take for granted consume huge amounts of power. For example taking a shower (Electric Shower), making a cup of tea (Electric Kettle) Central Heating (Gas / Oil Fired Combi Boiler) Watching TV for hours on end and leaving electrical appliances on standby 24/7.

The topics above have, for as long as I can remember, been extremely important to me but they are now making it into the mainstream public eyes via the TV, Radio & Internet. Right now the government are dressing up the ‘Green Schemes’ ‘Carbon Reduction Schemes’ creating yet another cash generating revenue for them.

Soon I imagine the hype will calm down and we will be back to the important issue of ‘Life After Fossil Fuels’

www.Homebrewpower.co.uk is currently decanting to a brand new Website Format, the existing Blog based website has served well for the previous 2 years but it is time to bring some new dimensions to our community.


Kind regards


Andy Mahoney
Home Brew Power
Off-Grid Power Installer - UK)
www.homebrewpower.co.uk
Mobile: 07504 50 50 89
HomeBrewPower Yahoo Group On Carbon Neutral Power
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/homebrewpower/

Labels: CHP, Fossil Fuel Crisis, Fossil Fules, Micro CHP, Wind Turbine, WMO, Wood Gas, WoodGas, WVO

Kind regards


Andy Mahoney
Home Brew Power
Off-Grid Power Installer - UK)
www.homebrewpower.co.uk
Mobile: 07504 50 50 89
HomeBrewPower Yahoo Group On Carbon Neutral Power
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/homebrewpower/

Labels: Alaska Tent Burner, Alaska Tent Stove, SVO, Turk Burner, WMO, WMO Burner, WVO, WVO Burner

Labels: Alternator, Auction, Ebay, Generator, Lister CS, WVO, www.ebay.co.uk

The race is on to create the 'Holy Grail' in WVO burners. With the recent news on the 'Protos Plant Oil Stove' becoming available to select public users, enthusiasts are now looking into using similar burner technologies to create a WVO burner. The potential of a burner that can burn plant oils as cleanly as the Protos Plant Oil Stove does are huge!

Imagine your Domestic Central Heating running off of Vegetable Oil? Or what about a Micro CHP (Combined Heat & Power) unit using Plant Oil as it's fuel.

This, in my opinion, is going to be a huge step forward in the Off-Grid & DIY communities alike.

Labels: CHAP, CHP, Holy Grail, Plant Oil Stove, Protos Burner, Protos Plant Oil Stove, WVO, WVO Burner

An email received in response to the question, 'When will the Protos Stoves be available in Europe?'



Many thanks for your request below.Since April last year, when BSH introduced Protos to the Press andsubsequently millions of people, we have had numerous requests to purchaseour cooker in Germany, Europe and North America
.At this point, we have not been able to fulfill these requests for severalreasons. The first is that the resources we have devoted to thedissemination of the cooker have been focused exclusively on developingcountries. Protos is currently for sale on the islands of Leyte and Samarin the Philippines and will soon be available in Arusha in Tanzania.

Inthe other countries where we plan to introduce Protos in 2007, we arecurrently preparing or just at the beginning of the necessary test andadaptation phase which our internal quality standards require for each newregion. Additionally, introducing a new technology in Europe/North Americarequiresnavigating some complex legal issues which are also time-intensive andpotentially costly.

We are carefully considering the potential ofintroducing Protos - perhaps as a camping cooker - at some point in 2008.However, this has not yet been determined.In mid-2007, we will be re-launching the Protos websitehttp://www.plantoilcooker.com/. The new website will contain significantly moreinformation that is currently available as well as the opportunity to signup for a newsletter and place your information in our database. The newsletter will keep you up to date on where Protos is available and otherinteresting developments.With regard to request to receive plans to construct a cooker, it isnecessary to communicate that the technological development andperformanceof our cooker is the result of 8 years of research and developmentincludingsignficant investment.

Naturally, some of the advances we have made areproprietary and therefore not subject to public dissemination. We appreciate your understanding and patience.

Best regards,BSH Bosch und Siemens
Hausgeräte
GmbH Project
Plant Oil StoveCarl-Wery-Str. 3481739
MünchenTel.: +49-89-4590-01
Fax: +49-89-4590-2347
mailto: protos@bshg.com
http://www.bsh-group.com

Labels: Protos Plant Oil Stove, WVO

Labels: Plant Oil Stove, Protos Burner, Protos Plant Oil Stove, WVO, WVO Burner, WVO Cooker

Homebrewpower.co.uk has recently undergone extensive redesign.

I hope the new layouts are much easier to navigate.

Please note the navigation links to the far right hand side of the website.

The Picture Album is now fully functional with ALL my work and progress so far, take a look and enjoy the fruits of my labour.

If you have surfed in on www.homebrewpower.co.uk then feel free to bookmark the website. The concept of homebrewpower is to provide you with an up to date portal rich in projects, files, info & pictures all related to creating sustainable, eco, green, carbon neutral heating & power in your backyard!

Main topics covered are as follows:

Micro CHP / CHAP creation & installation
Green power generation
Eco power generation
Energy saving practices, tips, hints & projects
IMAG Generators 1PH & 3PH
Alternative energy
Green Energy
Latest Eco projects and builds from around the world
Eco building products
Solar Panels Photovoltiacs
Solar heating


Enjoy & Have a good look around.

Andy Mahoney
Homebrewpower

Labels: Electrical, Mag, Micro CHP, Monthly Mag, Sustainable Energy, Sustainable Living, Water Heating, WVO

Labels: Burner, Turk, Turk Burner.Tim Dawson Stanley, WVO