Prep of The Day Thread

So....a lesson on complacency....now that the smoke has cleared.

We were up north last weekend ostensibly for leaf peeping but really to do some prep and assess.

Wood processing, dealing with a burn pile, mowing fields and more rotating fuel, etc. Changed the fuel pump on my side by side. Discovered a blown CV axle on it, ordered the replacement. Finally pulled the trigger on the Roth 275g tank to add storage capacity to get me through a winter on 1 fill.

By Monday afternoon, I was wiped. Filled the stove, told the kid to throw the ‘away’ breakers, but apparently he missed the well one. Was coming back on Friday....so no big deal, right?

Kid used the can on the way out. It’s a Kohler toilet. Apparently there is a red-colored gasket that’s supposed to seal and allow the mechanism to fill the tank.

Supposed to. This one didn’t. It wore out.

Didn’t seal. It ran all week.....Until the well ran dry, then the unending demand for water with the cavitation overheated and killed the well pump. Bonus....apparently the high draw on the array and batteries brought those low enough to put my inverters into an alarm state, and they didn’t reset when the sun came out. Lost power to all of my critical loads.

Losses....well pump, a refridgerator full of food. Overdrew the batteries, ran the inverters too hot too long. Don’t know if I can trust them now. Tally is likely north of $2k. Assuming I can get the smell out of the fridge and don’t have to replace THAT too. Glad it wasn’t a COLD week.

For want of a $7 gasket....
 
Last edited:
JayMcB said:
So....a lesson on complacency....now that the smoke has cleared.

We were up north last weekend ostensibly for leaf peeping but really to do some prep and assess.

Wood processing, dealing with a burn pile, mowing fields and more rotating fuel, etc. Changed the fuel pump on my side by side. Discovered a blown CV axle on it, ordered the replacement. Finally pulled the trigger on the Roth 275g tank to add storage capacity to get me through a winter on 1 fill.

By Monday afternoon, I was wiped. Filled the stove, told the kid to throw the ‘away’ breakers, but apparently he missed the well one. Was coming back on Friday....so no big deal, right?

Kid used the can on the way out. It’s a Kohler toilet. Apparently there is a red-colored gasket that’s supposed to seal and allow the mechanism to fill the tank.

Supposed to. This one didn’t. It wore out.

Didn’t seal. It ran all week.....Until the well ran dry, then the unending demand for water with the cavitation overheated and killed the well pump. Bonus....apparently the high draw on the array and batteries brought those low enough to put my inverters into an alarm state, and they didn’t reset when the sun came out. Lost power to all of my critical loads.

Losses....well pump, a refridgerator full of food. Overdrew the batteries, ran the inverters too hot too long. Don’t know if I can trust them now. Tally is likely north of $2k. Assuming I can get the smell out of the fridge and don’t have to replace THAT too. Glad it wasn’t a COLD week.

For want of a $7 gasket....
Click to expand...
Wow. Sorry for your loss man.
 
Can't trust anyone these days.
Not even myself so double and triple check.
(Did I mention the trip to the Cape we took last year? The one where everyone left in a hurry. Leaving the back door wide open. All weekend.)
Shit happens. Nothing bad in that instance.
(Then there was the trip to Maine. Having problems with the well pump control switch at home, I said I'll fix it when we get back. Worst that can happen is no pressure. It always failed in the off condition. Until we left for the weekend. Then it failed in the on condition. Over pressured the blow off. Came back to 2" of water in thr basement.🤨
 
Finished batter wiring. Everything torqued down. The (8) banks are all within .1V of each other which should help ease the top balancing later. Also got the stand made for the combiner box. I need to make a mini "roof" for it tomorrow just to help keep the ice off it and hang the BMSs up.

I'm also going to make some T shape lexan dividers to prevent the possibility of dropping something and shorting across the banks.

20221016_191606.jpg

20221016_191546.jpg

20221016_182255.jpg

Someone before asked about the type of wood I used to make the frames. I stacked the excess today in my lean to and this is the PT I bought.

20221016_165708.jpg
 
JayMcB said:
So....a lesson on complacency....now that the smoke has cleared.

We were up north last weekend ostensibly for leaf peeping but really to do some prep and assess.

Wood processing, dealing with a burn pile, mowing fields and more rotating fuel, etc. Changed the fuel pump on my side by side. Discovered a blown CV axle on it, ordered the replacement. Finally pulled the trigger on the Roth 275g tank to add storage capacity to get me through a winter on 1 fill.

By Monday afternoon, I was wiped. Filled the stove, told the kid to throw the ‘away’ breakers, but apparently he missed the well one. Was coming back on Friday....so no big deal, right?

Kid used the can on the way out. It’s a Kohler toilet. Apparently there is a red-colored gasket that’s supposed to seal and allow the mechanism to fill the tank.

Supposed to. This one didn’t. It wore out.

