Category: HVAC

Four Letters Re: Uses for CONEXes at a Retreat

James: We used some CONEXes to build a workshop. We built a wall halfway down the box with a door in it, insulated the front half, and put in power and air conditioning. It works fine, [but] the back half gets really, really hot. I’d recommend painting the container a heat reflecting color, try to put it under some trees out of direct sunlight, build some kind of roof over it or something to cut the heat like trellis planted with vines. We use the Rough Neck RV roof mounted air conditioners. I would recommend cutting a hole in the …


Letter Re: James Kunstler at Midwest Renewable Energy Fair

Dear Jim: I was also at the Midwest Renewable Energy Association’s (MREA) Energy Fair, just about in the exact center of Wisconsin near Steven’s Point, a week ago. For me, the home tour was the most interesting part. For about $20 they load you on a school bus and take you to 4 local homes that had alternative energy incorporated into them. This included things like solar panels for electricity with a battery bank, heat pumps with in floor hydronic heating systems, soap stone fireplaces (like the Russian design) that burn 2 hours and radiate heat all day (some with …


A Survival Retreat for Under $1,000, By Wolverine

Call it a survival retreat, hunting cabin, or summer cottage, a place away from the crowds and turmoil of the cities is a dream most of us share. Some folks plan out a survival retreat in such detail that long-term storage, over lapping fields of fire, and fuel supplies are worked out. Others, like myself, approach it as a vacation spot that can be readily converted if need be to an alternate living location. Back in the late 1960s my family had a small two-room cottage on a lake in northern Michigan. The cottage had no electricity, no running water, …


Letter Re: Sources for Greenhouses and Coal Stoves

Jim: First, I have no interest in either of the following mentioned companies other than that I’m a satisfied user. I recently got a bigger greenhouse for my birthday and have used it for this years garden plants. A little over 200 plants so far. They have two models on sale right now. I do recommend completely caulking every panel with adhesive caulk. The large one took 30 tubes. I have ordered this stove to heat my greenhouse in cool weather and through the winter. I keep two tons of coal for the house coal stove anyway. This combo will …


Letter Re: Banking a House for Winter

Memsahib Rawles:: Banking a house for the winter is a fairly common practice where I grew up in Canada. Often the leaves were raked and bagged in the fall and placed along the house for the winter. Other times square bales were stacked against the house to insulate for the cold winter months. The only drawback from this way of insulating was the fact that you would often get a large amount of unwanted house guests (mice and voles) who were attracted to the warm shelter! Keep up the informative writing, – T.S.


From The Memsahib: Alternative Home Heating Fuels and Banking a House for Winter

In the event of TEOTWAWKI, fuel will become very important in regions where the winters are severe and long. We can learn some survival ideas from pioneers in on the treeless prairies. Some used alternative fuels such as cow chips, corn cobs, ears of corn, twisted grass, or a mix of straw and manure manure called “mist.” (The German word for Schumer.) In 1881 the magazine Warren Sheaf said that three acres of corn would provide the average house of the time with fuel for the year. Straw burner attachments were designed for cook stoves. These were oblong tubes 18 …