Fancy News - one solar hot air collector nears completion

Well, I finally am making progress on the solar hot air collectors - are you? I swear, at the Springfield, Vermont, Recycle center enough tempered glass panels show up from old windows to make a double-glazed 4' by 8' collector every day (the trick of course is to get to these windows before mr. cranky bashes them to smithereens). I think that everyone with some kind of four or five daily hours of good sun exposure should put together their own solar hot air collector, using their local recycle center as a source of quality tempered glass for low cost or for free. Now then, moving them is another thing, you will do well to plan the actual retrieval and conveyance and storage of these (especially if you are going for the big sheets).
The main thing with the whole solar hot air collector idea is that it involves no plumbing, and little or no electric work, and most anyone can approach the technology. Of course a solar hot air collector only works while the sun is hitting it's absorber. And it's product is not considered "best grade" heat. But heat it is, and if the rule of thumb is true that every square foot of well made solar hot air collector absorber area equals 1 to 2 gallons of fuel oil in a heating season, then there is a cash value to the exercise as well. Considering that the fuel is free (however capricious), and that the mechanism requires little or no maintenance, I call it a bargain.
The one solar hot air collector that is coming along nicely will serve to keep pellets dry in their storage area in the basement. This collector will work continuously all year-round, mainly to ventilate the pellet drying chamber.

Por fin, algun progreso en tema de las placas solares, y con la elaboracion en metal de las diversas partes del aparato mismo de controlar el aire ya calentado. A ver si me explico, (que a proposito subire' pronto alguna foto), para aprovechar de un espacio estrecho, alto y bien colocado en relacion al sotano donde se almanecen los pellets dichosos, he construido un colector de aire calentado que incorpora no tan solamente el panel negro absorbador y el vacuo detras de el, pero detras aun hay lugar suficiente como para incluir un canal que vaya desde la parte mas alta, donde habra que llegar el aire ya calentado, y llevarlo hasta la camara de secar pellets, cuatro toneladas, si, cuatro, preguntaselo a Alva y te dira'!!

Fancy News - Pavement Progress in Springfield, Vermont

Above: a view showing the dog-trot in the otherwise unbroken line of the curb, it would be nice to see a tree there, but more likely than not this indent allows a controlled transition - from one travel lane alongside one parallel parking lane, into three clearer options for traffic flow at the trafic light controlled intersection. No se hace asi en Espanyah, pero aqui por fin tenemos reparaciones en las calles, o, por lo menos tenemos indicaciones de la intencion de modificar en alguna manera positiva lo que es un systema de baches, escaleras sin ritmo, y caidas mortales, a que se le da nombre de "calles".
Here we have a portrait of the fine new granite pieces that will soon be nestled in the paving of Springfield, Vermont, Official Home of the Simpsons.

Fancy News - the Pellets arrive!

And what a fine raft of pellets they were! Luckily, we had house guests to put to work, guiding the truck into the flower beds, and ripping the bags open on their way into the cellar! The fireman's brigade method worked well actually, and with the smart deployement of the moveable ramp of rollers a la supermarket box delivery roller bed system it became a quick piece of work. Of course several bags did catch and rip but not many - just enough to make the floor look like the scene of a guinea pig traffic accident involving two guinea pig baked goods delivery vans. - Aqui vemos la llegada de los famosos "pellets" para el "pellet stove", cosa que ayudará mucho en evitar el consumo de petroleo en esta casa. Llegaron justo a tiempo para que los primos se divertiesen en lo que es un ritual de Verano en el Noreste/New England de los EEUU - el hacer las mil y una tareas en preparación para el Inviernoooo. Con los pellets se produce un calor eficaz, mas barato, y con menos poluición en contraste con el calor producido quemando ese tesoro magico, el petroleo. Y, sobra hablar de que cuando cae sol en las placas solares, ese calor solar es gratis y ayuda mucho hasta en los dias mas frias de Invierno, en evitar en algo el consumo de los dos combustíbles. Ya veremos, we'll see how it goes in practice during the Winter!

Fancy News: Paving Pandemonium; Mayhem on the Midway.

The reason for that private firm's service vehicle being there in the middle of the ongoing sidewalk work on Main Street this morning, in downtown Springfield, Vermont, Official Home of the Simpsons, and for the presence there of their workers, and for the presence there as well of other service providers' crews, all busily engaged in tasks literally in, on, and about the Great Main Street Excavation of 2008, is that nobody did a dowsing before ripping into the sidewalks like it was their first day running the thresher in the big alfalfa field. Electric lines, telephone lines, lay lines, all torn at, causing inconveniences and outages to local residents and merchants, these adding to the burden of their suffering through all of the attendant distractions of the mechanical interruptions that are to be expected even in the best circumstances with professional planning and preparation ("how 'bout them 'cheese-ola' plywood bridges, anybody figure for lateral stresses at all? What about sea-sickness on the wobble across? What is going to happen when Aunt Bee leans against one of those handrails and takes a header into 4 inches of crushed stone?" - these are said to be the tone of some questions that have arisen in tone-y circles about town). Yes, the residents of Springfield, Vermont, Official Home of the Simpsons, are enduring a job that perhaps seems to last longer and satisfy less at every puff. And let's not get started with the many street lamps that have been konked (please gentlemen, more than one?) and broken and which now need to be replaced. Was someone walking around carrying a ladder in the air and losing his balance all the way down Main Street like Charlie Chaplin? One Clever Wag About Town (cwat) suggested that they wait to order replacement street lamps, since they will be cheaper to buy by the dozen.