Didn’t seal. It ran all week.....Until the well ran dry, then the unending demand for water with the cavitation overheated and killed the well pump. Bonus....apparently the high draw on the array and batteries brought those low enough to put my inverters into an alarm state, and they didn’t reset when the sun came out. Lost power to all of my critical loads.

Losses....well pump, a refridgerator full of food. Overdrew the batteries, ran the inverters too hot too long. Don’t know if I can trust them now. Tally is likely north of $2k. Assuming I can get the smell out of the fridge and don’t have to replace THAT too. Glad it wasn’t a COLD week.

For want of a $7 gasket....
Click to expand...

Man that sucks, sorry to hear.

I once showed up to show a house (camp on post and piers) in Gilmanton and the buyer who is a friend and I noticed water dripping out the sill. Recently rained so thought it might be from that.

Open the door and there’s an inch of water on the ground and I can hear the water running from somewhere. Run in quick to try and find it, no luck so I call the listing agent let her know what’s up and I’m gonna kill the breaker to shut off the well pump.

After looking around 2 of the shark bite valve connectors had let go. Not sure if it was from cold weather (this was in the fall) or just not put together well but lesson learned.

Stories like these are why I always shut of the main water supply before leaving.
 
xtry51 said:
Finished batter wiring. Everything torqued down. The (8) banks are all within .1V of each other which should help ease the top balancing later. Also got the stand made for the combiner box. I need to make a mini "roof" for it tomorrow just to help keep the ice off it and hang the BMSs up.

I'm also going to make some T shape lexan dividers to prevent the possibility of dropping something and shorting across the banks.
Click to expand...
Do those batteries generate heat when charging?
 
Going back to the pallet mill this morning for another dump trailer load of oak blocks roughly 5x7x36 inches. Drove by with a friend yesterday afternoon and their pile has been replenished.
 
JayMcB said:
So....a lesson on complacency....now that the smoke has cleared.

We were up north last weekend ostensibly for leaf peeping but really to do some prep and assess.

Wood processing, dealing with a burn pile, mowing fields and more rotating fuel, etc. Changed the fuel pump on my side by side. Discovered a blown CV axle on it, ordered the replacement. Finally pulled the trigger on the Roth 275g tank to add storage capacity to get me through a winter on 1 fill.

By Monday afternoon, I was wiped. Filled the stove, told the kid to throw the ‘away’ breakers, but apparently he missed the well one. Was coming back on Friday....so no big deal, right?

Kid used the can on the way out. It’s a Kohler toilet. Apparently there is a red-colored gasket that’s supposed to seal and allow the mechanism to fill the tank.

Supposed to. This one didn’t. It wore out.

Didn’t seal. It ran all week.....Until the well ran dry, then the unending demand for water with the cavitation overheated and killed the well pump. Bonus....apparently the high draw on the array and batteries brought those low enough to put my inverters into an alarm state, and they didn’t reset when the sun came out. Lost power to all of my critical loads.

Losses....well pump, a refridgerator full of food. Overdrew the batteries, ran the inverters too hot too long. Don’t know if I can trust them now. Tally is likely north of $2k. Assuming I can get the smell out of the fridge and don’t have to replace THAT too. Glad it wasn’t a COLD week.

For want of a $7 gasket....
Click to expand...
Is it out of the question to put all the "away" breakers on a single shutoff? It just seems like that would be a better way to make sure to not miss one.
 

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NH_Realtor said:
Man that sucks, sorry to hear.

I once showed up to show a house (camp on post and piers) in Gilmanton and the buyer who is a friend and I noticed water dripping out the sill. Recently rained so thought it might be from that.

Open the door and there’s an inch of water on the ground and I can hear the water running from somewhere. Run in quick to try and find it, no luck so I call the listing agent let her know what’s up and I’m gonna kill the breaker to shut off the well pump.

After looking around 2 of the shark bite valve connectors had let go. Not sure if it was from cold weather (this was in the fall) or just not put together well but lesson learned.

Stories like these are why I always shut of the main water supply before leaving.
Click to expand...
I was doing something in my parents house one day while they were away. I went in the cellar and saw a small amount of water. I called them for the water shutoff from the street and cleaned it up.

I agree with this from that issue
 
Got 450lbs of local raised beef in the freezer.

Still working on the solar project. Just bought some cable management guides/clips as I'm not happy with my first layout attempt. I also had a cable sizing snafu and had to remake 8 cables, which was a stupid error I made when ordering all the copper. I'll post some pics this weekend.
 
xtry51 said:
Got 450lbs of local raised beef in the freezer.

Still working on the solar project. Just bought some cable management guides/clips as I'm not happy with my first layout attempt. I also had a cable sizing snafu and had to remake 8 cables, which was a stupid error I made when ordering all the copper. I'll post some pics this weekend.
Click to expand...

