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Stacking Stone

4/14/2015

We have a lot of rock and stone on our site. I guess you could say that neoTerra is half Star Trek and half Flintstones. It certainly makes for some interesting contrasts.

Early in construction we stacked large boulders to create primitive/natural retaining walls.

Since then, I bought "Building Dry-Stack Stone Walls", by Rob Gallagher to get an idea of how to properly construct rustic stone walls.

Although many of their examples require heavy machinery, I found the book useful for learning how to build low retaining walls using the rock on our site.

I built my first dry-stack stone wall and I'm fairly happy with the way it turned out. It sure is a lot of work gathering and fitting the stones but I think it will be pretty stable.

We are planting a variety of azaleas and rhododendrons around the house to create a woodland garden and bring some color to the landscape. We have a lot of ground to cover and a limited budget so we're starting with teeny-weeny plants. But some of them have started blooming so we get to enjoy a bit of instant gratification :-)

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Temperature Sensors - Part III

4/13/2015

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Intro
As mentioned in the first temperature Sensor post (way back in December of 2013) there's a lot of theoretical info on how much heat can be stored in the slab but there isn't very much practical info on how long it takes for the slab to warm up in the sun, how warm does it actually get and how fast does it cool off at night so I wanted a way to measure the temperature of the slab throughout the day.

My brother Phil is an experienced software engineer so he came up with a really cool system that allowed us to embed temperature sensors right in the slabs before they were poured. We now have the system running and we're starting to collect data.

The first step was to get all of the cables terminated. Internet, phone, sensors.... yikes - that's a lot of cable!

Making progress...

The Hardware
We use one-wire digital temperature sensors from Dallas Semiconductor. There are 5 sensors embedded in the basement slab, 11 in the main level slab and 4 in the main level ceilings above the drywall. I have several spare channels that will be used to monitor outside air temperature as well as inside air temperature on both levels.

An Arduino processor (on the left) retrieves data from the sensors and a small embedded PC (on the right) collects the data and publishes it to web every 15 minutes.

Results
The planning, modelling and engineering are finally starting to come together. Now we can monitor the temperatures of both slabs in real time. Here are the temps right now as I'm writing this post.... How Cool Is That!!

The data is stored permanently for graphing and analysis. The graph for the past eight days clearly shows the difference between cloudy days on the 6th and 7th versus sunny days on the 8th and 9th.

It's interesting to note that the slab doesn't start to warm up until late afternoon (4:00 - 6:00 PM). Following a sunny day, the slab will stay above 70 degrees for up to 12 hours.

It's already past the Spring Equinox so our heating season is almost over. I'm looking forward to seeing how the house performs next Fall and Winter.

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Induction Cooking I

4/12/2015

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We just spent our first full month living in the house and I'd like to write a bit about our experiences with induction cook-tops.

Intro
My philosophy is that we will be able to supply our own electricity in the future with photovoltaics but we will never be able to make home-brew propane. So, neoTerra is all electric.

I've cooked with gas burners my whole life and have never had good experiences with electric cook-tops so this was an area of concern. Conventional electric cooktops are just not as responsive as gas burners. They are slow to heat up and even slower to cool down so you just don't get the same degree of control that you get with gas.

Anyway, when TW suggested that induction cook-tops are as good as gas burners I was definitely skeptical.

How It Works
Induction 'burners' operate by heating the metal pan directly using magnetic energy to create current and friction within the atoms of the pan itself. The pan must be made of a magnetic material... aluminum pans won't work.

It sounds like science-fiction but it works. Since the heat is generated directly in the pan it is extremely efficient and the induction unit barely gets hot at all.

For a detailed explanation of how it works click on the image and read the article on Popular Mechanics.

Experiment 1 - A low-cost table top cooker
I decided to give induction cooking a try by purchasing a low cost (under $100) single counter-top 'burner', the Duxtop 8300ST.

This is a very inexpensive unit made of plastic but it works surprisingly well.

At 1800 watts it will boil a pot of water for pasta very quickly and it plugs into a standard wall outlet.

The unit offers ten temperature settings starting at 140F and going up to 464F in 36 degree increments.

It also has ten power levels ranging from 200 to 1800 watts. Unfortunately, the steps are not uniform. It has large increments (300 watts) at the lower steps and small increments (100 watts) in the middle steps. Consequently, there is a lack of precision/control at the lower temperature and power settings.

The noise, plastic construction and limited range of temperature settings make it unsuitable for serious everyday cooking. That being said, it's high power, light weight and portability make it a good back up when we need an extra burner so I'm keeping it.

Experiment 2 - A commercial table top cooker
The inexpensive Duxtop exceeded my (rather limited) expectations so I decided that the next experiment should be a commercial countertop unit to see what a high quality professional unit can do.

After considerable research I decided on the Vollrath 59500P Mirage Pro. Like the Duxtop, the Mirage Pro has 1800 watts and plugs into a standard wall outlet but the similarity ends there.

The Vollrath is all metal construction with a stainless steel frame and a ceramic cooking surface. It has 100 power levels which is ten times what is found on less expensive (and many more expensive) units.

Temperature settings range from 80F - 400F in 10 degree steps. The ability to have precise control at low temperatures is a big advantage for slow cooking and simmering.

Temperature/power level is controlled with a knob so you can turn the power up or down just like a familiar gas burner. The power level has 100 steps in 1% increments.

This is an expensive unit with a street price of about $450.00 so I had very high expectations. I'm happy to report that this cooker is definitely worth the price. It is extremely responsive and has greater precision and range than a gas burner. Also, compared to the Duxtop, the Vollrath is whisper quiet.

Conclusion

Based on the positive experience with the Vollrath Mirage Pro, we decided to buy two Vollrath drop-in units for the island.

The drop-in units have the same controls and precision as the table top Mirage Pro but they are only 1400 watts each. So far, it seems that 1400 watts is sufficient for family cooking, though we do use the more powerful table top unit to boil water for pasta or making large pots of soup.

This is a modular concept where we only have two permanent burners and two portable burners that can be set up where needed. For example, I like to set the Mirage Pro next to the sink when I'm making pasta so I don't have to carry the pot of water back and forth to the island.

After a bit of a learning curve I've become a complete induction convert. It is definitely superior to gas in almost every respect.

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Our Pack-Rat Experience

4/7/2015

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It's been quite awhile since my last post. We are starting our move to Georgia! We want to have both homes partially furnished so we moved roughly half our stuff. Since it was a fairly small move we decided to try Pack-Rat and it worked out great.

We ordered a 8x16 foot container, which they dropped off right on schedule. The container holds a surprising amount of stuff. We pre-packed everything into boxes and tubs so loading only took two hours.

In two weeks the container arrives and you unload it.

It's still pretty sparse, but it sure is nice to have a place to sit!

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Stacking Stone

Temperature Sensors - Part III

Induction Cooking I

Our Pack-Rat Experience

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