Still waiting on my call to go pick up my beef from Ryan, it's a hike for me but it's worth it.
 
xtry51 said:
Got 450lbs of local raised beef in the freezer.

Still working on the solar project. Just bought some cable management guides/clips as I'm not happy with my first layout attempt. I also had a cable sizing snafu and had to remake 8 cables, which was a stupid error I made when ordering all the copper. I'll post some pics this weekend.
Click to expand...
Is that a whole beef steer dressed out? What kind of cuts did you get? I’m raising beef cattle now and wondering what the market is like…even though I won’t be selling for 1.5 years.
 
76Too said:
Is that a whole beef steer dressed out? What kind of cuts did you get? I’m raising beef cattle now and wondering what the market is like…even though I won’t be selling for 1.5 years.
Click to expand...

Grass fed, 1 full dresssed. 150lbs of various cuts and 300lbs of ground beef. $3600. Our guy only does enough headcount to cover all his costs and his family's meat consumption.
 
xtry51 said:
Our guy only does enough headcount to cover all his costs and his family's meat consumption.
Click to expand...
This is 100% my goal.

I have two black angus steers now and getting another in the spring. Next fall I’ll send one in to slaughter and will replace him with another. Every 6 months I’ll rotate one in and one out.

I personally like grass fed beef, but lots of folks around here prefer grain fed because it’s what they grew up with in the holler region. I’m going to be doing a mix feed because I want my cows to be able to stay warmer during the winter. Grain/corn will give them the energy they need. Friggen expensive to feed grain right now though…paying almost $200/ton for gluten mix and I’m next door neighbors with corn country.

I’m going to be keeping at least a quarter of a cow for myself and my dog next October, because it will be the end of grass season. So essentially I’ll be doing a mix of feed, but every other cow will be ‘grass finished’ for 5 or 6 months prior to slaughter.

It’s more about ‘responsible harvesting’ for me than anything else. Knowing my food was treated with dignity and had a good, relatively clean and comfortable life.
 
76Too said:
This is 100% my goal.

I have two black angus steers now and getting another in the spring. Next fall I’ll send one in to slaughter and will replace him with another. Every 6 months I’ll rotate one in and one out.

I personally like grass fed beef, but lots of folks around here prefer grain fed because it’s what they grew up with in the holler region. I’m going to be doing a mix feed because I want my cows to be able to stay warmer during the winter. Grain/corn will give them the energy they need. Friggen expensive to feed grain right now though…paying almost $200/ton for gluten mix and I’m next door neighbors with corn country.

I’m going to be keeping at least a quarter of a cow for myself and my dog next October, because it will be the end of grass season. So essentially I’ll be doing a mix of feed, but every other cow will be ‘grass finished’ for 5 or 6 months prior to slaughter.

It’s more about ‘responsible harvesting’ for me than anything else. Knowing my food was treated with dignity and had a good, relatively clean and comfortable life.
Click to expand...
When can I move in?
 
xtry51 said:
Turned on my solar inverters for the first time today just using grid pass thru. Tomorrow I turn on solar charging for first time. By next weekend my garage will be on the offgrid for some testing.

View attachment 688370

View attachment 688371

View attachment 688372
Click to expand...

WOW is THAT SLICK!

Nice clean install too. You have batteries for storage too, I assume? What size/how many panels? If you’re comfortable sharing more of the details/specs on your system, I’d be interested in seeing anything you’re willing to post up.

Nice work sir.
 
76Too said:
WOW is THAT SLICK!

Nice clean install too. You have batteries for storage too, I assume? What size/how many panels? If you’re comfortable sharing more of the details/specs on your system, I’d be interested in seeing anything you’re willing to post up.

Nice work sir.
Click to expand...

(40) Hyundai 390W panels in 10s4p config.

(128) 3.2V 260Ah BYD Lifepo4 cells in a 48V 16s8p configuration. Roughly 105kWh of storage.

We hand build the solar stands. I purchased a combiner box for the outdoor wiring.

I have to do a first time charge on the (8) battery banks, then top balance each one to e sure I'm getting full capacity.

After that's done I can clean up the battery cables a bit more and make the bus bar connections look more organized. I'll also have to run liquid tight flex conduit over the PV supply lines later and make a lexan cover plate with stand offs. I didn't want to do any of that until I was 100% sure the wiring was good and everything is functional.
 
Powered on using only solar panels today after I finished the outdoor conduit. Will program the BMSs (battery charge/balance controllers) in the morning before work. I have FD training next two nights so unfortunately might be Wed night before I can test grid charging for an hour, and then solar charging Thursday morning.

This picture doesn't show much orher than the inverter is powered solely but the sun, but it represents 2 months of work, 4 months of teaching myself and the relief of it working the first time I tried was pretty substantial.
Screenshot_20221120-222739_Gallery.jpg
 

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